Tommy Gainey takes fast track to a PGA Tour Champions victory at Furyk & Friends

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Tommy “Two Gloves” is a winner again.

Unlike his stints on the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour, Tommy Gainey is proving to be a quicker study on the PGA Tour Champions.

Gainey, who turned 50 years old on Aug. 13, won the Constellation Furyk & Friends on Oct. 5 at the Timuquana Country Club, breaking from a pack of contenders with an eagle at the par-5 13th hole on a 30-foot putt from the front fringe and going on to post a 66.

Gainey finished with a 54-hole total of 14-under-par 202 and a two-shot victory over Cameron Percy (69), matching the biggest comeback in the final round this season after beginning the day four shots behind Gogel.

Gainey is the youngest PGA Tour Champions winner this season at 50 years, one month and 23 days, and won in his fifth start. He also became the 23rd player in history to win on the Champions Tour, PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour.

Five players tied for third at 9-under: Gogel (75), Vijay Singh of Ponte Vedra Beach (70), Steve Flesch (66), Thomas Bjorn (68) and Brendan Jones (69).

Jacksonville native David Duval (71) was within one shot of the lead on the course where he grew up, after his tee shot into the par-3 14th green. But Gainey dropped his eagle putt and Duval three-putted for bogey within seconds to effectively end Duval’s hopes.

Gainey won qualifier to reach Furyk field

Gainey wasn’t in the Furyk & Friends field four days before the first round. He had to survive a qualifier at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley, which he won with an 8-over 64.

It was the third time Gainey has had to qualify for a Champions Tour event and it might be the last: He earned $315,000 to jump from 73rd to 37th on the money list and with one tournament left in the regular season, next week’s SAS Championship in Cary, N.C., Gainey, who had only conditional status as of last week, is a lock to make the top 72 for the Schwab Cup Playoffs.

“I wasn’t 100 percent certain I was going to get in, because when I got done, there were six or seven groups left out there,” he said of the qualifier. “That’s a lot of players for three spots. That’s a lot of stress.”

Gainey is the first PGA Tour Champions qualifier to win that week since Dicky Pride at the 2021 Mitsubishi Electric Classic.

Gainey has a blue-collar background

Gainey, named for his habit of wearing two golf gloves and owner of a swing that Golf Channel commentator Brandel Chamblee likened to a man “trying to kill a snake with a garden hose, has had to work for everything in golf.

Gainey hails from a working-class background in Darlington, S.C., and did not play college golf. Instead, he attended Central Carolina Technical College and once worked in a factory wrapping insulation around hot water heaters.

But all he wanted to do was play golf. Gainey entered any mini-tour event he could find, won on the eGolf Tour and the Hooters Tour, and then landed two spots on Golf Channel’s The Big Break. His second appearance, in 2007, earned some starts on the Korn Ferry Tour and got his PGA Tour card for the first time at the national qualifying tournament.

“It’s all about hard work paying off,” Gainey said. “If you’ve got dreams, go for it. Everybody has a dream. It just so happens that my dream was the play on the PGA Tour, be a winner and live my life out here. Now that I’ve turned 50, I’m on the Champions Tour and loving every minute of it.”

Progress came slow for Gainey

Gainey needed 74 Korn Ferry Tour starts before his first of three victories there, and 105 PGA Tour starts before his only victory at the 2012 RSM Classic at the age of 37. Gainey shot 60 in the final round and sat in the clubhouse while Furyk & Friends tournament host Jim Furyk and RSM Classic host Davis Love III battled in vain to catch him.

“The guy has always been grounded, been there, kept his game in great shape and has had some near-misses this year,” Furyk said. “He’s playing well and was able to come out here and take control on the back nine and bring it home, which is always hard to do.”

Gainey said regardless of how long or how quickly it’s taken him to win, it’s the only goal he sets before every start.

“Since I’ve been playing golf, it’s always been to win,” he said. “When I tee it up, I plan on winning. But we all know golf is such a hard game to play, if not the hardest. Sometimes you get beat up every week. It just so happens this week God took care of me. I just play golf. He gave me the ability to do so and I’m very thrilled to have it.”

Gainey had a modest goal for the week

Given his past slow starts, Gainey is hard-pressed for an answer as to why he has taken to the PGA Tour Champions like a duck to water.

Maybe it’s because he plays his best when his livelihood is on the line.

“My goal coming into this tournament was just trying to [finish] top 10,” he said. “Top 10 to get that spot in next week. Doing all these [qualifiers] and having no status, I’ve got to take it as it comes. I’ve got to be really on my game if I’m going to compete out here because these guys can still play.”

Gainey had more than enough game. He missed only four fairways all week and was third in average putts per green in regulation.

He was a shot behind Singh and Gogel and made it a three-way tie with a birdie at No. 12. Gainey’s pivotal hole at the 13th was set up with a monster drive and a 9-iron into the green from 158 yards. He battled a baffling wind on the shot, which came up shorter than he intended.

“It kept swirling so much this week … it’s just been crazy,” he said.

But Gainey dropped the eagle putt to pull out of a three-way tie with Singh and Gogel. Just as the ball went into the cup, Gainey fell to his knees.

“I think that was the moment of the tournament for me,” he said.

Contenders behind Gainey faded on closing holes

Despite a bogey on the next hole, Gainey got it back with a birdie at No. 15 and maintained a one-shot lead. He punctuated the round with an 8-foot birdie putt at the last.

Singh and Gogel both bogeyed the final two holes to toss away their final chance of catching Gainey. Duval three-putted both par-3 holes on the back and bogeyed No. 18.

Percy was the only player to apply any pressure to Gainey over the last five holes with birdies at Nos. 13 and 15. But the affable Australian, who hit 15 greens in the final round, had one too many three-putts.

“I was trying to run Matt down,” Percy said. “Then Tommy made a birdie and an eagle and I’ve got to chase Tommy down. He just played too good. I had six three-putts this week and lost by two. Six three-putts is a lot of a three-round golf tournament.”