The Unlikely Story of Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey

Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey has lived a few different lives. Before making it as a pro golfer, Tommy worked blue-collar jobs and lived in a hotel for four years. Tommy talks about his nickname, hustling, how he stayed in the game, The Big Break, and shares his unlikely story of perseverance to become a PGA Tour winner.

here with the legendary Two Gloves. Tommy Two Gloves, how are you, man? Thanks for coming on. Yeah, man. Appreciate it. Uh looking forward to uh talking with you and whoever else wants to join in and listen to what we have to say. So let’s start like I think everyone knows that you like you wear two gloves a little bit about your background but like I think your story is one of the most unusual. So let’s start with who introduced you to the game Tommy. Well I would have to give credit to my father. He introduced my brother and I to the game around the age of nine and um you know we just picked it up. He got us a set of clubs for us to share and we started playing golf. How did you share like so if you and your brother like obviously if you’re playing at different times you went like he just took the set of clubs but what kind of clubs were they Tommy? And and how long did you share clubs with your brother? They were the Axium. You remember the Axium clubs back in the day? We had those to start with. Um, and then after, you know, after we wore those out, we got we we got a little older, so we then we got a set of clubs each, so we didn’t have to share anymore. What was the home course, Tommy? What was it like? I mean, how often did you play all of those type of things? Okay, so really my home course was two. Uh, I played a lot at Bishville Country Club and then there was this other course, Bthoon Country Club. So, we we played a lot at at both courses. So, I would have to say both courses were my home golf course. What when did you realize you were good? Was there like like what age did you start competing in tournaments? Kind of what did that look like? Um, you know, as far as the age, I would say probably 15, 16 because at at that age, you know, I I would go out there and I would make, no joke now, I would go out there and make eight, nine, 10 birdies, but I would make two or three doubles. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And I mean, I I was just making a bunch of birdies, hitting two or three bad T- shots, making a couple doubles, making a triple, hitting it out of bounds, that kind of deal. Yeah. But, you know, everybody that I played with or against, you know, a lot of my friends said, “Man, you got a lot of game.” I I kept hearing, “You got a lot of game. You need to do something with it.” And and so forth. And you know, um, did you play on your high school team, Tommy? I did. I was number one. And like what what was your best round? What was your the rest of your team? Like did they even play golf at all? They did. They did. Um, you know, the the other part of my other golf team was my brother Allan. Um, April Erns and Ashley Fountain. That’s that’s who played on the team and we made it to state and I had a chance to win state because it was at Bishop Country Club one year and um I had three holes left. I missed I missed like a 10-footer or something like that for birdie. So, I just kind of tossed not not in anger, just slightly tossed the putter to the bag. It broke. My dad was watching. And I don’t think I have to tell anybody else what happened the next two holes. And when I got home, well, dad might have kicked your ass, did he, Tommy? Uh, yeah. It was It was a little more than slightly. Let’s put it that way. Yeah, understand. Like we all wanted to play pro golf. That were like decent time. When was it like any sort of realistic when did you like make it a dream to to play professionally? Well, you know, I was a real good baseball player to start with and then I just fell in love with the game of golf. So, I gave up baseball to chase golf. And um you know, I’d say being a senior in high school, I I thought I would get recruited because I was so good. But back then in 1993 when I was a senior, no, nobody none of the big universities or none of the colleges or whatever, they they never recruited the small towns. Mhm. But but as we speak right now, I mean, when you have a player, no matter in what sport, they are flooding that town trying to get that kid to that university. Yeah. I mean, there was no online presence, so it’s not like you could get your name out there. You weren’t playing a ton of like national uh events, so it was kind of hard to like break out of your little town, I assume. Right, Tommy? Right. It was. It was. So, what I did was when I graduated high school, nobody recruited me. I didn’t go to college. So, I went to