Sports
Golf Season Ends With A Bang
By Todd A. Mayes
Nov 16, 2008 - 11:35:54 AM

I know the last thing most sports fans are thinking about in the middle of November is the PGA Tour, but those that watched the final official event of the 2008 season were treated to one of the most thrilling non-major events of the season.
   The last event of the season is usually mildly interesting because the main focus is not usually on who wins but who finishes inside the top 125 on the season long money list, thus gaining fully exempt status for the 2009 season.  Finishing outside the top 125 is not as bad as it sounds —those players between 126 and 150 will still get into about 15 events on the PGA Tour and have paying status on the Nationwide Tour; albeit for about one-fifth the purse played for on the big tour.

   This year’s season-ender , traditionally held at the Walt Disney Resort , had story lines that would be soundly rejected by movie studios (yes, even Disney) had they been part of a script.  Take for instance Erik Compton, a man playing on a sponsor’s exemption after receiving his second heart transplant earlier this year.  He started strong, faded on the weekend and finished 60th, but will play this weekend in the second stage of the PGA Tour’s Qualifying School.
   Jeff Overton, a good, young up-and-comer from Indiana University, was sitting at 125th on the money list, and despite undergoing an appendectomy less than three weeks ago, played in the final two events of the season finishing 21st at Disney to earn exempt status for 2009.  Normally appendectomies require about six weeks of downtime to fully recover, but Overton knew he would not stay inside the top 125 without playing, so, he played. 
   For fans of the Golf Channel’s “Big Break” series, they may remember Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey, a self-made player from South Carolina with an unorthodox swing, who wears gloves on both hands.  After making it through all three stages of “Q” School last year, he made only five cuts all year; he had earned a little over $65,000 and was 228th on the money list.  His only chance of becoming fully exempt for next year was to win at Disney.  Again, he had made only five cuts all year long.
   Gainey did all he could do and more.  After opening with a 68 on Thursday, he fired a pair of 66’s to get into contention heading into the final round.  He charged up the leaderboard Sunday, firing an eight under 64 which included a back nine 30 after birdieing the final two holes.  The only problem was Davis Love III was capping off an incredible story of his own, maybe not as unbelievable as “Two Gloves” but just as “feel-good.” 
   Almost 20 years ago to the day Love’s father was killed in a plane crash in Jacksonville, just a year ago Love III tore up his ankle while accidentally stepping in a hole during a recreational round of golf.  Love’s career was at a crossroads, he was 43 but hadn’t been playing to the level he or anyone else expected.  If he wanted to come back from his ankle injury he was going to have to dedicate himself to the rehab and rededicate himself to his golf game.  For a guy financially set for life and inching closer to the Champions Tour than the top 50 in the world golf rankings, it would have been easy to take the easy road and semi-retire for a couple of years. 
   But instead Love did the work, partly because he didn’t want to go out this way and partly because he thought he could still win tournaments.  By his own admission, Love became frustrated by not having as good a season as he expected despite grueling rehabilitation.  But all that changed on the final weekend of the season, a validation of all the hard work put in by not just Love but also Overton, Compton and Gainey. 
   Gainey’s weekend 66-64 fell one shot short of Love, who shot a pair of 64’s to capture his 20th career PGA Tour victory.  His 20 victories rank fourth among active golfers behind Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods and earned him a lifetime exemption on the PGA Tour. 
   The old saying goes, “good things happen to those who wait” but it should say: “good things happen to those who wait….and work.”