Jerome Patrick Kelly (born November 23, 1966) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who plays on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

and PGA Tour Champions.

Early life and amateur career

Kelly was born and raised in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

. Kelly was an all-city

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

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 The University of Hartford (UHart) is a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut, United States. Its main campus extends into neighboring Hartford and Bloomfield. It enrolled approximately 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students as ...

in 1989.

Professional career

In 1989, Kelly turned professional later that year. However, he didn't make it onto the

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 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. 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 ( Charlie Wi, Rory Sabbatini, and Charles Howell III). 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 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

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 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

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.

Senior career

Kelly made his PGA Tour Champions debut at the Chubb Classic in February

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

and gained his first win six months later at the

Boeing Classic The Boeing Classic is a professional golf tournament in Washington (state), Washington on the PGA Tour Champions, founded in 2005 Champions Tour, 2005. The 54-hole event is played annually in August in Snoqualmie, Washington, Snoqualmie, east of ...

outside

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. 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 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, Wisconsin, Madison. The inaugural edition in June 2016 featured an 81-player fie ...

. 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

(last held in 2019). This was Kelly's eighth victory on the PGA Tour Champions. 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 f ...

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 WGC-Accenture Match Pla ...

. The win was Kelly's second senior major championship

Professional wins (22)

PGA Tour wins (3)

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

Nike Tour wins (2)

Nike Tour playoff record (1–0)

T. C. Jordan Tour wins (1)

Other wins (3)

*1992 Wisconsin State Open *2006

Merrill Lynch Shootout The QBE Shootout was a team golf tournament that took place on the PGA Tour as an unofficial money event. It was originally played during the off-season. The event began in 1989, as the RMCC Invitational. It was hosted by golfer Greg Norman. The ...

(with Rod Pampling) *2009 The Shark Shootout (with

)

PGA Tour Champions wins (13)

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

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

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

''Results not in chronological order'' CUT = missed the halfway cut
"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 except Europe as that continent competes against the United States in a similar but ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

(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 Presidents Cup competitors for the United States 20th-century American sportsmen