tech trying to get into a trade and it was industrial maintenance. So, I I did a year and a half, still playing golf, working at Bishopville Country Club when I wasn’t in school, which was which was good because I got to play free golf and if I needed to buy golf balls or anything like that, I could get it at cost for being an employee. Yeah. So that helped out with expenses. And you know, as good as I was then, you know, I played in these, you know, captain’s choices or scrambles or um best baseball tournaments and end up winning a few of them and, you know, was able to get some merchandise, these gift certificates, and I could just get, you know, all the golf merchandise that I needed. Did the two gloves start back then, Tommy? Did you wear two gloves back like always? I’ve always wore two gloves and I got that from my father because, you know, he’s I’m gonna give him the credit. He’s the original. I’m just He’s the original two gloves. He’s he’s the original two gloves. So, what I used to do was when I got his gloves, um, normally when I got them, they were, you know, had holes in them or whatever. So, what I would do was cut the fingertips out. Mhm. And just put two on each hand. That way, like Yeah. Like you know how the weightlifters used to have those gloves? That’s that’s what I used to do with his because you know the holes in the fingers they were so big that it it was just going to be I mean there was a reason he was giving them to me. Okay. Yeah. They wasn’t like they were Tommy four gloves back then. Is that true? Is that really uh we don’t have to say four but that’s that’s the way I did it. And then, you know, it it carried on and when I got better as I got older, you know, a lot of a lot of people kept saying, “Man, you need to be playing professional golf. You’re just too good to be around here.” And, you know, I got with the right one of my buddies and he got me to um a guy I met in he’s from Charlotte. His name’s Cliff Wilson. He’s passed away now for about two years, three years now. And it and it’s crazy because people needs to hear this story. Yeah. So there was this golf course, Bermuda Run Golf Club in Jefferson and what we would do is we would go up there and they had this Friday captain’s choice and they would have anywhere from 40 or more people playing it. So I was up there one day I was going to play in it and they it was started because the you know the daylight savings. So I go up there and I’m just sitting sitting in the clubhouse waiting for everybody to come. I guess it was about, you know, an hour, hour and a half before it started at 5. So, I’m just hanging out, drinking a Coke. So, Cliff Wilson walks in, didn’t know who it was, whatever. He comes in and he says, “Chuck.” He said, “You know, you got anybody here I can play for, you know, 100 aole, 50 aole, whatever.” I’m sitting over there in the chair and he he kind of just leans up like this and looks at me and and I stand up and I I said, you know, if if you really want to gamble, I’m I’m here. I’m ready. So, you know, I guess I might have scared him a little bit. So, he dropped down from the hundred. So, he said, “Well, we’ll play like 20 25 a hole.” So, we played five holes. I go birdie birdie eagle par birdie beat him all five holes and I said no he tried to pay me and I said listen man I said I don’t want your money I just you know I just you know it was just it was fun when somebody runs their mouth Yeah that you can go out there and prove them wrong just to say you know you got to watch what you say and where you say it at Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So is how did he become a part of your life? Like how did you get I remember you and I talking earlier is so let’s just start at the trade. So you you work at you go to tech get your trade certificate. What where did the hot water or the the water heater uh job come in? Right. That’s where I started that uh soon after I got the, you know, I was still working at the golf course and I uh I got a job at AOS Smith. Um I was working as a temp in the lab, you know, hooking up water heaters, testing them, that kind of deal, cleaning up, all that stuff. And how many hours a week were you working? That was through school time. Well, that was 40. That was 40 hours a week. And then you know there was a job to come available and it was um wrapping insulation on water heaters. So I you know I put in well actually it was in installing anodes because it was a second shift job. So I got that job and I was able to go you know be a permanent employee of AO Smith. So I did that for about six or seven months, maybe eight. Um, and then after that, there was a job that come open on first shift. Nobody put their name on it. And I mean, I was young at that time. I didn’t know what that meant. So I put my name up there. And then nobody