January 13, 2005

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA — "Terrible," says Jean Dore. "Absolutely terrible, average, or sometimes wonderful.  Not just wonderful at times, but absolutely wonderful."

That's how slugger Jean Dore rides his roller coaster rounds of golf.  It also resembles his first early appearances at the 2005 On Tour Championship.  "You feel real bad," Dore said after hitting 4 pars and scoring only 8 points on January 6. "Then things start working and things become great.  I'd be lying if I said I felt good out there, and I probably won't for a couple months. You want to be feeling good when the spring breaks, you want to be just about locked in.  I cannot predict a 100 stroke round or 85 stroke round at this point."  

Kevin Long, Jr. is not worried.  "It won't take long for Jean (i.e. Homer) to come around and hit the homerun," says Captain Club member Kevin Long, Jr..  "He might be struggling, but things for Homer always come around."

"Remember, it's early January. Everybody likes to come out and swing well and look good and hear the fans clap for them, but it doesn't always work out that way," Long said. "That's why we have January, February, and March in the first place. But I have no doubts he'll get much more comfortable as the season goes along.  There's always going to be a little butterflies and a little nervousness on the first day."

Jean scored 4 bogeys during his round worth zero points.  His first coaster drop was good for 20 points including 4 bonus points for playing Hell's Point Golf Club.  He shot back up the roller coaster with 42 points nearly five days later.  Although, he scored another 4 bogeys worth zero points, he scored 6 pars and 1 impressive birdie at Cypress Point.

The 2005 On Tour Championship opens in 19 days.