CALGARY – Tommy Gainey finally is having fun.
After a half-decade of cobbling together a schedule across the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA Tour, Gainey – affectionately known as ‘Two Gloves’ for the obvious reason that he, well, wears two gloves – finally turned 50 on Wednesday. When he qualified into this week’s Rogers Charity Classic to make his debut on PGA Tour Champions, he was still 49 – but since he had his birthday prior to the Pro Am, he was in.
And so far, he’s liking everything about the over-50 circuit.
Gainey, who won once on the PGA Tour in 2012, fired a 6-under 64 at Canyon Meadows on Friday and is just one shot back of the lead held by Miguel Angel Jimenez and Steven Alker after the opening round of the 54-hole event
Jimenez is in a familiar spot on the leaderboard, as he already has won four times this season and leads the Schwab Cup standings.
Gainey, however, is now the young whippersnapper and it couldn’t be more refreshing.
“First of all, it has been an awesome week to turn 50 and be out here with these legends,” Gainey said. “And it's just cool that I'm not being outdriven by a hundred yards anymore. I mean, this is fun. This is fun. Had a blast. Played good. Hit a few loose shots, but you know what? It was so much fun being out here with some of the guys I grew up idolizing, watching, and then had a chance to play with them.”
Gainey has played four times on the PGA Tour this season, making three cuts. But he’s mostly been toiling on the Korn Ferry Tour and just biding his time until he turned 50. The native of South Carolina did admit, however, that last year on the Korn Ferry Tour – where he finished 52nd to keep full status on the developmental circuit for this year – was his most impressive year-long effort. Especially, he said, since he could be a dad to a lot of the guys out there.
“Because those kids out there, they hit it so far, they play so good. And it’s like, dude, not like watching Scottie Scheffler in a video game but some of those guys just hit it so far. It’s a flip wedge. Just a 6-iron into a 600-yard par 5. Like, ‘OK.’” Gainey said. “I was under a lot of stress out there because I had to play perfect golf to have a chance to win. Not win. (Just) have a chance to win. And now that I'm out here, I feel like I've got a chance to win before I even tee it up. So that's a huge difference.”
Gainey got off to a great start Friday with four birdies in his first eight holes. He added two more on the front nine (his back side) and came in with no bogeys. The 64 marked Gainey’s lowest round on a PGA Tour-sanctioned circuit this year.
If Gainey was able to win Sunday, he would become the youngest champion of the Rogers Charity Classic in tournament history as Rocco Mediate won in 2013 at 50 years, eight months, and 15 days. He would also become the youngest winner in the history of PGA Tour Champions, as Gainey will be 50 and four days if he gets the winner’s White Hat on Sunday night.
“You can compare something like this, even this is crazier than when I won back in 2012 on the PGA Tour. This compares to something like when I had my first child,” Gainey said.
In order win this week, however, Gainey is going to have to chase down Jimenez, who has been the tour’s best player all season. Jimenez has notched four titles so far in 2025 – two in playoffs – including a major. And he leads the Schwab Cup money list by almost $700,000 over the second-ranked Stewart Cink.
The foursome of Canadians in the field this week will have some ground to make up heading into the weekend in Calgary, but the Canadian crew is led by a feel-good story of the week with qualifier, and local pipefitter, Wes Martin in with a 3-under 67.
Martin, who is making his PGA Tour Champions debut, made four birdies in a row on his first nine and managed to hold on tight with just one blemish on the scorecard.
Mike Weir shot an even-par 70, while Gord Burns and Stephen Ames shot matching 1-over 71s.