else, there was like two other people put their name on it. And they when they found out what it was, they said, “No, I don’t want no part of this.” So yeah, I got the job, went the first shift, and I started wrapping insulation on water heater tanks, and I did that for a year. And And that gave you time in the evening and afternoon to play golf, Tommy. Is that kind of what your like regular schedule was? Well, you know, I worked anywhere from five to six days a week. We would work eight hours, unless business was really good, then we would work nine hours a day and we would work eight on Saturday. So, I was, you know, working, you know, pretty much five to six days a week. But also, when I was working, you know, I got into uh some of these guys knew how good I was and they wanted to back me against some other players playing for some serious amount of money. What’s the most amount of money you played before turning professional, Tommy? Well, like what was a regular game for you guys back in the day? Like if someone backed you, what were you guys paying each other at the end of the day? Like couple thousand. Oh, I mean it was starting at we would start at 500, it could go to 5,000. Mhm. A hole. Yeah. And you know it was I mean it was fun. I mean you know my guy that that backed me he said listen he said you get 20% of what you win. Mhm. So to me, when somebody tells me that and I just got to beat this other guy, I am just gonna absolutely go wax him because I won’t I got nothing to lose and everything to gain. So I mean, I’ve got all the security. Yeah. That you could ever want. Yeah. Okay. So you’re at the thing, you’re playing these side games. How do you get to the like what was the next step? I remember you and I talking you lived in a hotel for a while. How did we get there? Uh okay. So where did Al Smith still doing these gambling games every now and then and then um so a budd is the Did you still have the dream to play professionally Tommy all this time? Absolutely. Absolutely. Because you know everybody said I I didn’t really know how good I was. I knew I was good. Yeah. But when you hear everybody all your friends say dude you need to be out there playing. You need to play professional golf. This that and the other. So, I got some help um from David Lucas. He helped me out and Harry Ben and Haley helped me out and I went to play this tour at the beach. That was when Harry helped me and you know, I won like twice and made like 99,000 one year and then we had a disagreement about the deal and then it that broke up. Then David Lucas got me introduced to some guys at Dunes West in Mount Pleasant in Charleston, South Carolina. And then we worked out a deal there and I made almost a h 100,000 there. So I mean, you know, without with this goes without saying, I’ve had a bunch of help from a lot of people and I don’t want the credit. They deserve the credit because they put up the money, they put up their time, they put up their belief in me. And back then it was not that easy to get a lot of money to to go and play professional golf because as you know it’s it was tough then and it’s still tough now and and it cost a lot. I mean Tommy, do you remember like when you first started playing professional? Like I mean you came from a blue collar, you’re wearing two gloves, you got a funky swing. Like did you use that as an advantage or did like do you remember people like saying like, “Oh, this guy sucks.” You know, look at his swing. Well, like what was kind of the reception? I mean, we know it now because you’ve won on the tour and like you’ve done you’ve had a successful career, but like back then no one know like you weren’t Tommy Two Gloves, you’re just some dude. That’s right. So, what was kind of the reception? You know, we were talking about Cliff Wilson earlier. So, me and Cliff became really close, like father-son kind of relationship, and he said, Tommy, he said, “You know, there there’s this teardrop tour back in the day, and I I’m sure you probably still remember that tour.” Yeah, I sure do. So, they went they went to Wood Creek Farms in Columbia, South Carolina, and I was working six days a week. We were working overtime at AO Smith, so I didn’t have much time to practice. So went there and I showed up with my cut off jeans and holes in my shirt just getting off work with my bra boots going to play a practice round at Woodree Farms and they said well you you got to have khaki shorts you can’t wear that. Yeah. So I had to get a shirt had to get pair of shorts to go out there and you know play a practice round. So I went out there and you know the entry fee was like I don’t know around a thousand back then I think it was maybe 1,100 something like that. So Cliff he paid like I remember paying like $150 of the entry fee he paid the rest. Yeah. So long story short I ended up