Honda Classic 2012: Why America Should Be Rooting for Tom Gillis

Jeremy Lin, Tim Tebow, meet Tom Gillis.

The 43-year-old golfer isn’t a young, breakout star, but he definitely came out of nowhere.  Going into the third day of the 2012 Honda Classic, Gillis found himself at eight-under and on top of the leader boards looking down on the likes of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.  Gillis, an underdog defying overwhelming odds, is a man America should be behind this weekend.

According to USA Today, the Oakland Community College grad has teed off in a whopping 26 countries during his career.  After playing a long time on a roller coaster ride featuring plenty of downs and not many ups, Gillis considered calling it quits altogether.  Luckily for him, he couldn’t find a real job as Gillis was quoted saying:

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“Job market wasn't very good.  Didn't have a whole lot to offer them, to be quite honest with you.  So I thought, ‘Jeez, I’d better go back out there and see if I have anything left.  It's kind of a cool story.  I like it because you dig deep and you move forward, and it's a good example to young kids, just never give up and keep believing.  Sometimes it's hard to do that in this game because it seems like the game is built to tear you down to some extent.”

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In all his years as a pro golfer, Gillis only finished a weekend in first place five times.  He actually went from 1994 to 2008 without winning a professional tournament.  His last W came at the 2009 Nation Wide Tour Players Cup.

Now, sitting in first place at eight-under after hitting a 64 on Day 2, Gillis is in position to take home win No. 6.  And with the incredible year underdogs have been having, who would bet against him?

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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