Gore stands up to last-day pressure

FARMINGTON, Pa. (AP) — Jason Gore stood up to an excellent late-season field, and to the very pressure that wilted him three months ago at the U.S. Open. Most of all, he stood up to Sunday.

Gore, whose last-day unraveling already is part of Open lore, held off the 84 Lumber Classic field with big drives and steely nerves to win on the PGA Tour barely a month after being stuck in golf’s minor leagues.

Gore’s four-stroke lead with five holes to play was down to one over runner-up Carlos Franco by No. 18, but Gore landed his approach shot on the 468-yard par-4 on the lower fringe of the green. With a playoff looming if he didn’t get up and down, Gore deftly lagged his putt from 91 1/2 feet to within 22 inches and tapped in for a final-round 2-under 70 and the Tour victory he once thought might never come.

‘‘I hit the best putt of my life,’’ he said. ‘‘What made it easier is the putt was so hard — I had to go up and down two elephants and over the windmill. It worked out, luckily.’’

His 14-under 274 was three shots better than third-place finisher Ben Crane (67).

‘‘It’s pretty incredible,’’ said Gore, ‘‘Around May-ish I was wondering if I could get formula for my child, if I was going to make a house payment, and now look. They just handed me a check for $792,000.”