Tommy Gainey closes with course-record 60 to win McGladrey Classic

We’ve seen some incredible finishes this season on the PGA Tour, but what journeyman Tommy Gainey produced during the final round of the McGladrey Classic could go down as the most impressive performance of them all.

If this is your first time hearing Gainey’s name, here’s a quick rundown on the 37-year-old’s career: before he made it to the PGA Tour, he spent years working as an assembly line worker in a water heater; played nearly every mini-tour in the Continental U.S.; has the most unorthodox swing on tour; wears a golf glove on each hand; won the Golf Channel’s “Big Break” in 2005; and then earned his card, in 2007, after making it through all three stages of Q-School.

The guy is a journeyman in every sense of the word. On Sunday, he added a new title to his growing resume — that of course being first-time PGA Tour winner, after he carded an eye-popping 10-under 60 — he came within a couple inches of recording the sixth 59 in tour history — to win by one over David Toms.

With the win, Gainey locked up his PGA Tour card for the next two seasons and booked his ticket to Kapalua in January for the winners-only Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

From tour journeyman to PGA Tour winner. Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up sometimes. The fact that another tour journeyman — Ted Potter Jr. won earlier this year at the Greenbrier — managed to win on golf’s biggest stage should give mini-tour players with dreams of one day hoisting a PGA Tour trophy hope.

“It feels like I’m in a dream,” Gainey said. “I’m just waiting for somebody to slap me up side the head or pinch me or something to wake me up.”

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