Gore Feels Like a Winner

Jason Gore has played in the Nissan Open once before, but this time, things are different.

For starters, he will tee off today at Riviera Country Club as a PGA Tour winner. He won the 84 Lumber Classic last September for his first career victory.

That victory came with a two-year tour exemption and that means that for this installment of his hometown tournament, Gore -- a Valencia resident and Pepperdine graduate -- can go about his business without the added stress of trying to keep his card.

“It feels a little different,” said Gore, who played in the final group of the U.S. Open last summer and won three consecutive starts on the Nationwide Tour before his breakthrough victory on the PGA Tour. “It’s mostly a confidence thing. It’s really a good feeling.”

Gore played at Riviera in 2001. He made the cut and finished tied for 51st. Since then he has bounced back and forth from the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour. He had his PGA Tour card in 2003, but wasn’t fully exempt and didn’t get in at Riviera.

Now that he can pick and choose his tournaments, he made sure to put Riviera on his list.

“I love this course,” he said. “Every hole, I step on the tee and it just looks good to me.”

He’s also looking forward to sleeping in his own bed, knowing what freeways to take, where to eat and having his friends and family come watch him play.

The comfort factor should help overcome what has been a rocky start to his season. He started the year with rounds of 80-80-81-79 and finished last at the winners-only Mercedes Championships, which doesn’t have a cut, then missed four consecutive cuts before finishing tied for 42nd last week at Pebble Beach.

“I was kind of hitting it a little sideways at the start of the year, but it’s getting better,” he said. “That’s golf, though. I’m just trying to play my way out of it.”

*

The driving range at Riviera is a smoother operation than it has been in years past, thanks to a group of volunteers from the Midnight Mission, a homeless shelter in downtown Los Angeles.

Their job is to sort through buckets of balls and separate them by brand and model so the pros can practice with the same balls they play in competition.

In years past, it wasn’t unusual to see a line of players waiting for volunteers to do the sorting because those volunteers also had several other duties. But the Midnight Mission people have only one responsibility, so players get their balls quicker, but it helps the volunteers more than anyone.

All of the volunteers from the mission are recovering drug addicts or alcoholics. They have lived on the street and sought help from the mission to get their lives back on track.

“They take a lot of the headache out of what we do on the range,” said Keith Robinson, who heads the driving-range marshals. “But more importantly, it gives them some dignity to be out here in this environment and off the streets.”

James Wilson, a counselor at the Midnight Mission who is sorting balls this week, said the volunteers work from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day and they are happy to do it even without pay.

“Being out here is payment enough,” Wilson said.

*

Eight alternates made it into the 144-player field because of withdrawals. Nick Price pulled out because of flu. Jay Haas and Jeff Sluman withdrew to attend the funeral of Dick Harmon. Ben Crane was forced to withdraw because of a bad back.

*

Tiger Woods tees off on the first tee today at 7:31 a.m. He is paired with Jonathan Kaye and Brent Geiberger. Ernie Els will start on the 10th tee at 12:01 p.m. in a group with David Duval and Steve Jones. John Daly tees off on No. 1 at 12:12 p.m. with Peter Lonard and Carlos Franco. Fred Couples, Stuart Appleby and defending champion Adam Scott will tee off on No. 10 at 8:03 a.m.

*

Woods, who has won more matches at the Match Play Championships than anyone, probably will play 65th-ranked Graeme McDowell in the first round of the $7.5-million tournament next week because Sergio Garcia isn’t going to play.

Woods is 21-4 and won in 2003 and 2004. David Toms, last year’s champion, is 18-5.