Your typical PGA Tour journeyman professional has long been considered a rather faceless individual. Yes, 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.
Aside from his adventures at the 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 golf-related challenges, will remember Gainey from the Ryder Cup-style USA vs Europe series, one 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. But he's certainly one to follow: the man is a birdie machine! Thirty-six-year-old Gainey, No 101 in the world standings, is currently ranked fourth on tour in Total Birdies (with 332 of them so far) and is among the tour's most lengthy drivers.
Maybe he's not such a journeyman, after all.
David Cunningham III contributed to this story
The Gainey File
BORN: August 13, 1975
TURNED PRO: 1998, aged 22
PROFESSIONAL WINS: 7 (Nationwide Tour: 2; Others: 5)
BEST PGA TOUR FINISH: 2 - Children's Miracle Network Classic (2008)
3 - The Heritage (2011); Wyndham Championship (2011)
STATS: 3 - Total Birdies; 41 - Total Driving
WORLD RANKING: 101
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