By Dave Shedloski
The Senior Players trophy is going back to Wisconsin. Again.

Thanks to three birdies in his final six holes on Sunday at Firestone Country Club, Jerry Kelly pulled away from playing partner Steve Stricker and Schwab Cup leader Steven Alker to capture his second Bridgestone Senior Players Championship in three years. Kelly, 55, won for the 10th time on the PGA Tour Champions and now has finished 1-2-1 in the last three years at Firestone’s South Course.

“It feels great. The first major is awesome, but the second one, even more validation,” said Kelly, who beat fellow Madison resident and close friend Stricker — the defending champion — by two strokes after closing with a two-under 68. His 11-under 269 total was four strokes better than any previous aggregate total at Firestone and eight strokes lower than his winning score in 2020.

Alker finished three back after a bogey at 18 to tie for third with Ernie Els at eight-under 272, marking the Kiwi’s seventh top-three finish in his last eight starts, including a victory in the Senior PGA Championship. Alker shot 69 while Els had a 68 before leaving for the Open Championship at St Andrews.

MORE: The top 100 players at St Andrews rated

Kelly, who shared the 54-hole lead with Alex Cejka, didn’t make a birdie on Sunday until he converted a four-footer at the par-4 13th after hitting what he called “one of the best shots of my life”. From behind trees in the right rough, Kelly sliced a 3-iron utility from 214 yards that he thought was coming in too hot, but the ball hit into the hill and checked up near the hole.

“That kind of opened the door. That was the turning point for me,” Kelly said. “Any tournament you just see, oh, there it was, there’s the break or there’s the shot or there’s the putt. There’s always something that separates. You’ve just got to feed off of it.”

Equally important was that Stricker, who had forged into the lead by going three-under in his first 11 holes, bogeyed the 13th from the greenside bunker for a two-shot swing. Kelly then sank a 15-footer from the front fringe at the 16th to break a tie with Alker after Stricker missed from a similar line. A 10-footer for birdie at the 17th sealed Kelly’s second win in his last four starts.

Stricker also closed with a 68. Cejka had a 73 to end up T-5.

Tracy Wilcox

The victory was especially satisfying for Kelly for several reasons. First, he earned a berth in the Players, one of his favorite events. “That was a big piece of the desire in winning this tournament,” he admitted.

Second, and more importantly, it came with his wife Carol in the gallery even as she continues to undergo treatments for kidney cancer. She also offered her husband some sage advice as they arrived at the course Sunday that enabled him to remain patient.

“Just the fact that she’s here this week,” Kelly said. “The golf course is that special and she’s like, ‘You know what, I want to be there for you. I love that golf course, it’s really cool just to be out there.’

“This is a different world once you step inside these gates over here. It’s an awesome spot,” added Kelly, who is comfortable at Firestone, saying it reminds him Maple Bluff Country Club, his home course in Wisconsin. “I love it that she can appreciate that and that she wanted to come here. She gave me the words stepping out of the car, she just said it doesn’t matter what happens, I want to see the attitude up the entire time. The lid was on the hole for a long time, and I was rolling my eyes, but I was doing it with a smile on my face. That was keeping me in a positive frame of mind knowing that it would come to me because of that. That was all her with that attitude.

“To come out on top is pretty cool.”

You may also like:
Rahm ready for some good breaks at St Andrews
R&A snubs Greg Norman for Open Championship celebrations
Tiger takes a stroll around St Andrews
Xander the man to watch ahead of Open Championship at St Andrews
Ciganda prevails on Ladies European Tour in Spain
Watch: Highlights from the Estrella Damm Ladies Open
Xander on his way to three in a row in Scotland
Spieth shoots down LIV Golf rumours
Ciganda on brink of wire-to-wire win in Spain
Tringale holds onto Scottish Open lead
Fitzpatrick enjoying ‘best form of his life’
Hovland reassures all weekend golfers with horrendous shank
Record prize money at 150th Open Championship
Ciganda holds halfway lead in Spain
Dubai’s Chiara Noja reclaims LETAS Order of Merit lead
Kang to miss more events due to tumour
Rory calls for LIV/PGA talks
Scottish Open is links golf at its finest
Tringale shapes up nicely at Scottish Open
Ian Poulter won’t trade jabs with LIV haters, says there’s ‘space in the calendar for everyone’
Meronk on top of the world at Mount Juliet
Grace shines in Portland 

