Tommy Gainey’s left wrist has been acting up lately, but his scores aren’t suffering.
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Maybe it’s a bit of reverse psychology.
But Tommy Gainey certainly didn’t talk like the man who is leading the Wyndham
Championship on Friday.
Gainey had just finished off a round of 65 that left him
owning a three-stroke advantage at 12 under. But hechecked his stats — 8 of 14 fairways, 11 of
18 greens and 24 putts — and Gainey wasn’t particularly pleased by what he saw.
The translation? Three more fairways but four fewer greens in regulation than
he had the previous day in shooting 63.
"Man, I hit that ball — I hit it so bad today,"
Gainey said, leaning forward on the podium and shaking his head. "… I hit
it worse today than I did yesterday off the tee. I hit my irons worse than I
did yesterday. I thought my iron game yesterday was on top of it. Today it was
worse and I think that’s got a lot to do with hitting it more out of the rough.
"It’s just hard to make birdies when you keep putting
yourself … in the rough. I mean it’s not high but it’s thick. Just settles
straight down and you just got to go after it and the harder you swing at it to
get it out, just the more shock that goes into the wrist."
And Gainey’s left wrist is somewhat problematic these days
after he sprained it hitting out of the rough during the RBC Canadian Open.
"If you can look at my stats, they’ll tell you that I
haven’t hit many fairways since that tournament and I’ve been struggling off
the tee and it’s pretty much — you know, it’s been ongoing thing with my wrist
not feeling a hundred percent but I’m not going to sit up here and make any
excuses," Gainey said. "Everybody out here has to play injured.
That’s just the way it is."
Gainey, who is headed into the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the
FedExCup for the first time in his career, doesn’t plan to change his approach
heading into the weekend. He knows better than to get ahead of himself.
"My mindset is when I tee it up I try to win no matter
if it’s the first day, last day," Gainey said. "I try to make as many
birdies as I possibly can.That’s what
this game is all about. You try to out-birdie everybody else. You make more
birdies than everybody else, you win.
"I haven’t really accomplished anything in two days.
The only thing I’ve accomplished is I’ve set myself up in good shape going into
the weekend. But, still, there’s a lot can happen and one day as we all know,
but two days, that’s like an eternity in a golf tournament. I’m trying to do
the same thing I did these first two days tomorrow."
