Gore trying to create another great moment with Arnie

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Jason Gore fired a 5-under 65 to take the lead after the first round at Bay Hill.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Jason Gore was 11 years old, dressed in a T-shirt and a pair of brightly colored yellow, pink, blue and red shorts that he remembers now, somewhat sheepishly, as being "obnoxiously terrible."

He looked like a surfer, not the budding golfer he was becoming. But Gore and his mother drove up to Latrobe Country Club like they owned the place and asked whether Arnold Palmer would be around that day.

He was on his way, so the Gores waited until Palmer toodled up in what looked like a cross between a golf cart and a tractor. Palmer posed for a picture with Gore, signed a scorecard and then asked the youngster if he wanted to watch him hit balls.

Gore after 18 holes

Stats Rd. 1 Total Rank* Eagles 1 1 T1 Birdies 4 4 T11 Pars 12 12 T34 Bogeys 1 1 T103 Double bogeys -- 0 N/A Other -- 0 N/A Driving accuracy 79 78.6 T6 Driving distance 299.0 299.0 T9 Putts per round 24 24.0 T2 Putts per GIR 1.545 1.545 T7 Greens in REG 61 61.1 T24 Sand saves -- 0 N/A

* Ranks are computed at the end of each round.

The little surfer-dude turned range rat jumped at the chance.

"I sat right on the little slope right behind the first tee and watched Mr. Palmer hit balls for about 45 minutes, and from that point on I knew I wanted to be a professional golfer," Gore said.

That was nearly 25 years ago. And Thursday, Gore, playing on a sponsor's exemption from the man himself, fired a 65 to grab sole possession of the lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard.

Gore reminded Palmer of that story during an outing in Naples, Fla., last year. Palmer was reminiscing about the Ryder Cup and his many major victories, and Gore felt moved to tell him how the time he spent with a little kid that day changed his life forever.

"He got up, shook my hand, pulled me in, gave me a hug," Gore said. "That's just the kind of person he is. The littlest things he does for a punk dressed in surf clothes who was trespassing on his property changes lives.

"He's got that power, and that's what makes him The King, and that's why he's the greatest person to this game."

Gore lost his exempt status on TOUR this year after finishing 134th on the money list so he's had to write for sponsor's exemptions this year like the one Palmer gave him. He saw Palmer at Seminole several weeks ago during a pro-member and thanked him for the opportunity.

"He looked at me and winked, and he said, 'I never forgot that story,'" Gore recalled.

The sponsor's exemption was the fourth he has received this year. The affable Gore, who went to q-school but was unable to finish among the low 25 and ties to regain his card, missed the cut in two of them and finished 74th in the third.

"They're few and far to come by, but any time you can get a lucky break, you try and capitalize on it -- which is not what I've done this year," Gore said.

Until Thursday, that is.

His 65 -- which included an eagle, four birdies and one bogey -- was Gore's low round of the season by three strokes. And he surged into the lead with a furious finish that saw him birdie three of his last four holes.

"It's the first time in a long time I didn't suck," Gore said with a smile and more candor than self-deprecating humor.

Gore decided to make a swing change after he missed out at q-school last December -- "Right when I was just tired of stinking, tired of being average," he said. So he consulted Michael Abbot, the instructor who works with Pat Perez and Tommy Armour III.

The changes are finally beginning to feel comfortable, and nowhere was that more evident that it was Thursday.

"I've had just a lot of moving parts, I've had a lot of stuff that made it very inconsistent, kind of just wasn't using this wonderful body to my full extent," Gore said. "I've learned how to hit shots, I've learned how to knock it down, which before me playing in the wind was just hell.

"So I hit a lot of good knock down shots today and I was able to control my golf ball, and I was still driving it good."

Gore made an appearance on the leaderboard early when he moved to 3 under with an eagle at the par-5 12th, reaching with a choke-down 2-iron and sinking a 15-foot putt. He bogeyed the 15th and reeled off eight straight pars before exploding down the stretch.

Gore says Bay Hill is a course you have to play "conservatively aggressive" to the flags, and he was most judicious in his routes Thursday. He chipped to 2 feet at the par-5 sixth after a booming 306-yard drive. A pair of pinpoint 7-irons set up the other birdie putts of 15 and 4 feet at Nos. 7 and 9, respectively.

"I was hitting some good shots all day and just finally got a few things to click correctly, and I guess I didn't even realize what I was doing," Gore said simply. "I was just trying to stay focused over the shot and try to execute it the best I can. I think most of my goofs come from lack of focus, and I just hit these 'well, anyway' shots, and I'd just get over it and hit it and before I know it, it's gone."

Stay similarly focused for three more days, and Gore just might give Palmer -- and himself -- another unforgettable memory.