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o u r t y pica l PG A Tour journeyman professional has long b e e n c o n sid e r e d a r at her f ac ele s s i n d i v i d u a l . Ye s , he may well have accumulated vast riches for his solid, if unspectacular displays at the lesser tour stops, but with his khaki chinos and solid pastel shirts, he's not one to stand out from the field. This summation is probably a little harsh, but the fact remains: finishing in second place at the Children's Miracle Network Classic, an event that the likes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and others of their ilk go out of their way to avoid, doesn't necessarily catapult you into golfing stardom. Unless, of course, you're Tommy Gainey. Gainey, who goes by the nickname "Two Gloves", is definitely not your average professional golfer. As his moniker suggest, he sports a glove on each hand (they're both rainwear models, regardless of the conditions he's playing in) and grips the club as if he's holding a baseball bat. His unorthodox swing gives hope to all of us weekend hackers, but despite all this, and to borrow a phrase: the man can golf his ball. A side from his advent ures at t he aforementioned Children's Miracle Network Classic in 2008, a result he achieved by firing a final-round 64 to earn him conditional status on the PGA Tour for the following year, the South Carolina native has enjoyed something of a breakthrough season in 2011. In total, "Two Gloves" has recorded six top 10s and nine top 25 finishes in the past eight months alone. Gainey has amassed over US$1.5 million in prize money and qualified for the FedEx Cup Playoffs in a highly credibly 30th place, which is higher than such luminaries as Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose and Vijay Singh. Fans of the Golf Channel's Big Break, a programme that pits unknown professionals against each other over a succession of golfrelated challenges, will remember Gainey from the Ryder Cup-style USA vs Europe series, one
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Players to Watch # 2
Tommy Gainey This unconventional PGA Tour pro, a former star of the Golf Channel's Big Break, has been making waves of late, writes Alex Jenkins
of the more watchable Big Breaks, filmed in 2005. With his southern drawl and unconventional manner, Gainey proved to be a hit, with his fellow competitors describing his ball-striking abilities as that of a seasoned tour pro. Unfortunately, after shanking his shot over the fabled 18th green at St Andrews, Gainey was eliminated from the sixth episode. Despite the exposure generated by his appearance, it was only in 2007 that Gainey earned his Nationwide Tour card. Having status on any tour was a definite achievement for a man who, prior to turning pro in 1998, worked on an assembly line in a water heater factory. [Wonderfully enough, the water heater factory in question, AO Smith Corporation, now sponsor Gainey and have bagged the all-important advertising space on his cap]. As is so often the case with talented up-and-comers, the Nationwide Tour provided the perfect training ground for Gainey and he would finish the year on a high by making it through PGA Tour Q-School by clinching a tie for 19th. Whether Gainey can really break through and claim his maiden PGA Tour win remains to be seen. The Gainey File But he's certainly one to follow: the man is a birdie BORN: August 13, 1975 machine! Thirty-six-year-old Gainey, No 101 in the TURNED PRO: 1998, aged 22 world standings, is currently ranked fourth on tour PROFESSIONAL WINS: 7 (Nationwide Tour: 2; Others: 5) in Total Birdies (with 332 of them so far) and is BEST PGA TOUR FINISH: 2 - Children's Miracle Network Classic (2008) among the tour's most lengthy drivers. 3 - The Heritage (2011); Wyndham Championship (2011) Maybe he's not such a journeyman, after all.
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3 - Total Birdies; 41 - Total Driving 101
David Cunningham III contributed to this story HK GolferăƒťSEP 2011
AFP
STATS: WORLD RANKING:
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