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CHILDREN'S MIRACLE NETWORK HOSPITALS CLASSICNovember 8, 2012Tom GaineyLAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA DOUG MILNE: Tommy Gainey, two days in a row for you. We appreciate your time, and congratulations on a great opening round, 7‑under 65 today. As we talked about outside, pretty much picking right back up where you left off after your 60 at McGladrey. Just some comments on the day. TOMMY GAINEY: Well, I think we all can say that it's playing kind of tough out there. The wind's blowing 10 to 15 steady, gusting up to 20 at different times, and when you catch that gust, if you catch it on the wrong side, then I mean, you can make some bogeys pretty fast. And today I had some wedges that I was looking forward to making birdie with, but caught some gusts here and there and it kind of threw me off track a little bit. But I'm pretty happy with 7‑under. I'm just glad I'm finished. Those guys can have it right now. DOUG MILNE: With that, we'll take some questions. Q. (Inaudible)? TOMMY GAINEY: Well, you know, I mean the last couple of days it started to set in about what I've accomplished. But I'm past that now. You know, I won two weeks ago at McGladrey, and I'm very pleased to have won that tournament, but I'm playing Disney now, the Children's Miracle Network classic, so I gotta focus on this tournament, because it's easy to look back and just reminisce over what's been going on and stuff, but I mean I got a tournament to play in and I've got off to a great start, so I gotta focus on maybe trying to win another tournament this week. Q. That's what I was going to ask you, if you came here to win two in a row. TOMMY GAINEY: Oh, no doubt about it. Every time I tee it up, I'm trying to win. I don't care if I'm playing basketball or any other sport, every time I tee it up on this golf course or any golf course, I'm trying to win. I don't like to lose. I mean I just got that competitive fire that I don't like to lose. Q. You talked about consistency earlier in the week. I'm just wondering how you can kind of maybe explain how you go from that sort of stretch all year and obviously the great final round at McGladrey to win there and obviously a good start here. Is there something that clicked or is that just golf? Is there a fine line there between sort of where you were going into McGladrey to where you are right now? TOMMY GAINEY: Well, I think we can start with Callaway. We start with Callaway. The reps, we make some adjustments to some irons. I was playing the Diablo Forged for like the first six months or so. Then we switched to the Callaway RAZR X and they fixed me a driver. Callaway ‑‑ I give them a big thanks because we made some big‑time adjustments with the driver. And if you look at my stats for the first six or seven months, my driving percentage or driving accuracy is 40 percent maybe. And since McGladrey, that's when we made the adjustments and it's been 70 percent maybe, average. And I think today ‑‑ did I get 70 percent today? Did I hit 70 percent of the fairways today. I don't really know. DOUG MILNE: I think you said maybe 71 percent. It's probably in here. TOMMY GAINEY: So say 71 percent today. So any time ‑‑ you know, I feel like I'm a good ball striker, but when I can hit the fairways with the way I feel like I'm pretty comfortable, I can make birdies from anywhere. And the way I'm rolling this putter, all I need to do is just get it in the fairways and I've got some great looks. Q. How is the amateur portion of this event? What was it like to be playing with amateurs? TOMMY GAINEY: Oh, I love it. I love meeting new people. I played in the Wednesday pro‑ams for last year and this year, and I tell you what, it's awesome. When you get to meet new people. You get to talk about what they do, what their job's like, what their life's like. And they get a little inside on what's it like to be a PGA professional inside the ropes playing 18 holes of golf. I mean I love associating with that. It's awesome. I mean I'm having fun with it. Q. Is there a ‑‑ when you walked on to the first tee, when you walked on to the range here after the win, do you sense a different level of respect and regard? What do you sense? TOMMY GAINEY: I mean that's a good question. The only thing I sense is, you know, I've had a lot of people tell me, great playing on the win and things like that. So that tells me that I'm a very likeable guy. And they were pulling for me to break through, and I really appreciate that because you know, without the support of my family and friends, especially the support of players acknowledging what happened, that's ‑‑ I mean I'm very humbled by that. Q. As difficult as it is to win two in a row, when you finish your first win with a 60, how soon do you want to just tee