The post After calming message from cancer-suffering wife, Jerry Kelly captures Senior Players for second time in 3 years appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege
There aren’t many home games in professional golf, but for Jerry Kelly, the American Family Insurance Championship in Madison, Wis., is one of them, and his comfort level again paid off on Sunday.

Kelly, a Madison native, resident and fan favourite, won the tournament for the second straight time, prevailing at University Ridge Golf Course when Fred Couples, whose own popularity seemingly makes every tournament a home game, bogeyed the 18th hole.

“It can’t get any better than this,” Kelly said, moments after Couples’ par-saving attempt at 18 just slid past the hole on the right. “It means so much for me to win around here. I’m over the moon.”

Kelly, 54, shot a six-under-par 66 for a 54-hole score of 14-under par 202. None of it was easy, however. He double-bogeyed the 18th hole on Saturday to fall two behind through 36 holes, then bogeyed the first hole on Sunday.

“After doubling the 18th yesterday and a bogey today at the first hole, I was reeling a little bit,” he said. “Those two birdies [at the second and third holes] settled me down and I was just trying to grind as hard as I could.”

Late in the final round, Kelly held a two-stroke lead over Couples, who was playing in the group behind. Couples, 61, birdied the 16th and 17th holes to tie. Meanwhile, at 18, Kelly hit a perfect tee shot and what seemed like a perfect second shot that took a hard bounce and rolled into the fringe behind the hole.

“I probably hit the best shot of the day for me on the second shot,” he said. “It was a little cut 5-iron and it just didn’t stop there for anybody.”

His third went 10 feet past the hole, but he holed his par putt, then went into wait mode.

Couples, who shot a four-under 68, missed the fairway with his tee shot at 18 and hit what looked to be a respectable second that also bounded over the green. His chip rolled eight feet past the hole, and his right-to-left par putt to tie narrowly missed, dropping him into a tie for second with Miguel Angel Jimenez.

The victory was the eighth of Kelly’s PGA Tour Champions career and it continued an extended roll that he will attempt to carry over in two weeks in the Bridgestone Senior Players, which he won last year. In his nine starts in 2021, he has finished in the top eight in seven of them.

For Couples, it was his best since tying for second in the Hoag Classic in early March, 2020.

The post Jerry Kelly ‘over the moon’ after second straight home victory appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege
Jerry Kelly is a man without a poker face who nonetheless took down his challengers with an ace that no one saw coming on Sunday afternoon.

Kelly, his lead slipping away, won the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship by virtue of a hole-in-one on the 177-yard 12th hole at the South course at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.

With a single swing, Kelly’s one-stroke lead became three, then four when playing partner Scott Parel bogeyed the 13th hole. From there it was little more than a formality before he could begin to celebrate his seventh PGA Tour Champions victory and the first major championship of his career.

He beat Parel by two, earning $450,000 and an exemption to the PGA Tour’s Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass next spring.

A @jerrykelly13pga ACE!!

The @BridgestoneSP leader aces No. 12 and stretches his lead to 3. pic.twitter.com/foy01TQHB8

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) August 16, 2020

“I love that idea, the Players Championship,” Kelly said. “I can’t wait to go back there. And just to have a major out here is pretty huge for me. Never getting one, not even getting that close on the regular tour, it feels great.”

Kelly, 53, is an animated player whose demeanour takes any guesswork out of how every shot’s result while it’s in the air. That special highlight on the 12th hole was no exception.

“Come on,” he shouted, easily heard over the absence of a din with no fans permitted on the premises.