winning the tournament. I won that tournament. I won. That’s my first ever professional golf tournament that I played in. And I end up winning and Cliff Wilson, you know, when I when we got done, he was there. He watched me the last day and everything and, you know, end up winning. What did you win, Tommy? Do you know what you won? $15,000. Okay. Back then. Yeah. So, Cliff’s there. Cliff there. And I said, Cliff, I said, we won. How much do you want? He said, Tommy. He said, “I’m telling you, you are special. You have it.” And still to this day, I don’t know what the it factor is because you hear people say, “Well, that new guy’s coming out. He’s got it.” Yeah. Or this other guy’s got it. I don’t know what the it means, but everybody said you got it. And I’m still trying to figure out what it means. Till this day, I still don’t. Yeah. And he said, “Listen, I am just trying to help you out because I think you’re special. I think you have a God-given ability that a lot of players wish they had and I think you can make it. And he made it his mission to try to help me in any way possible to play in these golf tournaments. And without his help, he was the pretty he was the one that pretty much start me on the the trend to going to professional golf and trying to play. After you won, did you quit AOC when you won that event or did you go back? Well, I went I went back I went back, you know, and matter of fact, since we’re talking about that, I had to take two sick days and I didn’t have any. So, my supervisor had to I had to talk to him first thing Monday morning. Yeah. We get started. I get started wrapping insulation. Um the utility guy, Rodney, comes over. He says, “Dale wants to see you.” Dale Clark was my supervisor. So, I had to go in there and meet with him for about 10 minutes. He said, “Tom,” he said, “list.” He said, “You’re one of my best workers. If you need if if you need to get off, just come talk to me and we’ll try to work something out. Try not to do this again.” And I said, “Man,” I said, “I really appreciate you saying that.” So, I and he said, “Congratulations on winning.” So, it went all through the plan. Everybody knew I’d won. Yeah. And uh he asked me, he said, “Well, before you go back out there, have you figured out what you’re going to do?” I said, “No, I haven’t.” Mhm. Um, so I I was going, you know, I was going to work. I I thought about putting in my two weeks, but I just I said, “Well, I’m gonna just give it a day or two.” So that Wednesday, I said, “Well, I’ll work the next two weeks. I’m gonna put in my two weeks.” So, I put in my two weeks. I worked every day until the last day and I got sick. I got some kind of stomach bug or something and I missed. But I worked just about every day until then. And um I mean Tommy, what was your like your dad’s feeling on turning pro? I assume there’s part of it is like you had a good job at AOC or AO Smith like you you are but then like any parent wants more for their kid and you want to like this small town you want to get out of there. Like what what was your family’s feeling or friends around the area about turning pro? Did they think like this is crazy or were they supportive of you? Oh, they were very supportive. And even my dad was supportive. He even helped me even with the money that I just won. And Cliff did, too. Um, he even said, “Listen, you know, I you won. You beat a lot of really good players. You know, if if you want to try it, I’ll I’ll do everything I can to help you.” And for dad to say that after the fact of winning, it meant a lot to me because it meant that he really believed in me playing against these guys. He he believed I could compete or even beat these guys on a on a daily basis. So that that was re really reassuring number one, but it really, you know, it was heartwarming for me for him to say that. What’ you play, Tommy? Teardrop, Golden Bear, Hooters. Is that kind of the like where you I mean, I know you played everywhere. Oh, Tear Drop, Hooters, Torill Tour, Golden Bear, Gateway. I mean, Hooter. I mean, all of them. I played pretty much all of them. What? There was a hotel. Didn’t you live in a hotel for a long time, Tommy? I did. So, after all that, so I I went and played. So this is this right here lead up to when I went to Charleston to get in the hotel live with a because a buddy of mine had a he had a hotel in Charleston. So you know I played about a year and a half after I won the 15,000. My mom and dad started having health issues. My dad had like a neck surgery. He had a disc or two that was messed up. So he had to go in there. My mom had um I can’t I’m wonder if I want to say it was a hysterctomy or something like that. M she had complications of that and you know so I said well you know running a little low on money but still still have enough to do it but I said you know I’ll