There are a lot of different ways to maneuver a little white ball around a golf course. There are also many different ways to hold a golf club and not every swing has to be Ben Hogan perfect.
Tommy Gainey proved once more that there is room at the top of the golf world for someone with a different approach to a golf swing than the majority of golfers on tour.
Gainey started the day seven shots behind and fired a final round 60 on Sunday to post 16-under par more than two hours before the third round leaders would walk up the 18th hole.
The leaders, three veteran golfers with major victories and a ton of PGA Tour victories and experience had to look at that number hanging on the leader board and try to beat it.
In the end David Toms, tournament host Davis Love and Jim Furyk all failed to catch Gainey.
For “Two Gloves” it was his first PGA Tour win. This is pretty heady stuff for former factory worker from South Carolina and a Golf Channel Big Break champion.
Gainey is an “aw shucks” good ole boy, but don’t let the southern drawl, strong grip, and two golf gloves fool you. He can play a little.
Years of toiling on mini tours and learning to handle the presence of television cameras watching every his shot on the Big Break helped him gain the confidence necessary to pull off Sunday’s extraordinary round.
Former PGA Tour member and Golf Channel Analyst Brandel Chamblee described Gainey's swing as someone trying to kill a snake with a garden hose.
Wonder what all of the critics that have told him over the years that he would never win with that unorthodox swing are saying now?
Tommy beat another guy with a slightly less than perfect golf swing. Jim Furyk hasn’t done too badly with a golf swing that a famous announcer once compared to a monkey falling out of a tree. Furyk’s 16 PGA Tour wins, U.S. Open victory, FedEx Cup and $52 million in career earnings should get him into the Hall of Fame one of these days.
Keep hacking at it Tommy. There are more wins out there for you.