Only moments before, Kelly had bogeyed the 11th hole to see his lead cut to one. Then on the next tee, he changed clubs.

“I know the wind switched,” he said. “It was going in and left to right and now it’s in and right to left. I was able to take some off it and cut a little 5-iron instead of a 6- and starting it over the bunker. It made me a little happier.”

Kelly won with a final round of one-under-par 69 on a familiar course for PGA Tour veterans, and one that over four rounds played up to its major championship pedigree. His aggregate score was three-under 277 on a course that has hosted three PGA Championships as well as 20 World Golf Championship events.

Parel was the only other player to finish under par (one under) after completing a round of even-par 70.

Parel, who never played the PGA Tour but has won three times on the PGA Tour Champions, began the final round trailing Kelly by a stroke. Parel briefly tied for the lead at the outset and again trailed by one after three holes, when inclement weather caused a two-hour, 15-minute delay.

By then, it basically was only a two-man competition, and it remained tight until Kelly’s tee shot on 12, struck on a perfect line, hitting about eight feet short of the hole and rolling out and into the cup.

Colin Montgomerie, who began the final round tied for second, shot a one-over 71 and tied for third with Miguel Angel Jimenez, who closed with a 69.

The post Jerry Kelly punctuates his first senior major victory with a special highlight appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege
The last man standing in this battle with a singular opponent, the brutal East Course at the Broadmoor, was David Toms, who made the U.S. Senior Open his maiden PGA Tour Champions victory on Sunday.

Toms, 51, birdied the 16th hole to take the lead, made a difficult par save at 17, and a two-putt par at 18 to win by one over Jerry Kelly, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Tim Petrovic.

Kelly, who led after each of the first three rounds, bogeyed the 11th and 12th holes and was unable to make another birdie to counter Toms’ 16th hole birdie.

Toms, who won the PGA Championship in 2001, had played 34 PGA Tour Champions events without winning before prevailing in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Sunday. He closed with an even-par 70 and finished at three-under par 277.

“First of all, it’s been a long time, obviously, the last time I held a trophy,” he said. “To do it in a USGA event is even more special. I didn’t really have the patience for U.S. Open searly in my career. I get better at it as my career went on. Never won one, but I got close. To finally have one, just means my patience is probably where it needs to be, finally.”

Six players either held or shared the lead on the back nine — Toms, Paul Goydos, Brandt Jobe, Petrovic, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Kelly. Goydos took the solo lead when he rammed home a 25-foot birdie putt at 15, but he bogeyed 17 and 18 to end in a tie for fifth, two back.

Toms, a deft putter even on the extremely tricky greens at the Broadmoor, hit only eight greens in regulation, yet rescued himself with his short game and won with his putter. He made an 18-foot birdie putt at 16 to secure the lead, then another 18-footer, this one a downhiller at 17 to save par.

The post David Toms rallies to win the U.S. Senior Open by one on a treacherous Broadmoor course appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege

Jerry Kelly was cruising, a wire-to-wire victory in the U.S. Senior Open has crept into the realm of possibility when he magnanimously reopened the outcome to a host of players.

Kelly squandered a three-stroke lead early on the back nine on the East Course at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo., and will go into Sunday’s final round with a one-stroke lead over David Toms.

On the 12th green, Kelly missed a two-foot par putt, then a three-foot bogey putt and made a double-bogey five. That and a bogey two holes earlier, dropped him into a tie with his University of Hartford teammate, Tim Petrovic.

“I definitely worked for it today,” Kelly said of his one-over par 71. “I still felt like I hit the ball just good enough to shoot a good score, but two three-putts, one of them from about two-and-a-half feet, that one sticks in your craw a little bit.

Kelly, who at one time was seven-under par, completed 54 holes in four-under 206. Petrovic bogeyed the 15th, 17th and 18th holes, also shot a 71 and trails by two, as does Kirk Triplett following a round of two-under 68.