just I’ll come back home and I’ll just I’ll put this on the back burner for now and I’ll just try to go find some ins and outs on some jobs to do. So, I went, my cousin was moved furniture, so I went to help him for a little while and um I tried to go back to work at the golf course a little bit. So, I mean, I was trying to do some some stuff like that to try to help around the house and try to be around just in case, you know, something else was going to happen to mom and dad. So, yeah. Anyway, so after, you know, that was about a year and a half, two years, I was home. And then so a buddy of mine, David Lucas, says, you know, he says, “Man, you need to be playing on the tour again.” So he said, “Well, let me help you.” So he got in in touch with some buddies in South Carolina down there in Charleston. And this was about 99. This was 1999 or or 2000ish. And uh he said, “Well, come on down there. I you know, Ditcoin’s one of the best. He’s one of the best ever amateur players to ever tee it up and be from the state of South Carolina. So I went down there, I played with him. Um I played with David and little to be known, Darius Rucker was in the force and two. Oh, really? Oh my god. That’s when I first met him and I just when I seen him, I said, I I don’t know what to say. I can’t believe I’m playing with him. I mean, I listen to their music all the time. I loved them then and I still love them now. And I played with them and I go out there and I’m telling you, I just absolutely tore that golf course up. I shot like 63 or four with like nine birdies or 10 birdies and like a bow gear or two. And um so they were impressed to say the least. Yeah. Um and I was impressed because I got to play with Darius. Yeah. Yeah. So I met him and everything and you know so we met after after we got done because we played at like 7:30 in the morning. So we ate lunch and we talked about some different things and you know Darius gave me his number. I gave him mine and he said dude anytime you want to play let me know. He’s I’m I’m all about playing with you and we just we struck a great relationship friendship and and it’s been to this day even better. So very lucky and blessed on that. Mhm. So David, so I got done and I had to drive back to South Carolina, which was about 2 hours and 15 minutes. So I drove back home and David said, “I’ll be in touch with you.” So he called me when I’m on my way home and he said, “I talked to Dick and he says, you know, can you come back tomorrow and play?” I said, “Sure, I’ll drive back down tomorrow and play.” Yeah. Um so I went back, played again the next day, shot 65. Okay. So that’s two days in a row I’ve you know and um you know and he seems very interested Mr. Horn Mr. Horn and and David. So you know we we got done and and everything and so they’re talking. I said well I’m going to go back to the house. Um so he calls me when I’m on my way home again and he said he said Tommy said listen you have impressed Darius you have impressed Mr. and they want to try to help. So I said, “Okay.” So, you know, I own a hotel down here in Charleston. You just come down here and stay. We’ll try to get you a job at a golf course where you can work on your game a little bit and you can get you a little spending money. Yeah. So, that’s what I did. So, he got me down there. I got a job at at Dunes West. I need to pull my phone before it goes dead. There you go. Uh, let’s see. Hopefully it’ll stay right there. Um, so anyway, I get a job at Dunes West. I’m I’m making a little bit of money. Um, playing with this M MGA guys, the men’s golf association guys, some of the members, working a little bit, practicing on my game a little bit. And dude, so Kevin Zikas was the head pro. He’s still the head pro there at Dun West now. Richard Rankin was the GM. He’s still the GM there now. So, I’m working and so he calls me into his office one day. Kevin says, he said, ‘ Tommy, what the hell are you doing? I said, ‘What do you mean? Said, I’m trying to work and trying to get back out there. He said, listen, he said, you are wasting your time here. He said, all the members are talking about they they can’t believe how good you are and they keep asking me, why are you still working here? You need to be out there playing professional golf. And I said, “Dude,” I said, “I just don’t have the money.” So Kevin took it on himself with another guy named Jeff and and they got together. They got some members together, had a meeting, and they and they got up some money for me to go play this tour, the Gateway Tour at Myrtle Beach. So I go down there and play and make I don’t know almost 100,000 I believe it was. And you know they they they pay for everything and then they got you know whatever was left you know they split it 50/50. So and that was and that was nice because that was a nice gesture. He didn’t have