it up again and keep that momentum going, and was that a little tough these last two weeks? TOMMY GAINEY: You know, it wasn't tough at all for me. I mean I was glad to have a few days not to pick up a club, to be honest with you. So now we're here at Disney and the Children's Miracle Network Classic here. I'm trying to win. It's all about winning again for me, because you know, my goal has not been achieved yet. And that is to get to Augusta. So when I'm playing in Augusta, that means I'm playing in the other majors. So that's my goal. Q. In that respect does this feel like a Masters qualifier? TOMMY GAINEY: No, I don't think you can look at it like that. I look at it as these guys, whatever ranking they have in this field, I mean you can throw that out the window. These guys are still good. And anybody can beat anybody in any given day, in any given week. So these guys here, they can take me out back and just show me what a whooping is. So I'm just trying to play my game and just go from there. Q. How much, if at all, was your near miss here a few years ago when Davis clipped you down the stretch? TOMMY GAINEY: You know, it was tough. But you know, I grew up idolizing Fred Couples and Davis Love, III. I mean you know, I'm 37, so back in the day when Davis Love was in his prime, not saying that he's out of his prime. I don't want nobody to misunderstand. But he's still a very good player now. But I idolized Davis Love and Fred Couples just because the way they went about playing golf. They never got in trouble. They were classy gentlemen. And you know, I'm glad that I can call on Davis to talk to him for some advice or Fred. It's just awesome. I mean I just don't know what else to say. Q. The wind, did you have it all day or did it pick up as the day went on? TOMMY GAINEY: Actually, the wind started blowing probably on the first hole, maybe around ten miles an hour and then gradually picked up as we played like three holes into the round, it started picking up a little more. I think a few times during the round it got up to a gust of about 20 because it was a steady 10 to 15 the whole time. And I don't know what happened. You know, I'm swinging at it good, and you know, I was just making putts. When you hit fairways, it's a lot easier to hit the greens and hit it close to the pin when you're hitting out of the fairway. And I was able to accomplish that today with 71 percent of the fairways. Easy for me because I feel like with what happened at McGladrey with these irons, I'm really confident in them that I can hit it ‑‑ if I don't knock it in the hole, I can hit it pretty close to it. Q. Small adjustment with the driver or did you really have to fine tune it when you got on the Callaway guys? TOMMY GAINEY: You talking about when I first signed with Callaway? Q. Well, going from the 40 percent to the 70 percent at McGladrey. TOMMY GAINEY: Oh, yes. For sure. It was a big adjustment, because I struggled with hitting a driver for the last, I don't know, since 2010. And I finally ‑‑ we finally got the right spec on it. I mean they had to put some extra glue in the head for me, and it's made all the difference because I'm hitting ‑‑ I've never hit this many fairways in my life, since I've been playing golf. And I'm going to tell you, it's a lot easier when you're in the fairways than that rough. Q. Have you looked to see what you need to do to crack the Top 30 and get into Augusta National? TOMMY GAINEY: What I need to do to get in the Top 30? Well, just keeping giving myself opportunities at Ws. That's how you get better, and that's how you get into the Top 30. When you contend more often and get my game more consistent, then I'll have a shot at the Top 30 or Top 50, and then obviously what comes with that is Augusta obviously and other majors, which it would be nice to be in the majors field. It would be nice to be in Augusta or PGA Championship, the Open overseas, and U. S. Open. I mean you're talking the best of the best. And that's my goal is to get in those tournaments and try to condition tend. Q. Have you looked specifically at what you would need or you need to finish this week to make it? TOMMY GAINEY: I cannot get in the Top 30 this week. I cannot. Not with a win. So my goal is just to win anyway, but you know, I can't control any of that stuff. You know, the world ranking or ‑‑ the only thing I can control is just keep playing golf the way I'm playing right now, keep hitting the golf shots and keep hitting it in the fairways, and with the way I'm rolling this putter, it's going to be good by Sunday afternoon. DOUG MILNE: All right. Well, Tommy, we hope you keep it up and pay lots of visits to us throughout the week. TOMMY GAINEY: Good deal. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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