There are only a hand full of golfers with local ties in the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by Synnex and one of them had the round of the tournament so far.
Tommy ‘Two-Gloves’ Gainey shot an 11-under par 61 at Cliffs Valley to jump 51 places up the leader board.
The Darlington native now is in fourth place with a few more golfers to finish their rain delayed second round.
Gainey started his second round with a birdie on his first hole and added six more on the front side to card a 7-under par 29.
He kept it going on the back with four more birdies to finish at 11-under par. No bogeys on his card and a 61 total.
“If you had seen the scores I’ve shot in the past couple of months I would say (today) is pretty smooth,” said Gainey. Everything fell into place,” he said.
Gainey shot an opening round 3-under par 68, which in a Korn-Ferry tournament is almost like shooting a 5-over-par round.
“I hit a couple of bad iron shots, but that is going to happen out here. I hit it close and made a couple of putts and that is how you shoot a 61 or 62,” he said.
The second round was suspended because of lightning and will resume at 7:15 on Saturday.
Gainey finished his round and trails tournament leader Justin Lower by 2-shots.
Lower birdied the difficult par 4 18th at Thornblade to finish 1-shot in front of first round leader Michael Miller and last week’s Rex Hospital Open winner Mito Pereira.
The winner of 3 Korn-Ferry tournaments during his career now is in contention to win in his home state.
“You ask anyone out here. Who wouldn’t want to win in their home state?” asked Gainey.
The BMW has had a home state winner when former Gamecock Mark Anderson won the 2013 BMW tournament.
Gainey has a chance if he can keep up the pace in the third round to give the Palmetto State a second winner in the tournament.
“You got to take it deep out here, its probably going to take 22 or 23 under to win. I need to shoot 10 under the next two days to have a chance to win. I just need to keep doing the same thing. Hit fairways, hit greens and make some putts,” said Gainey.
Wofford grad Andrew Novak also made a big move up the leader board.
Novak shot a second round 6-under par 66 at Cliffs Valley to move up. His two day total of 9-under par 134 leaves him 7- shots behind the leader.
When all the golfers finish their second round the cut is expected to be made at 5-under par.
Other local players will have to finish their round in the morning.
Carson Young is at 4-under par with 2-holes to play and Taylor Dickson has 1-hole left at Thornblade. Both golfers are a shot below the expected cut line.
BMW Charity Pro-Am scores https://www.pgatour.com/korn-ferry-tour/tournaments/bmw-charity-pro-am-presented-by-synnex-corporation/leaderboard.html
After the second round is completed the third and final round on Sunday will be played at Thornblade Club. Golf Channel coverage is scheduled to begin at 5 pm.
While the tournament is taking shape and the leaders are half way through, the celebrities still command the biggest crowds at the tournament.
Boxing champion Canelo seemed to have the biggest following at Thornblade on Friday. The owner of four boxing world championships may be on the verge of getting a win in one of the celebrity divisions.
The world champion and his pro Matt Picanso have the lead in the high handicap celebrity division posting a two-day total of 20 under par.
The other pro-am divisions teams will need to complete their second round before the teams who will be competing for pro-am titles can begin their final round at Thornblade.
Categories: PGA Tour
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