Tommy Two Gloves Is On the PGA Tour

by Mulligan Stu on Dec 3, 2007 3:49 PM EST

And I can't wait for the photos of the quizzical look on Tiger Woods' face the first time Tiger watches Tommy on the driving range.

"Big Break" alum Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey earned his PGA Tour card on Monday in the finals of PGA Tour Q-School. There are still a few players on the course as I write this - we'll update the full results in a little bit - but with a par on the 18th hole, Gainey guaranteed himself a Top 25 finish and therefore fully exempt status on the PGA Tour in 2008.

It wasn't easy. "Two Gloves" had been in the Top 5 all week, but spent all of the sixth round sliding backwards. Before the tournament started, I wrote:

Gainey has shown a propensity for falling victim to nerves the first time he's in a situation (such as when he was close to making the cut in his first PGA Tour event; or close to winning his first Nationwide Tour event). I predict "Two Gloves" will be in good shape at the start of the final round, then shoot 77.

Gainey did shoot 77 today. But he'd been so good the first five rounds that it wasn't enough to knock him out of the Top 25.

There's no such thing as backing into a win or backing into a tour card. The object of stroke-play tournament golf is to finish with fewer strokes than anyone else (or with few enough strokes to finish high enough to earn a card). What other people do can't be controlled. If at the end of the tournament your stroke total is good enough, then it's good enough. And you've earned it.

Well done, Tommy.

(And would FootJoy now please sign "Two Gloves" to an endorsement deal for its gloves? Picture Ernie Els, Tommy "Two Gloves" and Sign Boy together in a commercial.)

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Quicksand

I pulled up the scoreboard when Gainey was through 14 and sliding - the first thing I thought of (lord forgive me) was Keanu Reeves' speech in "The Replacements" talking about being in quicksand - when one mistake compounds and before you know it, you're in over your head.

Scoreboard watching isn't my favorite way of keeping up with the action, but this was pretty nerve wracking, not wanting Gainey to fall out of the top 25.

There may not be such a thing as backing into a tour card, but there is a difference in finishing 5th and finishing 19th - aside from the small purse. These guys will be put into a rotation for entry into tournaments, and they want to get started as soon as possible to maximize the number of starts through the season.

Had Gainey held on to his position at the start of the final round, he would have found himself getting starts almost immediately.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Dec 3, 2007 8:59 PM EST reply actions