“I didn’t really make any putts to speak of,” Petrovic said. “I took my medicine coming in. I put myself in a bad spot on 17 and 18. Sometimes, especially in majors, you have to take your medicine and live to fight another day.”

Toms, a former PGA Championship winner, made the strongest move up the leaderboard by virtue of his four-under par 66.

“I kept the ball in play and obviously my irons are pretty good,” Toms said. “I had a lot of opportunities today. I misjudged a couple of clubs and was able to get it up and down. Hit a couple of chips that I thought really had a chance. Obviously, it’s the U.S. Open. You can get in a lot of bad spots out there. I avoided those, and hopefully, I can do the same tomorrow.”

Toms, 51, has yet to win in 34 previous PGA Tour Champions starts.

On Thursday, Kelly said, “I’m a fairly jumpy putter, there’s no doubt about it. I’m a very good putter, but I can look kind of foolish at times, too.” The 12th hole was one of those moments.

“I knew what I did,” he said. “Sometimes I pick the putter up and that’s what I did on all of those.”

The post Jerry Kelly stumbles, but holds onto a one-stroke lead over David Toms in the U.S. Senior Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers
Kevin Na couldn’t quite track down Bubba Watson during the final round of the 2018 Genesis Open, but his T-2 was his best PGA Tour finish in more than two years and his ninth career runner-up. More impressively — and perhaps, surprisingly — the $663,600 check Na took home from Riviera pushed him past the $25 million mark in lifetime PGA Tour earnings. Not too shabby for someone with one career win. Yep, that’s one win and more than $25 million in on-course earnings. Talk about getting a lot of bang for your buck. Or, buck for your bang, in this case.

It got us thinking if there are other names on the PGA Tour career earnings list who would cause a similar reaction — and of course, the answer was yes. In an age where the average win reaps well more than a $1 million payday, there are plenty of tour pros — from stars to journeymen — who have amassed small fortunes playing golf (Thanks, Tiger). Here are some of the most surprising, not in order of how unexpected their totals are, but how much they’ve made.

Matt Kuchar ($42,402,743): Kuch has long held the reputation as a human ATM, but more than $42 MILLION for someone with seven PGA Tour titles?! That’s a lot of big trips to the bank. Also, at No. 13 on the career money list, he’s the highest-ranked player without a major championship.

Luke Donald ($35,930,932): Similar to Kuchar, Donald has enjoyed a great career that has included multiple Ryder Cup appearances, and unlike Kuchar, a stint at No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking. However, considering the last of his five PGA Tour titles came nearly six years ago, the Brit still landing at 18th on the career money list — the only golfer other than Kuchar to crack the top 20 despite never winning a major — was a bit of an eye-opener. Not as much as the rest of these names, though …

Charles Howell III ($34,379,173): Chucky Three Sticks has been stuck on two PGA Tour wins for more than a decade, but that hasn’t kept him from raking in cash at a feverish pace. Since that last win at Riviera in 2007, he’s made more than $20 million. Pretty good for someone who has only played in five majors in the past five seasons.

Rory Sabbatini ($30,430,256): Thirty MILLION buys a lot of those silly cowboy hats.

Jerry Kelly ($28,962,248): The Wisconsin native won three times on the PGA Tour, but was a consistent — and busy — performer for two decades who racked up more than 600 starts. “It’s pretty good for a grinder,” Kelly said. Yes it is, Jerry. Yes it is.

Kevin Na ($25,232,107): No one has a better ratio of millions of dollars made to tournament wins. No one.

John Senden ($21,383,767): The Aussie has always been known for his accurate iron play, but that’s a lot of dough for someone with two PGA Tour titles — the last of which came by one shot over, you guessed it, Kevin Na.

Billy Mayfair ($20,303,642): Probably known best for being that guy with the cut putting stroke or the guy who beat Tiger Woods in a PGA Tour playoff, Mayfair had five career PGA Tour wins. Still, cracking the $20 million barrier is impressive for someone whose last victory came two decades ago. And he’s still pulling in paychecks on the PGA Tour Champions, finishing T-2 at the Chubb Classic last weekend.

