This time Gore stands up to last-day pressure

The collapse never came, even as a once-sizable lead dwindled to a single precarious stroke. This time, Sunday didn't crush Jason Gore. It belonged to him.

Gore, whose last-day unraveling already is part of U.S. Open lure, stood up to the 84 Lumber Classic field Sunday 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, a $792,000 paycheck and the Tour victory he once thought might never come. His 14-under 274 denied Franco (69) his first PGA victory since 2001 and was three shots better than third-place finisher Ben Crane (67), reported AP.