Jerome Patrick Kelly (born November 23, 1966) is an American professional golfer who plays on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

and

PGA Tour Champions PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many year ...

Career

Born and raised in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

, Kelly graduated from the

University of Hartford The University of Hartford (UHart) is a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut. Its main campus extends into neighboring Hartford and Bloomfield. The university attracts students from 48 states and 43 countries. The university and it ...

in 1989 and turned professional later that year, but didn't make it onto the

until 1996. This followed a successful

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

season on the second tier

Nike Tour Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine given ...

, 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 PGA Tour's

Sony Open in Hawaii The Sony Open in Hawaii is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, and is part of the tour's FedEx Cup Series. It has been contested at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii, since the event's modern-day inception as the Hawaiian ...

and

Advil Western Open The Western Open was a professional golf tournament in the United States, for most of its history an event on the PGA Tour. The tournament's founding in 1899 actually pre-dated the start of the Tour, which is generally dated from 1916, the ye ...

. Kelly won the 2009

Zurich Classic of New Orleans The Zurich Classic of New Orleans is a professional golf tournament in Louisiana on the PGA Tour, currently held at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, a suburb southwest of New Orleans. Beginning in 1938 and held annually since 1958, it is commonly play ...

with a two-foot par putt on the final hole, beating three players by one stroke (

Charlie Wi Charlie Wi ( ko, 위창수; born 3 January 1972) is a South Korean professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He previously played on the PGA, European, and Asian Tours. He was a one-time winner on the European Tour, and a seven-t ...

Rory Sabbatini Rory Mario Trevor Sabbatini (born 2 April 1976) is a South African-Slovak professional golfer. Sabbatini won six times on the PGA Tour between 2000 and 2011 and was runner-up in the 2007 Masters. He spent 21 weeks in the world top-10 in late-2 ...

, and

Charles Howell III Charles Gordon Howell III (born June 20, 1979) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on LIV Golf and formerly on the PGA Tour. He has been featured in the top 15 of the Official World Golf Ranking and ranked 9th on the PGA Tour m ...

). It had been seven years since his last win. Kelly's highest Official World Golf Ranking was 18th in 2003. 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 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

as the 25th highest earning PGA Tour golfer in history. Instead of going to Q school (where his finish would have placed him directly into the final stage), Kelly played the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

season using a career money list exemption, nineteen places higher on the PGA Tour priority ranking list than the 126-150 category (Priority Ranking 29). During his PGA Tour career, Kelly made 616 starts and earned almost 29 million dollars. Kelly made his

debut at the

Chubb Classic The Chubb Classic is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour Champions, held annually in February in Naples, Florida. It has been played at a variety of courses, and Chubb Corporation is the main sponsor. It debuted in 1988 as the Aetna Challenge,. T ...

in February

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, and gained his first win six months later at the

Boeing Classic The Boeing Classic is a professional golf tournament in Washington on the PGA Tour Champions, founded in 2005. The 54-hole event is played annually in late August in Snoqualmie, east of Seattle. It was titled the "Boeing Greater Seattle Classi ...

outside

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. In January 2018, Kelly won the

Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai The Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour Champions in Hawaii, on the Big Island. It is played annually in January at the Hualalai Resort Golf Club in Kaūpūlehu in the Kona district, and Mitsubishi E ...

. In June 2019, Kelly won the

American Family Insurance Championship The American Family Insurance Championship is a professional golf tournament in Wisconsin on the PGA Tour Champions, played at University Ridge Golf Course in Madison. The inaugural edition in June 2016 featured an 81-player field and a $2 million ...

. In September 2019, he won

The Ally Challenge The Ally Challenge is a PGA Tour Champions event at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, just south of Flint, which debuted in September 2018. The tournament is sponsored by Grand Blanc-based McLaren Health Care ...

for his fifth

title. In October 2019, he won the SAS Championship with a final round 65. In August 2020, Kelly won his first senior major championship, the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship at

Firestone Country Club Firestone Country Club is a private golf club in the United States, located in Akron, Ohio. It was a regular stop on the PGA Tour and has hosted the PGA Championship three times. It is the current home of the Bridgestone Senior Players Championshi ...

in Ohio. With the win, Kelly earned $450,000 and qualified for the 2021 Players Championship. In June 2021, Kelly defended his hometown title at the

. The 2020 event had been cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. This was Kelly's eighth victory on the

. In July 2022, Kelly won the

Senior Players Championship The Senior Players Championship, stylised by the PGA Tour as The SENIOR PLAYERS Championship, is one of the five major championships on golf's PGA Tour Champions. The inaugural event was played in 1983 and the age minimum is 50, the standard fo ...

for the second time. Kelly shot a final round of 2-under 68 and won by two strokes over defending champion

Steve Stricker Steven Charles Stricker (born February 23, 1967) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has twelve victories on the PGA Tour, including the WGC-Match Play title in 2001 and two FedEx Cup play ...

. The win was Kelly's second senior major championship

Personal life

Kelly was an all-city

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

selection in high school while playing for Madison East and has 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.

Professional wins (18)

PGA Tour wins (3)

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

Nike Tour wins (2)

Nike Tour playoff record (1–0)

Other wins (3)

*1992

Wisconsin State Open The Wisconsin State Open is the Wisconsin state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by the Wisconsin section of the PGA of America. It has been played annually since 1919 at courses in the state. It ...

*2006 Merrill Lynch Shootout (with

Rod Pampling Rodney Pampling (born 23 September 1969) is an Australian professional golfer. He currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions, and was a three-time winner on the PGA Tour. Golf career Pampling was born in Redcliffe, Queensland. He turned professi ...

) *2009

The Shark Shootout The QBE Shootout is a team golf event that takes place on the PGA Tour as an unofficial money event. It was originally played during the off-season, but now it is played during the wrap-around season's December break. The event began in 1989, as t ...

(with

)

PGA Tour Champions wins (11)

PGA Tour Champions playoff record (3–1)

Results in major championships

WD = withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (2005 PGA – 2007 Open Championship) *Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (2007 Masters – 2007 U.S. Open)

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
C = Canceled after the first round due to the

Results in World Golf Championships

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Senior major championships

Wins (2)

Results timeline

"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = No tournament due to

U.S. national team appearances

Professional *

Presidents Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

: 2003 (tie)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Jerry American male golfers Hartford Hawks men's golfers PGA Tour golfers Winners of senior major golf championships Korn Ferry Tour graduates Golfers from Wisconsin Sportspeople from Madison, Wisconsin 1966 births Living people