For pure human interest, the recently concluded PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament may be the best event on the calendar. Sure, many of the golfers might never make enough noise in marquee events to capture your interest, but that isn't to say they can't play or haven't already scripted enough of a story to pique your curiosity.
Among the 26 who secured playing privileges for 2008 were two players who helped make the
All the big names were in Charlotte, N.C., that week - Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Adam Scott, Retief Goosen, Sergio Garcia - and so, too, were Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey and Todd Demsey. While the former group of names supplied the résumés and sold the tickets, the latter two provided the stories that lifted spirits.
The fact that both Gainey and Demsey will be on the PGA Tour in 2008 is a breath of fresh air for a landscape that can always use new faces and story lines.
You probably haven't heard of Gainey, unless you're a devoted follower of the Tarheel Tour throughout the Carolinas. He hails from Bishopville, not far from Columbia, S.C., and if you're wondering about the nickname, you can probably guess. They call him "Two Gloves" because he wears golf gloves on both hands, even while putting. Oh, and the grip? It's straight out of his childhood, the basic 10-finger baseball style that has always worked, so why change it?
You may remember Demsey, because it wasn't that long ago - 1993, in fact - that he was an NCAA champion and Walker Cup member, an amateur who shared collegiate fairways with Mickelson and was every bit as good as Justin Leonard. Somehow he stumbled transitioning from the amateur world to the pro grind and his rookie season on the PGA Tour, in 1997, was forgettable.
What was unforgettable was the news he received in 2002, when doctors told him that his sinus pain was caused by a brain tumor the size of a golf ball. Funny how that news seemed to make Demsey stop worrying about 4-foot putts, but after he had surgery in 2002, then another procedure in '03, he resumed his pro aspirations, playing on the Nationwide Tour.
"It's slow-growing, so it should be all right, as long as I manage it [and] get it checked every six months or so," said Demsey after Round 2 of the Wachovia Championship.
Demsey had made it in via Monday qualifying and so had Gainey, the two of them great additions to fields that are talent-laden, yes, but oftentimes filled with stale stories. No worries with either of these gentlemen.
Gainey, for instance, told reporters that he had had jobs wrapping insulation around water heaters and moving furniture. Both paid in the neighborhood of $8.50 an hour, which he felt was pretty good money, and while he graciously accepted the courtesy Mercedes that entrants received, Gainey conceded that he was more "of a Chevy Tahoe guy."
Meanwhile, Demsey met up with Mickelson and nodded when Woods walked by.
"This," Demsey said quietly, "is where you want to be."
He will be in 2008, and so will Gainey, and given their well-traveled roads, it's no surprise they took different routes at Q School, too.
Demsey started the sixth and final round tied for 31st, sitting at 11 under and figuring the cut would come at around 14 under (which it did). Playing near-flawless golf and enveloped by what he called "a calmness," Demsey posted a bogey-free 64 on the Crooked Cat course at Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge in Orlando, Fla., and roared into eighth place. It was a resounding trip back to the PGA Tour.
As for Gainey, he had burned it up for five days, scores of 67-68-65-71-69 leaving him in a tie for fifth. But his scoring tank was empty and "Two Gloves" made just one birdie, shot 76, and crashed into a share of 19th place. Not good, but it wasn't completely bad, either. At 15 under, he still made the cut by one.
That was good enough for him and as Gainey took a deep breath in the moments after the six-day ordeal, he nodded his approval. He'll "be playing with the big boys now," he said.
Demsey embraced a similar feeling, though you'll excuse him if he seems to have a different perspective. After all, not too long ago, he received news that the tumor had returned, so here he goes again.
"I really was fine with whatever happened," said Demsey. "I came here to get my card, but it's not life or death. I have things in perspective."
He said doctors have told him that they believe the new tumor is benign, but he'll have an MRI next week. Radiation could follow, but until he knows, he'll keep himself busy with what he knows best - practice and a whole lot of perspective.
Card players
A little of this, some of that from the final stage of PGA Tour qualifying:Of the 26 who earned cards for 2008, nine did it the hard way, by going through all three stages. Among them was Alejandro Canizares, whose father is Jose Maria, a 13-time winner on the European PGA Tour and a member of the Champions Tour since 1998.
Don't ask Aussie David McKenzie how much one shot means. Had he finished one shot lower in the 72-hole Nationwide Tour finale, he would have been 25th on the money list and earned his PGA Tour card for 2008. Instead, he was back to Q School and after six days and 108 holes, it happened again. Had he been one shot lower, he would have earned the final fully exempt spot. Instead, he's headed back to the Nationwide Tour.
With Cumberland native Brad Adamonis having finished tied for ninth to earn his card, the Rhode Island contingent on the PGA Tour will be five strong in 2008 - the others being Brad Faxon, Billy Andrade, Brett Quigley, and Patrick Sheehan, who returns via his ninth-place finish on the Nationwide Tour money list.
Leading contender for hard-luck story? It has to be Miguel Angel Carballo. Comfortably inside the cutline, he finished double bogey, bogey, bogey to miss by one.
Once he was good enough to go head-to-head against Woods in a PGA Championship playoff, but seven years later, Bob May is still trying to get back out on Tour. He'll have to go a different route, because while he birdied the 108th and final hole, he fell one shot shy.
Another former PGA Tour member, Carlos Franco, made it through, even though he didn't bother with even one practice round.
Still another PGA Tour veteran, Duffy Waldorf, played the final 36 holes bogey-free, shot 65-66, and roared up the leaderboard to finish 14th and regain his card.
Harrison Frazar was 12 under on the Crooked Cat course, but even par on the Panther Lake layout, and in a tie for 33d, he missed his card by two.
John Merrick birdied three of his last seven holes to make the cut on the number.
MGA votes are in
George Pendergast of The Country Club has been elected the 54th president of the Massachusetts Golf Association. The slate of officers will include: John F. Dezieck of Wyantenuck CC, first vice president; Paul Burke Jr., of Vesper CC, second vice president; Clarence J. Bennett of Longmeadow CC, championship committee chairman; and executive committee members Peter Costello of Cohasset GC, David Fite of The International GC, Stephen Gormley of Kittansett, and Jack Taymore of Kernwood CC . . . The MGA has bid farewell to a distinguished employee as Owen O'Malley has stepped down as director of rules and competitions. Having worked tirelessly at the MGA for seven years, O'Malley is headed to California to work for his brother's law firm. He will be sorely missed . . . Congratulations filled the air late in the golf season at Fall River CC, where member Dave Machado went on some sort of tear. You could say he's figured out the 200-yard, par-3 third, because three times during a three-week stretch he made an ace . . . The New England collegiate sports scene lost one of its true treasures and so did the golf community when Kathy Slattery Phillips died at age 55. The longtime director of sports information at Dartmouth College was one of the most heralded amateur golf champions in New England. She won 36 club championships at three New Hampshire clubs and in 1988 captured the New Hampshire women's state amateur title.
