King of Swing

TARA — Standing alone on the driving range at the Preserve Golf Club at Tara, Cardinal Mooney High senior Jake LaMore reaches into his golf bag, pulls out an iron and lines up his shot.

In moments, a ping reverberates through the air as LaMore makes contact. He watches the ball sail into the horizon before grabbing another and repeating the process.

It’s here on the driving range where LaMore finds solace. The threat of an impending thunderstorm does little to break his rhythm.

“It makes me feel comfortable,” he says of being on the course. “I just like coming out and hitting range balls. It’s peaceful.”

LaMore’s consistent drive and dedication to improve his skill set paid off this summer. The 17-year-old has finished in the top three in every Greater Sarasota Junior Golf Association Summer Series event that he’s entered.

LaMore began playing golf when he was 5 years old; he began hitting at the local nine-hole course with his mother, RuthAnn.

He entered his first GSJGA tournament when he was 10 years old but began playing in tournaments consistently his freshman year of high school. At that time, LaMore, who also played soccer at the time, broke his ankle and decided to forgo soccer and focus solely on golf.

As a sophomore, LaMore advanced to the Class 1A-Region 6 tournament as an individual. He missed a chance for a repeat performance last season by two shots.

Last summer, LaMore won his first tournament in a playoff at Laurel Oak Country Club. Since then, he’s finished in the top five in nearly every GSJGA tournament in which he’s played.

“It’s great,” LaMore says of playing on the GSJGA tour. “Everyone is really nice there, which makes it fun. The Greater Sarasota Junior Golf Association puts on good tournaments, and they are all local, which is nice.

“Playing for the GSJGA has taught me not to overthink everything,” LaMore says. “You have to focus a lot on each (individual) shot and not get cocky.”

In June, LaMore shot a 2-under-par 70 to take the lead at the Sarasota City Junior Championship.
“I never had an 18-hole lead before, and I remember going to bed that night thinking, ‘Don’t screw up,’” LaMore says.

LaMore returned to the course the following day and shot a 76 to finish third by three shots. It was a disappointing finish for LaMore, but rather than dwelling on the past, he returned to the green and shot a personal best 69 to earn event medalist honors and win the boys 16 to 18 division of a GSJGA Summer Series event, at Jacaranda West Country Club in Venice.

“It wasn’t necessarily heartbreaking to lose the city championship because I didn’t have it in the bag, but I had the lead,” LaMore says. “So to come back the next day a shoot under 70 for the first time was sort of redemption for me.”

Next month, LaMore will begin his final season at Cardinal Mooney. He hopes to return to the regional tournament as an individual while helping the Cougars make it there as a team, as well.

Eventually, LaMore, who works at the Preserve Golf Club at Tara washing golf carts and picking up golf balls, wants to complete the PGA Golf Management program.

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].