‘Two Gloves’ uses hot hand off greens
Posted on Friday, May 9, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/225178/
FORT SMITH — The rain held off and Tommy Gainey poured it on Thursday morning.
Gainey had seven birdies in his first 11 holes and is tied with Matt Weibring and Kris Cox for the first-round lead at 6-under-par 64 in the Nationwide Tour’s Fort Smith Classic at Hardscrabble Country Club.
Gainey, who won The Golf Channel’s Big Break IV reality show and the Hooters Tour event at Rogers last year, had chip-ins for birdie on Nos. 1, 12 and 14 during his round Thursday.
“When I made that 9-iron shot [on 14 ] I felt like today was going to be a really good day,” said Gainey, nicknamed “Two Gloves” because he wears black gloves on both hands when he plays. “When you’re looking at 5 and you make 3, that tells me right there that the possibilities of something happening is really good.”
Gainey, who earned his PGA Tour card last December, is 209 th on the money list and is competing on the Nationwide Tour this week because he did not qualify for this week’s Players Championship being held at Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Gainey’s group, which included Conway’s Bryce Molder, had one of the day’s largest galleries.
Weibring and Cox, who hasn’t made a cut in five attempts on the Nationwide Tour this year, matched Gainey with rounds of 64. Cox’s average score in his Nationwide Tour first rounds this year was 77. 6 going into Thursday.
“I have just had a hard time playing golf period this year. I just haven’t been very good,” Cox said. “It’s just nice to play a good round. I’ve been playing so poorly that you kind of wonder if you’re ever going to be any good again. It was really nice to play like a pro today.”
Just behind at 4 under are Cameron Percy, David Lutterus, Jason Dufner, Brian Stuard, Justin Hicks and Michael Boyd, who was born in Little Rock and grew up in Kansas City, Mo. and Tulsa.
Bryan DeCorso, who is the top Nationwide Tour money-winner playing this week, shot 2 over par. He is ranked fourth and is one of 10 players in the top 25 participating. Of them, only No. 6 Darron Stiles, No. 13 Tee McCabe (2 under ), No. 16 Henrik Bjornstad (2 under ) and No. 17 Casey Wittenberg (1 under ) broke par. Thursday’s first round began on time at 7: 20 a. m with the course still a bit soggy after hard rain fell as tornado sirens sounded Wednesday evening. Players were allowed to lift, clean and place their golf balls. The softness of the ground and the lack of thick rough were expected to make for low scores. And even though Gainey and Weibring posted their scores early, most of the lower scores came later in the day.
“If you were in the fairway it was great because you could improve your lie. That made driving the ball very important,” said Cox, who played in the afternoon. “You had to be in the fairway today. Not because the rough was so deep that you had trouble getting it out, you were going to have mud balls and wouldn’t be able to control the flight and spin of your ball, which you have to do.”
Stiles, who won the 2006 Fort Smith Classic, is in a group of 10 players at 3 under.
“I feel comfortable on the course. Getting off to a good start this morning, making birdie on No. 1 put everything at ease, and I just went from there,” Stiles said. “It could have been a lot lower than it really was. I left a few puts short on the front nine.”
Weibring and Cox played bogeyfree, while Gainey made one bogey. It came when he double-hit a chip shot on the 13 th hole.
“I hit a bad tee shot, hit a really good second shot where I just hit it too far. Then I hit a chip shot where I double-hit it, but I ended up making 5,” Gainey said. “I made 5 from the fringe, not real happy about it.”
But he got back on track on the following hole after seemingly getting himself in more trouble with two bad shots.
“It kind of settled in a wash-out area,” Gainey said. “I don’t know what to say about the third shot. I just tried to bump a 9-iron up there, looking to get a good putt at a par, and it goes in the hole,” Gainey said. “It was a great break.”
Weibring, who played at Georgia Tech, also started on the back nine. He was 3 under at the turn and made another birdie at No. 3. On the 533-yard sixth hole, he used a driver and hybrid to get to the green in two strokes. He then made an 18-footer for eagle to get to 6 under.
He also came up big on his final hole of the day after missing the fairway and hitting his second shot into a greenside bunker.
“I had just missed the fairway on 18 by a couple of yards and hit it in the bunker and got it up and down,” Weibring said.
It didn’t appear anyone else would make a charge in the afternoon until Cox, who also started on the back nine, made birdies at Nos. 3, 5 and 6 to get to 6 under. He made a 20-foot birdie early, then made his others from inside 10 feet.
“I’m surprised it was 6 under,” Cox said. “I wouldn’t have been surprised at 3 under. I had a good, good week at home with work. I thought I corrected some things I needed to correct.”
Former Arkansas Razorback Rich Morris survived a double bogey start to finish at 3 under. He posted the best score of the nine players in the event with local ties.