Two Gloves has firm grip on tour card

When the 2008 PGA Tour season begins next month -- you'll recognize it when you see the palm trees and Stuart Appleby at Kapalua again -- you may find yourself with a new favorite player.

Tommy 'Two Gloves' Gainey, who made his living playing mini-tour golf when he wasn't working in a South Carolina mill, made it through the tour qualifying school this week, punching his ticket to places like Pebble Beach, Phoenix and the same locker room where Tiger Woods changes his shoes.

Gainey won one of those 'Big Break' shows on The Golf Channel a while back, introducing himself to those of us who spend a little too much time watching golf.

He has a touch of Boo Weekley about him in that he's a natural. He wears two gloves when he plays -- hence the nickname -- and he can really play. Just ask the guys who've played mini-tour golf against him through the years.

Now Gainey gets to prove it to the world.

He's only played in one PGA Tour event in his life -- the Wachovia Championship last May -- and he already had a gallery following him.

Now he's the pride of Bishopville, S.C., and maybe, just maybe, a new star on the PGA Tour.