Former PGA Tour winner Tommy Gainey won’t face jail time for a recent solicitation arrest after agreeing instead to serve 11 months of probation.
Gainey, 44, was arrested in December and charged with a first-degree misdemeanor for soliciting a prostitute, part of a massive prostitution sting in Florida dubbed “Operation Santa’s Naughty List” that led to more than 120 arrests. According to a Golf Digest report, Gainey won’t serve any time behind bars but will take a human trafficking class, serve 100 hours of community service and pay fines and fees totaling $6,218.60 in addition to his probation term.
Gainey earned his lone PGA Tour win at the 2012 RSM Classic, and he hasn’t been fully exempt on Tour since 2014. But that could change this fall, as Gainey rebounded from the arrest controversy to win the season-opening Korn Ferry Tour event in the Bahamas last month.
“With the injuries I’ve been through, the other troubles that I’ve had, I’m very lucky and very blessed,” Gainey said after the victory. “This means everything.”
The win moved him to the top of the season-long Korn Ferry Tour points list, and he’s currently in fourth position having missed the cut in his most recent start. The top 25 in the points race at the end of the regular season will be guaranteed PGA Tour cards for the 2020-2021 campaign.