Jerry Kelly
Jerome Patrick Kelly is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions.
Early life and amateur career
Kelly was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. Kelly was an all-city ice hockey selection in high school while playing for Madison East. However, he said his hockey background may have hurt his golf early in his career because of the aggressiveness it encourages him to bring to his game.Kelly graduated from the University of Hartford in 1989.
Professional career
In 1989, Kelly turned professional later that year. However, he didn't make it onto the PGA Tour until 1996. This followed a successful 1995 season on the Nike Tour when he won two tournaments. His best career year to date is 2002 when he finished fourth on the PGA Tour money list and won the Sony Open in Hawaii and Advil Western Open.Kelly won the 2009 Zurich Classic of New Orleans with a two-foot par putt on the final hole, beating three players by one stroke. It had been seven years since his previous win.
For the first time in his PGA Tour career, Kelly finished outside the valued top 125 on the tour's money list, ending the 2012 season just $1,809 out of a full Tour card. He also finished 2012 as the 25th highest earning PGA Tour golfer in history. Instead of going to Q school, Kelly played the 2013 season using a career money list exemption, nineteen places higher on the PGA Tour priority ranking list than the 126-150 category. During his PGA Tour career, Kelly made 616 starts and earned almost 29 million dollars.
Senior career
Kelly made his PGA Tour Champions debut at the Chubb Classic in February 2017 [PGA Tour Champions season|2017] and gained his first win six months later at the Boeing Classic outside Seattle. The following year, Kelly won the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.In 2019, Kelly won several tournaments. In June 2019, Kelly won the American Family Insurance Championship. In September 2019, he won The Ally Challenge for his fifth PGA Tour Champions title. In October 2019, he won the SAS Championship with a final round 65.
In August 2020, Kelly won his first career major championship of his career, and first senior major championship, the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship at Firestone Country Club in Ohio, the only senior golf major of the year. With the win, Kelly earned $450,000 and qualified for the 2021 Players Championship.
In June 2021, Kelly defended his hometown title at the American Family Insurance Championship in Madison, Wisconsin. This was Kelly's eighth victory on the PGA Tour Champions.
In July 2022, Kelly won the Senior Players Championship for the second time. Kelly shot a final round of 2-under 68 and won by two strokes over defending champion Steve Stricker. The win was Kelly's second senior major championship
Professional wins (22)
PGA Tour wins (3)
PGA Tour playoff record| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 1996 | Greater Milwaukee Open |  Nike Tour wins (2)Nike Tour playoff record
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