His final-round 60 in the books, Tommy Gainey waited two hours Sunday to find out if he had won the McGladrey Classic. During that downtime, “Two Gloves” phoned his father, Tommy Sr., who was back home in Bishopville, S.C.
“Dad, that’s as good as I got,” Gainey, 37, said. “That’s the best I can play. I don’t think I could have played that round any better.”
Sure, his father agreed, saying his son had done all he could do, but he also remained leery of the pursuers: Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III, Jim Furyk and David Toms, a trio with 49 Tour victories between them. So he told Two Gloves: “Well, I’ve gotta tell you, they have already got their careers set. I’m pulling against them.”
“I said, ‘Dad, no, you cannot pull against. That’s not the way it works,’” Gainey said, laughing, when retelling the story Monday on “Morning Drive.”
“I pull for everybody, because if you get beat, you say, ‘well done.’ I knew my day was coming – and it came yesterday.”
The McGladrey was only his second tournament with a new set of Callaway irons, but really, it was the flat stick that propelled Gainey to his first PGA Tour title. He recorded only 24 putts during his final-round 60, which broke the course record at Sea Island.
“I feel like I’ve got a lot of game,” said Gainey, a former ‘Big Break’ participant, “and yesterday was just unbelievable. Everything just worked. Everything fell into place.
“I’m hoping it’s gonna take me to a lot more victories, because that’s what it’s all about out here. You gotta win to feel like you belong.”