'Two Gloves' Gainey goes from assembly line to PGA Tour

HARTSVILLE, S.C. -- He has built water heaters and installed anodes for $9.15 an hour. He's got a swing -- and a Southern drawl -- that had European competitors on The Golf Channel's Big Break IV chuckling. And he's ready for somebody, perhaps even himself, to stand up to Tiger Woods' dominance.

PGA Tour, get ready for Tommy Gainey.

"I'm just a good ol' Southern boy, country as it gets," Gainey said. "I earned everything I've gotten."

The 32-year-old Gainey's down-home, straightforward approach has earned him the admiration of viewers from two Big Break appearances and, after seven tries, a PGA Tour card.

Gainey tied for 19th at Q-school last month for his exemption. He expects to tee it up at the Sony Open in Hawaii next week.

"I guess I'll be nervous," Gainey said recently. "But I'm not going to worry."

That's pretty much how Gainey has led his life so far.

He was a rising baseball player at Bishopville High when someone suggested he try golf. The 15-year-old was immediately hooked. He taught himself the game through playing, keeping his odd, 10-fingered baseball grip and continuing to wear gloves -- hence, the nickname "Two Gloves" -- on both hands.

Gainey hoped to play college golf but was too inconsistent to attract attention. He went to Central Carolina Technical College and earned an industrial maintenance certificate.

"It involved a lot of valves," he recalled.

He caught on at the A.O. Smith Co.'s engineering lab, testing water heaters and moved on to a job at the plant's assembly line wrapping insulation because it paid more. Then came another step up, installing electrical parts. Golf was left to after work in the summer or weekend rounds with buddies.

"Living in the moment, that's about all I was doing," Gainey said.

Says Chip Chamberlin, general manager of the Hartsville Country Club where Gainey practices, "There are a lot of stories out there, but few like Tommy's."