GOLF NOTEBOOK: GORE STARTS STRONG AT WESTERN OPEN.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer

Former Hart High standout Jason Gore got off to his best PGA Tour start of the season Thursday, when he shot 5-under-par 67 to claim a share of fifth place in the 100th Western Open at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club in Lemont, Ill.

The strong start continued a recent good run by Gore, who has missed eight consecutive cuts after tying for 20th in the Sony Open - his first tour event of the season - but has made the cut in four of five starts going into the Western Open.

``I've been hitting it real good,'' he said after his opening round at Cog Hill, where he was four shots behind tournament leader Tiger Woods, who opened with a course-record-tying 63.

Gore said the way he achieved his 67 - his fourth score of 68 or better during the recent hot streak that has more than doubled his tour earnings for 2003 - had the effect of underscoring his increasing confidence.

``Any time I can go out and feel like I hit it real solid ... then it's going to be easier tomorrow to do or it's going to feel like it's easier tomorrow.''

Gore qualified for this - his second full season on the PGA Tour - by finishing among the top 15 money-winners on last year's Buy.com Tour (now called the Nationwide Tour), where he won twice, including one of that tour's biggest events, at Boise, Idaho.

--Back at it: Valencia High senior Brandon Christianson resumes a busy summer this week, when he plays in a Southern California PGA Tour Cup event at Robinson Ranch on Wednesday and Thursday, then competes in the Oxnard City Championship on Saturday and Sunday.

The two-time Foothill League MVP, coming off his best high school season - one which included a school-record and area-best 62 at Ojai's Soule Park - at least is staying relatively close to home in this swing.

Last Friday, he was playing at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, where his 80-77-157 failed to make the cut in the 104th Southern California Golf Association Amateur Championship. On Monday, he shot 76-72-148 at Stanford in an unsuccessful bid to qualify for the U.S. Junior Amateur.

``It was just 100 percent terrible putting - I'm hitting the ball great,'' he said of his play in the Junior Amateur qualifier, where a two-round total four shots lower would have advanced him to a playoff for the final berth in the July 21-26 national final at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Md.

--Breakthrough: Tommy Barber, the two-year College of the Canyons star and 2002 Western State Conference MVP who led the Cougars to their third state community college championship last season, finished in the money Thursday for a second consecutive week on the Gateway Tour.

His 71-69-78-218 on the Grayhawk Talon and Raptor courses in Scottsdale, Ariz., left Barber 68th in the I.G. Electronics Invitational.

One week earlier, the 2002 Los Angeles City men's amateur champion claimed his first professional paycheck with a tie for 42nd in the HLDS Classic at McCormick Ranch in Scottsdale, where he shot 72-72-72-216.

The grandson of 1961 PGA Championship winner Jerry Barber and the son of longtime Griffith Park head professional Tom Barber, Tommy was the first of three Barbers to play golf at Canyons.

Tom's wife, Diane, was one of the leading players for Canyons' Western State Conference-championship women's team that finished third in state last year. Danny Barber, Tom's youngest son, will join the Cougars' men's team this year after coming within a stroke of advancing to the Southern Section individual tournament as a Burbank High senior this past season.

Tommy, who nearly won the Southern Section individual title as a Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks senior in 2000, is competing on the minor-league Gateway Tour in Arizona in preparation for entering the PGA Tour qualifying tournament.

Dave Shelburne, [phone]

dave.shelburne(at)dailynews.com