to do that. Yeah. And you know and that’s the thing they didn’t have to do that but they did. And till this day from from Cliff helping from my dad to David to Darius because they sponsored me for a little while too and and where I’m at now from then to now I’ve had so much help and the good thing about it is I’ve met so many wonderful people during this journey and I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done for me because they they don’t So, they really don’t know how much I appreciate it. How long did you live in the Is this like a one room hotel room, Tommy? Like just like a regular It’s like It’s It’s a room with two beds in it. I mean, it’s got bath, TV, you know, it’s got the whole works. And I How long did you stay there? From the It was like the middle towards the end of 1999. Yeah. To like 2003. or the or the same hotel room you lived. I did. It’s amazing. It’s so crazy. It was crazy. I mean, he So, he you know, David had some partners in the hotel. And, you know, he talked it over with him and said, “Listen, I want to get this guy. I want him to stay in here. I don’t want you to charge him anything. He has to stay here. If he needs something, you give it to him.” And unbelievable. You know, it’s it’s just crazy, man. Were you going to Q school every year, Tommy? How many times did you go to Q school before you got through? You know, I went to Q school for a few times. Um I don’t know the exact number because as you know, I’m 50 now. So that’s been quite a long time ago, but I’ve been at least four or five times. Yeah. And you know, the the second time I went or third time, you know, I I’ve done the big break. I was just getting done with the big break. Filmed it. You know, it was the one in You know the one I won, the big break seven. I just won that one and we just got done filming it, but nobody knew I won yet, right? Just got done filming it. I couldn’t tell nobody. So, I had to go and and do Q school and I had to go to Florida and it was uh the place, you know, the golf course. I can’t think of the name of it, but it it had a nine holes, three nines. It says the good, the bad, the ugly. Oh, yeah. I know this course. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And everybody everybody knows that one. And yeah, we had to play the bad and the ugly for the And you know, I got there and I played terrible. I played terrible the first round. The second round I played better. Um I think I shot like four or five over the first day, but then I shot like three or four under the last day. Yeah. And missed by one. So that was second stage to get me Yeah. to finals. Um, and then I went one more time. The last time that I got through, it took me to 2007. And then I finally got through there. So, what’s that moment like, Tommy? I mean, like you said, you’ve had so much help. I mean, you know, when did you graduate high school? 90 What? 93. 1993. Yeah. So, you’re talking 14 years till you get status. I mean, what was that moment like when you got through Q school? It was incredible. I mean, I was, you know, the worst the worst part of getting through Q school in 2007 when I when I did the finals, you know, it was six days back then, as you know, and it was the hardest six rounds you’ll ever play because you talk about pressure that it was staged with it. And you know, I played good to start with and then the last day I shoot like four or five over and I was like in the top seven or eight going into the last day and I shot like I think it’s 76 or 77 and that put me to about tied for 16th or 17th. So that just tells you how good I’d played leading up to the final round. And I got through cuz I thought I was going to get knocked out when I shot that 77 or or six, whatever. And it was just a big relief when I found out they said, “You’re you’re good. You’re going to have a a PGA tour card starting in 2008.” And I was so happy. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to say. I was just so happy because this is what I’ve worked all my life for. Yeah. to get that PJ tour card. What was that first PJ tour event like? I mean, everybody that you played against like played huge junior events. Most of them went to college. They all played I mean not that you didn’t play many tours, but they’ve had like a more what rounded journey to that moment. Like what Oh, for sure. What was that moment? Well, you know, well, see, this is the thing. They’ve had a lot of these other kids or players then what what did they have? They had a teacher. They didn’t have the analytics like you have now like all these different contraptions like the Trackman, but I mean obviously they had some form of Trackman back then. I don’t know what it was called, but you know, they they had all that. They had everything at their disposal. They had all the money. They had the private jets. They