This week's tour stop takes us to Charlotte, North Carolina's Quail Hollow Club for the Wells Fargo Championship, one of the PGA Tour's premier non-major championship tournaments. The field features five of the world's top ten ranked golfers and seven of the top ten players in the FEDEX Cup points standings.
That being said, my pick this week is the 89th ranked player in the world, Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey. Gainey's bio reads like a Hollywood movie script: The Bishopville, SC native attended tiny Central Carolina Technical College majoring in industrial maintenance. He worked in a factory wrapping insulation around hot water heaters for the A. O. Smith Corp. (now one of his sponsors) before turning pro. He labored for years on the smallest of mini-tours (Hooters, Tarheel and Gateway). He appeared on The Golf Channel's "Big Break" series (eliminated halfway through the "USA vs. Europe" season in 2005), graduated to the Nationwide Tour in 2007, played on the big tour in 2008 and part of 2009, failed to keep his card and returned to the Nationwide Tour for 2010, where he won once and finished third on the money list to regain his PGA Tour playing privelages for 2011. All he has done this year is make nine cuts in 14 starts, with five top 25 performances including top three finishes in his last two tournaments.
"Two Gloves" (the nickname comes from his habit of wearing all weather gloves on both hands, a holdover from his baseball playing days)is hot and playing close to home. He feeds off of the emotion of the crown well, as he demonstrated at the Heritage Classic, where he finished one shot out of the playoff between eventual winner Brandt Snedeker and Luke Donald. He was in contention all week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, finishing just two strokes out of that playoff. He plays great in a three tier format, as his success is all recent and he is in tier C. You can still load up the big names in the A and B tiers and have Gainey lurking in the C bracket (paired with defending champion Rory McIlroy?). How can you not like this guy? His blue-collar background, humble demeanor and local ties will make him a fan favorite. Despite a swing that looks like he's trying to beat down an alligator in a phone booth, he's in the top 30 in the driving distance, total driving, GIR and scoring average statistical categories. I look for Gainey to leap the final hurdle and get his first win on the PGA Tour this week.
Other great picks in the three tier format include A: Nick Watney, who seems like he's in the top ten every week and Luke Donald, looking to gain ground on world no. 1 Lee Westwood. B: Bubba Watson, coming off of a win and playing well all season; Justin Rose, 9 top 25's in 10 starts, Ricky Fowler and Hunter mahan. C: Gainey and defending champion Rory McIlroy, looking for redemption after this year's final round Masters collapse and playing well in his Euro Tour starts since then.
Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
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