(WLTX) --- The town of Sea Island, Georgia will forever be known as the site of Tommy Gainey's first PGA Tour win.
The Bishopville native known as "Two Gloves" fired a 10-under par 60 to win the McGladrey Classic - which is part of the tour's fall series.
Gainey could have carded a historic 59 which would have tied the PGA Tour record for the lowest round, but a 20-foot birdie putt on 18 was left an inch short.
With a four-day total of 16-under par, Gainey had to wait it out where veterans Jim Furyk, David Toms and Davis Love III were lurking.
Furyk was a shot back on 18 and could have forced a playoff with a birdie. But his birdie putt from just off the green would not drop and Gainey, who was on the practice range preparing for a possible playoff, dropped his club and embraced his wife upon learning he had won the McGladrey Classic.
The golfer whose swing resembles a baseball swing is the good ole boy from Bishopville who once worked at A.O. Smith in McBee where he wrapped insulation around water heaters. In 1998, he turned pro and began pursuing his dream of playing on the PGA Tour.
He eventually earned his Tour card, lost it and then regained it for the 2011 season and enjoyed a career year with seven top 10 finishes and more than $2 million earned.
But a wrist injury affected Gainey to the point where in 2012, he had just one top 10 finish coming into the McGladney Classic - solo third at the Crowne Plaza Invitational back in May.
His best PGA Tour finish had been a second-place showing in the 2008 Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic.
But on a Sunday afternoon when most of the country's attention is on the NFL, Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey enjoyed a life-changing experience as he is now a winner on the PGA Tour, earning a paycheck of $720,000.
Gainey is now exempt on Tour until 2014 and will be eligible to play in the 2013 season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.