Brian Davis ($13,323,356): We end with Davis because he’s made the most money of anyone on the PGA Tour with zero victories. Davis edged out Briny Baird ($13,251,178) for this honor. Or is it a distinction? Nah, we’re sticking with honour. Forget about never getting into the winner’s circle — or that unfortunate penalty in a playoff at Hilton Head in 2010 — making more than $13 million playing golf seems like a pretty sweet deal.

Related: I bought shares of a tour pro for a year — here’s what happened

The post They’ve made how much?! 9 PGA Tour pros with stunning career earnings appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege
Life after 50 apparently is going to be good for Jerry Kelly, certainly profitable. Late in his first season on the PGA Tour Champions, he has found his stride.

Kelly won the Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship at Bear Mountain Resort in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, on Sunday. It was his second victory in his last three starts, with a tie for sixth at the Shaw Charity Classic sandwiched between his latest win and one in the Boeing Classic three weeks ago.

A quick start — three straight birdies to begin his round — and back-nine help from those ahead of him resulted in a one-stroke victory over Lee Janzen. Kelly closed with a three-under par 68 and a 54-hole total of 14-under par 199.

He hit all 13 fairways and 15 of 18 greens in regulation to a cap a week of strong ball-striking. He missed only four fairways in three rounds and hit 80 percent of greens in regulation. Throw in solid putting and it was a recipe for success.

Kelly was the third player to lead on the back nine and was the beneficiary of stumbles by Australian David McKenzie and Janzen.

McKenzie, a Monday qualifier playing only his third senior event since turning 50 in July, double-bogeyed the 14th and 17th holes and ultimately finished in a tie for third with Tommy Armour III.

Janzen, in pursuit of a second PGA Tour Champions victory, took the lead from McKenzie, but bogeyed the 15th hole, then double-bogeyed the 17th to go from a stroke ahead of Kelly to a stroke behind. He eventually finished second.

Kelly, who won three PGA Tour events in his long career, has finished in the top 10 in seven of 15 senior starts and in the top 25 in 13 of 15. He earned $275,000 for his latest victory, increasing his earnings for the season to $1,126,577.

The post Jerry Kelly, with assists from those ahead of him, wins for second time in last three starts on PGA Tour Champions appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege
Jerry Kelly was a moderately successful PGA Tour player better known as a tour leader in body English. His gyrations were on full display in the Boeing Classic, where on Sunday he recorded his first PGA Tour Champions victory.

Kelly, 50, who won three times and earned nearly $30 million on the PGA Tour, shot a final-round six-under-par 66 at the Club at Snoqualmie Ridge outside Seattle to defeat Jerry Smith by one stroke.

It was never easy. He and playing partners Smith and Billy Mayfair combined for 20 birdies and zero bogeys. Smith shot an eight-under-par 64 to put up the greatest challenge, but ultimately was defeated by Kelly’s birdies at 16 and 17.

“It was crazy,” Kelly said. “It has shocked me to no end the quality of play. These guys are shooting these numbers every single week.”

Kelly, whose best finish in 12 prior PGA Tour Champions starts was a third, in his debut at the Chubb Classic, was a wire-to-wire winner at the Boeing, posting a 65 in the opening round followed by a pair of 66s to finish at 19-under-par 197.

“I finally got off to a good start and kept things going,” Kelly said. “The game plan again was to try to keep it on the gas. I missed three or four opportunities early, but I did make two good par saves which kept things going.”

The par saves came at the fifth and ninth holes and were important, if not critical, in his quest to win for the first time.

“I did not want them to smell blood,” he said.

Bernhard Langer, meanwhile, shot a seven-under 65 and tied for third on his 60th birthday. He, too, played a bogey-free round. In fact, none of the top five players on the leader board made a bogey on Sunday.

The post Jerry Kelly a wire-to-wire leader for his first PGA Tour Champions victory appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.