Greener Pastures : Pepperdine’s Jason Gore Is Concentrating on the State Amateur While Contemplating When He Should Join the PGA Tour

The first thing you notice about Jason Gore is his smile.

At 6 feet 2 and 220 pounds, Gore is an intimidating presence, especially on the golf course where his frame is larger than the typical golfer.

But his warm grin, amplified by eyes so tiny that the smile engulfs them, emits a comforting beam that welcomes anyone who sees it into Gore’s world and transforms him into a giant teddy bear.

“He’s always been that way,” said Sheldon Gore, Jason’s father. “It shows he just enjoys what he’s doing. He’s pretty well-liked because he makes people feel comfortable.”

On Monday, in what is likely to be his last hurrah as an amateur golfer, Gore will take his smile to the Monterey Peninsula for the California Amateur Championship at Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill Golf Course.

And if the last year is any indication, the Valencia resident will have plenty to smile about when the week is over.

Earlier this month Gore capped a tremendous senior season at Pepperdine by leading the Waves to their first national championship in golf, nearly winning the NCAA individual title in the process.

In April he ended a 2 1/2-year college victory drought when he won the Southwestern Invitational at North Ranch Country Club.

Last summer he won the Pacific Northwest Players Championship and the Ventura County championships. By 17 strokes.

“It’s, uh, it’s been a pretty fun year,” Gore said with a laugh.

About the only thing spoiling the fun right now is his inability to decide when he should declare his intent to play professionally.

“It will be soon, I just don’t know when,” he said. “It might be next week, it might be August. I’m not quite sure yet. I’m contemplating the U.S. Amateur. That’s the only reason I wouldn’t.”

The U.S. Amateur is in August but qualifying takes place in July at Valencia Country Club, otherwise the tournament wouldn’t be an option for the 1992 Hart High graduate.

“If it was somewhere else, I wouldn’t care,” he said. “But I’m leaning more toward next week, because I don’t want to get to qualifying school in October and be all freaked out that I’m playing in a professional tournament,” he said. “I want to get my feet wet, you know.”

From all indications, Gore is ready to turn pro.

He led Pepperdine with a 73.21 stroke average, including a low of 65 in the first round of the NCAA championships. He improved steadily as the season went along, finishing 11th and fifth in the two tournaments before the Southwestern.

“He’s got a lot of confidence right now,” Sheldon Gore said. “He knows he can go out and play with the big boys.”

But that wasn’t always the case.

Despite winning Pacific 10 Conference championships in 1993 and 1994 while attending Arizona, Gore never felt comfortable there, on or off the course. He missed home and had trouble adjusting to college life.

He spent a year at College of the Canyons before enrolling at Pepperdine.

“The best thing I ever did was transfer to Pepperdine,” Gore said. “I wasn’t playing that well [at Arizona]. I’d play well in the Pac-10 and that’s about it. I knew I wasn’t going to go back long before I told anybody.”

The year away from competitive golf took its toll on Gore, and he struggled a bit his first year at Pepperdine.

Then, John Geiberger took over as coach of the Waves in the middle of last summer. Gore attributes the improvements in his game to the coaching change.

“He has such a knowledge of the game, you know,” Gore said of Geiberger, the son of longtime PGA player Al Geiberger. “He grew up around all the great names like his dad, and he can tell you stories about Raymond Floyd and [Jack] Nicklaus.

“It’s just unbelievable the golf sense that he has. I think he taught me more about myself and the game more than anything physically that he worked on with me.”

But they did work on physical elements, spending hours on the putting green and practice range until everything came together.

“It was just to the point where I was hitting it good and I was putting it good so I figured I should start playing good,” Gore said. “It just started clicking. There were no more excuses for playing poorly.”

And ever since, he has been playing well.

Sure, there was that double-bogey seven on the 18th hole of the final round that cost him the NCAA individual championship. He finished one shot out of a plyoff. But Gore could have taken a nine and the team still would have won the title, and that meant a lot more to him.

That much was obvious by his reaction after sinking his final putt.

He smiled.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Others to Watch

Area players in the California Amateur Championship golf tournament

* Brandon Jones: An Agoura High graduate and perennial qualifier for major amateur events who is due for a victory.

* J.T. Kohut: A junior-to-be at Westlake High who is certain to be a regular at major amateur events for several years.

* Jim Tassano: 39-year-old Las Posas Country Club member is a regular contender in major amateur tournaments.

* Craig Steinberg: Van Nuys optometrist and lawyer is a three-time Southern California Amateur champion.

* Tim Hogarth: Despite recent struggles, the defending U.S. Public Links champion from Van Nuys can’t be counted out of any tournament.

* Ross Fulgentis: Westlake High alum redshirted at UCLA last season but his game is as sharp as ever.