HIS OLD COACH KNEW HE HAD IT GORE'S SUCCESS NO SURPRISE TO FORD.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer

Retired Hart High boys' golf coach Dennis Ford is not particularly surprised Jason Gore is closing in on another PGA Tour card.

``He was always a closer,'' Ford said of Gore, the four-year Hart golf standout whose victory in Sunday's Buy.com Tour Oregon Classic put him in position for a late-season charge to a top-15 earnings spot and the 2003 PGA Tour exemption that goes with it.

``If he knew he had to make birdie on his last hole to seal the deal, he generally did it,'' Ford said. ``One summer in 18-hole match play, Tiger (Woods) had to chip in on the last hole to beat him.''

Gore, who played on the PGA Tour last season, has the Buy.com Tour's seventh-best driving average this season at 303.6. He is one of 12 players averaging more than 300 yards on the long-hitting U.S. minor-league tour that is regarded by some of its winners as the second-best professional golf tour in the world.

The Buy.com Tour's emphasis on length off the tee fits just fine for Gore, according to Ford.

``He was always long,'' Ford said. ``All I had to do was tie him to the green and make him practice his putting.''

That emphasis on the short game paid dividends for Gore in the final round at Oregon, where he sprayed his drives and missed fairways and greens but finished 1-under-par for his final 18 holes.

``That's the way it's supposed to go,'' said Ford, who offered his former prized pupil telephone congratulations after the match. ``If you're having a bad round, you turn a 75 into a 71 and win the tournament.''

That was almost exactly the way it went in the final round at par-72 Shadow Hills Country Club in Junction City, Ore. Gore realized early Sunday he didn't have his best stuff after shooting 65 to take the lead Saturday.

``Today, it was hold on for dear life,'' he told tour officials afterward.

He did so by saving par three times from off the green on the front nine, then sinking a pair of 12-foot birdie putts to start his back nine.

``I missed it in some right spots,'' he said Sunday. ``You have to play well badly. Even Jack (Nicklaus) and Tiger talk about playing well when you don't have your best stuff. I did that today. It added a little grit to it.''

He played his best on the hole he worried most about - Shadow Hills' 199-yard par-3 16th, which played with the flagstick back-right and water right of the green.

``It's a brutal shot,'' Gore said. ``I faced that shot before I hit and conquered my inner demons, if you will. Ninety percent of that shot was over before I hit it.''

He called his 5-iron to within eight feet of the cup on No. 16 his ``shot of the day,'' even though he missed the birdie putt.

He made enough other birdies to finish at 18-under par, his second-best score of the season after a 20-under total that earned him sixth place in the Louisiana Open.

That, another sixth place at the Jacob's Creek Open and Sunday's victory in Oregon have produced the bulk of the $128,972 that has Gore within $2,459 of a top-15 placement on the money list with less than six weeks left on the Buy.com Tour season.

The possibility of that kind of PGA Tour qualifying finish will have him busy down the stretch in hopes the late hard work will earn him some rare holiday rest.

``I would love to have the winter off,'' said Gore, who has spent each of his last five winters at the PGA Tour's grueling Q School in annual bids for a PGA Tour card.

Ford likes Gore's chances, given his history of prevailing under pressure so often.

``He's making his charge now,'' Ford said. ``The next two or three weeks will be important for him. If he can continue this, he could be in the top 15 going into the last day. That should be fun then.''