could do whatever. But now, um, me, I’m playing in this first PJ tour event against VJ Sing, Davis Love, um, Fred Couples, guys I looked up to, watching watching them on TV and now they’re five feet away from me. I’m in dining and they’re sitting at the table right next to me. I mean, just different things like that. It’s just like I in your pants, right, Tommy? Like a little bit. I was starruck. Yeah. I just didn’t know how to handle it. But I was trying to do the best I could because, you know, I knew I figured people would probably talk about my swing, the two gloves, how I played and all that stuff. And, you know, I didn’t care. They could talk me. I mean, they could say whatever they want. I was there trying to I earned my spot. Yeah. On the PGA tour in 2008. Nobody could take that away from me. So, they could say whatever they wanted to. I had the card to prove it that I belonged out there. Do you remember a reaction from us any player like when they played with you for the first time? Like do you remember a certain player maybe somebody you look up to that was like what the hell is with the two gloves or what’s with the swing? Anything like that? One of the few guy, one of the first guys that I’ve seen when I got into Sony for the 2008 was Zach Johnson. He was sitting in the um you know I’d registered. I was going in to eat lunch and he was in there. He sat down and he looked at me and he said, “Tommy,” he said, “Man, great to see you. Great playing at Q school to get here.” You know, just you know, stuff like that sticks out because I played against Zach on the Hooters Tour back in the day. And you know, some of these other guys, I mean, they probably had some, you know, um some comments to say, but they didn’t really say it to my face. They might have said it to some other players and you know they might have had a laugh about it but you know it was fine. It was fine. I mean Tommy do you look at your story and think about how unlikely it is? Do you realize that like your story is unlike any other? Have you given that some thought? Uh I think you could write a book about my life. Oh I know we could. Yeah for sure. We we probably could write a book about my life with all the the trials, the tribulations, the good, the bad, the the ugly. I mean, it’s just but everybody goes through it. And you know, I always say that I’m I’m very lucky and I’m very blessed to be in this position because I’ve got a great team around me. And I had one then and I still have one now. You know, I at 2008, I didn’t have didn’t have a girlfriend, but I was about to have my first child. And, you know, that was something that was really special during that year, even though I played horrible until the last tournament when I got beat by Davis Love the Third, but it’s okay. My son was born in 2008. So getting my PGA tour card in for 2008 and having my first son born in 2008, nobody could say that was the worst year ever. What was that tournament like, Tommy? Did it does it did is that the event that I mean obviously it made you belong because you were in the hunt, but like did it did it give you so much confidence to be like, “Yeah, I can hang with these guys.” I mean, you can tell yourself that, right? But it’s got to be some results at some point. That’s right. That’s right. I mean, obviously, I can tell you that, you know, it didn’t the my start for the 2008 year being my first year on the tour did not start as well as I wanted it to. You know, it was just, you know, maybe I felt uncomfortable. Um, maybe you could say that. Um, but I was trying to do the best I could at playing. But, you know, you know, I earned the card. I I should I felt comfortable with it. It’s just my game just didn’t play because, you know, I feel like I might have been a little starruck a little bit. And, you know, it’s it’s the guys that you look up to and watch on TV every day or every week during golf tournaments and you’re right there next to them. So, maybe a little little bit uncomfortable, but you know, I got no excuses. I played horrible for the year and you know you it’s just something you got to go through. You gota I mean you got to go through the bad. You know they always say it gets worse before it gets better. So I went to the worst part for it to get better and I’m a better person for that and player. What was it like? I mean, you’re now 13 years removed from your PGA Tour win, but you’ve had corn ferry wins even just a few years ago, but like I mean, all you’ve been through, Tommy, to be a PGA Tour winner has to be like, do you like how often do you think about like your career and your life and the fact that you’re a PGA Tour winner? You know, I think about a thumb. I think about a thumb. People say, “Man, you got the best job. You got the best job in the world.” I used to have the best job in the world, and