Jerry Kelly never came close to winning a major on the regular PGA Tour.
He has found new life on the Champions Tour and on Sunday at historic Firestone Country Club, he finally bagged that major.
Kelly was running away with the Senior Players Championship but a double-bogey at the 72nd hole cut his victory margin to two shots over playing partner Scott Parel.
Still, Kelly overcame the difficulties that Firestone presented all week with rounds of 68-70-70-69 and finished three-under par. Parel closed with an even-par round of 70 and finished one-under — the only other player in the field to break par for the week.
“Just to have a major out here is pretty huge for me,” Kelly said after his round, that included a hole-in-one at the 180-yard par three 12th. “It feels great. I din’t feel like I limped in too badly.”
Kelly’s ace got him to three-under for the day then he clicked off six straight pars and had a four-shot lead going into the 18th, where he stumbled, but not enough to keep him from that first major of any sort.
Only two players finished at even par — Colin Montgomerie (71) and Miguel Angel Jimenez (69).
Tiger Woods Confirmed — He’s In Northern Trust:
Tiger Woods pretty much implied it after the PGA Championship, but now it’s official — he’s in the field for the first stop of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Woods committed to play in the Northern Trust and he’s currently ranked 49th on the points list, meaning he’ll also be in the field for the BMW, if he chooses to play. Odds are good that he will. Woods needs to get into the top 30 to earn a spot in the Tour Championship at East Lake in two weeks. It also means that Tiger would play three weeks straight then would have a week off before the U.S. Open at Winged Foot.
“We’ve been training for that,” Woods said of the possibility that he could play four times in a five-week span.
