In the last month you have earned your first two wins on the Nationwide Tour — the Melwood Prince George's County Open and the Chiquita Open. One more win gets you a promotion on to the PGA Tour. How do you account for the good play?
I've been working a lot harder on my game, especially the short game. At the beginning of the year I got with my caddie, Marvin King, and we started working on this part of my game. Now two wins later that work has paid off tremendously.
Since you've basically locked up your PGA Tour card for next year, will you try to play in some of the Fall Series events?
My main goal right now is to get that third win and get the Nationwide Tour money title, which will get me into the Memorial and the Players next year and most of the tournaments that come after the reshuffle that occurs after the West Coast swing. So my decision to play in regular tour events late this season will come down to where I'm at on the Nationwide money list.
You played on the PGA Tour in the previous two years. What's the biggest difference between it and the Nationwide Tour?
You have to make birdies on the Nationwide Tour because pars just don't get it done. Out here it's like batting practice. Everybody is just going after every flag.
In 2008 at Disney you had a chance to win on the PGA Tour, but in the end Davis Love III beat you by a shot. I shot 64 on the last day and 30 on the back nine, but Davis Love is a Hall of Famer. He got it up and down on 17 and 18 from some tough places. I have to give credit where credit is due.
How did you start wearing two gloves?
My dad got me started in the two gloves when I played baseball. I just liked the way it felt. I can just feel the club so much better with the gloves on, and if I take them off it feels like the club is going to slip out of my hands. I feel like I can play with anybody with them on, but if I take them off I might not break 80.
You grew up Bishopville, South Carolina, where you were a good baseball player for most of your childhood. How did you get into golf?
I played some on the weekend when I wasn't playing baseball. At 15 or 16 I started taking it seriously because I was shooting some low numbers and making a lot of birdies. All of my friends started telling me that I had a lot of game. But I never thought about it because I always wanted to go to work.
Why did you decide to go to Central Carolina Technical College to get a degree in industrial maintenance?
When I looked in the job postings every week in the newspaper there were 10 or 12 jobs in that field. Plus the pay back in '94 and '95 was like $12 an hour, which has to be now like $20 an hour. I got my certificate in industrial maintenance after a year and half and went to work at A.O. Smith, where I eventually worked on the assembly line wrapping insulation around water heaters. Starting out it paid $8.25 per hour and it got up to $9.50. That was pretty good money.
What does it take to perform that job well?
You need good hand-eye coordination because that supervisor wants to keep that line running unless it breaks. We were doing anywhere from 850 to 1800 water heaters a day.
When did you get a chance to play golf?
I played mostly on the weekends. I worked the first and second shifts during my time at the plant.
It sounds like you miss the plant a little bit.
I don't miss the work. I miss the people. Back then I had to do what I had to do. That's just the way it was and I'm pretty sure that's the way it is now because good jobs these days are hard to come by.
Does your blue-collar background help you keep things in perspective in a game where a lot of the players grew up very privileged and never had to work a day in their lives?
No question about it. A lot of these guys have never had to worry about going to a factory or anything like it. I was brought up to work by my parents. That's all I know. I will never let how much money I make change me as a person. The money might change what I drive and where I live, but it won't change me.
Where did you get the first money to turn pro?
In '96 I was working six days a week at Smith. I played in a TearDrop mini tour event in Columbia, South Carolina, and I won it with $600 dollars from my first sponsor from Bishopville, who didn't make me pay him back a dime. I took that $15,000 check and played off it for two years. Then I lived and worked down at Dunes West in Charleston for three years, where a number of the members there got behind me to play the mini tours.
You got your big break through Golf Channel's "Big Break." The name Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey entered our golfing vocabulary through that reality show.
Being on the show has given more fans than I would have thought possible for a guy from my background. I got a ton of great publicity from the show. I owe the Golf Channel a lot for giving me the opportunity. It pretty much got me on the map.
Have you ever had a golf lesson?
No, I don't do lessons. If I'm struggling with something, I'll talk to my brother or my caddie, Marvin King, who can help me on the range. But I've always been a feel player, and that's never going to change. But my short game has to continue to improve for me to win golf tournaments.
The Scarlet Course at the Ohio State University, host of this week's Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational, has been one of the tougher layouts this year on the Nationwide Tour. You made the cut by one shot with a two-day total of even-par 142. Where are the teeth in this course?
The rough is tough. Prior to the groove rule change this season, I could just hit my wedge past the hole and spin it. Now you can't spin it out of the rough unless the greens are really saturated. But I think it's good for the game.
What are your overall thoughts on technology in the game?
The equipment has gotten so advanced that it's hard to work the ball. When I was growing up you could work that golf ball, and you could see everybody else work that golf ball. The wind doesn't affect the ball as much as it used to. The only way the wind affects the ball is if you mis-hit it.
What's in your bag?
I have a bunch of different stuff. I have a Cobra driver, a Callaway 3-wood, Adams irons and hybrids, Cleveland wedges, an Odyssey putter and a Callaway ball.
You're getting married in December. Starting your marriage out on the PGA Tour is a great way to start.
There is no better job in the world than playing on the PGA Tour.
What have you learned about yourself that will hopefully keep you out there this time?
Winning on the Nationwide Tour tells me that I can win on the PGA Tour because future major champions and steady regular tour winners had success out here first.
Tommy Gainey wins Nationwide Tour eventDynamo focus on back line during WC break