now it’s with all the politics going on on the with the PGA tour and the Corn Fairy Tour. It’s not like it used to be. It used to be a lot of fun. used to be a lot of fun and now it’s that the politics has divided you know obviously you see it’s divided the country and it’s divided the the tours as well um in my opinion but it’s it it’s just crazy because I didn’t realize when I won that golf tournament the only thing that I knew is I was a PGA Tour winner I was one of the best players in the world then and I’m still one of the best players in the world now. It’s just a little bit different because I’m a lot older than these guys now on the tour. But the good thing is when I won that tournament, I had a a Smith function or you know little golf tournament to do that Monday, Monday, Tuesday. So when I drove from C Sea Island, we drove to Charleston where it was at. They were we were going to play at Bulls Bay Tuesday and Monday was, you know, just to go out there and, you know, meet everybody or whatever. So I met Darius Sunday night. He was or Monday, I think it was Monday afternoon, we met for this little welcome home, welcome party, whatever. And I seen him. He he was he came and we we ate dinner and we we had a good time. He was one of the first ones to come up to me and just give me a big bear hug and it was it was awesome. And you know, all the people from AO Smith, there was a lot of people from there from upper management and that was cool. And you know, my agent was there, Paul Graham, and you know, Charlie Rhymer was there. We we just had a great time. And um you know, stuff like that, you don’t I never I never will forget that. How many beers were drank that night, Tommy? Let’s just say it was a few. Can’t give you a number. It was a few. All right. I mean, we’ve gone at it 40 minutes. We could do 10 podcast with you, but what’s it like to be a young guy again? Because you’re now 50 and now you’re on the young end of of Champions Tour. So, what’s was it has it been nice to be on the Champions Tour? I know you’ve only Monday and I played I played in three. I munded into um I Monday the first one, finished tie for fifth, got got that got the top 10 spot, so I played the second one and then I munded into um St. Louis and finished 11th there, I think. Um, but you know, it’s it’s fun because these are the guys that I grew up watching and you know, I you got Cory Paven out there, Batif Ernie Harrington, um, Furick Booze out there now. I mean, just so many guys that, you know, I grew up watching on TV and, you know, I’m one of the young guys now. I mean, I can’t tell you what Darren Clark told me because he used some some pretty bad language, but he just said, “Welcome to the old club.” And uh that was pretty cool by Darren. He’s such a good dude. Such a cool dude as well. Um but it it’s fun. It’s It’s like I’m not the shortest person on the tour now. Yeah. Yeah. I’m I’m like a top 10 or top 12 guy there as far as driving distance on the um on the Champions Tour, but out here on the PJ tour, I’m bottom three, four. Yeah. Yeah. Tommy, we could I mean, Tommy and I have a lot of conversations offline. He’s always been great to me. We’re going to do this again, Tommy. We’re going to talk through Cornfairy Tour. We’re going to talk through your life and but I mean it’s such an amazing story like people just don’t understand. It just doesn’t happen. It just doesn’t happen. You weren’t supposed to make it by the book. You know what I mean? You I agree. I agree with you. I mean, I I went from having two of the worst jobs ever in the world, w moving furniture and wrapping insulation on water heater tanks. And by the way, we all know that insulation, I mean, it you’ll be scratching all over the place if Yeah. if you’re not careful. So, um that’s two of the worst jobs you could ever have. And and I had those two. And the biggest thing that I’ve realized through all of this, the ups and the downs, is where it started and where I’m at. I really appreciate my position now because I know I was I was doing one of the worst jobs ever and now I’m doing the best job ever. So I went from being, you know, doing the worst to doing the best. I mean, what better feeling is that? I mean, it’s such a great feeling and I’m such I’m in such a great position um that, you know, I I thank God every day that he has given me this ability to play golf uh to try to help others because that’s what I would really like to do, try to help others because that’s basically what he wants me to do. I am doing his plan and his plan is for me to play golf and to help people. Tommy, I appreciate all you’ve done. You and I talk often. Appreciate the time. We will have you back on again. Your story is unlike any other and uh you’re the best, man. Thanks so much. Hey, I appreciate it, man. Holl at me anytime. You know that.