Fans of the Golf Channel's "Big Break" reality series may have been rooting for Tommy "Two Glove" Gainey at this week's BMW Charity Pro-Am on the Nationwide Tour.
Gainey, who got a sponsor's exemption to play in the event, looked like a champ -- for three rounds. He shot 65-70-69 to work his way into Sunday's final pairing, but then shot a 5-over 77 to finish tied for 30th.
"I did the best I could and I got behind the eight-ball kind of early when I three-putted number two and hit over the green on number three," he said. "I think the last four or five holes I started pressing. I was looking at the leaderboard and trying to make sure I was in the top 25, thinking about next week instead of thinking about the task at hand. I got ahead of myself."
Gainey's got the goods to make it, but a peek at his equipment shows just what a pro's bag looks like without an equipment sponsor. He's got a little of everything, including a driver that put him in first place in driving distance (312 yards) for the week.
According to he Golf Channel's Web site, Gainey's got the following gear: Cobra 460sz 9-degree driver and Ping G5 15-degree fairway wood, both with Aldila NV-65 stiff shafts; an 18-degree Adams Idea Pro with Aldila NV-85 stiff; Callaway x14 Steelhead Pro series irons; Ping 52-, 56- and 60-degree tour wedges; and a Ping Zing G5 putter. He also uses a Titleist Pro V1x.
PUTTING CHANGES: You cannot blame Lee Westwood if he's got a different putter for nearly every tournament. After all, he owns several dozen - 162 total, by his last count.
"I had a chance to count on Monday night," Westwood said last week. "I've used a lot of different putters over the years, yeah -- more than that.
"I've won with probably seven or eight, maybe 10 different ones."
His win two weeks ago at the Valle Romano Open de Andalucia came when he changed putters after the first round, picking up a Ping prototype putter that had originally been created for Mark Calcavecchia. It was the same putter that Calcavecchia tried in his first round of the PODS Championship in March, and then ditched in favor of a store-bought Ping Redwood putter.
Calcavecchia disliked the putter so much, he returned it to the Ping Tour trailer, where Westwood found it at the Shell Houston Open. He put it into play after using a Ping lil'c mid-length putter in the first round.
IRISH EYES SEE CHANGES: Padriag Harrington became the first Irishman to win the Irish Open in 25 years. John O'Leary was the last resident of the Emerald Isle to take home the trophy, and that was at Portmarnock in 1982.
O'Leary was on hand at Adare Manor to see Harrington win, and noted the huge difference in equipment between what he carried to win and what Harrington had.
"I was using a Persimmon head and straightforward Mizuno blades," he said. Plus, he had "all balata (balls), yes.
"They were treasured in those days."
VAN UPDATES: Over at the Titleist Tour Blog (www.titleistblog.com), Titleist tour representative Steve Mata explains that the graphics on the van don't change much during the year, even if there's new equipment to feature.
"We try to keep the graphics on the Van up-to-date with current inline product, but it's difficult to make any changes once the tour season begins since we're on the road every week," he writes. "Also, we keep the artwork consistent on each of our five tour vans around the world, so any graphics changes require extensive coordination."
TOUR VAN IN EUROPE: For an interesting look at how Andy Kikidas, the workshop manager in Mizuno's tour van in Europe, makes a custom club for a player, see video at: Mizuno Europe's web site.
