Wisconsin's Jerry Kelly rides win into hometown AmFam event

Jerry Kelly ended a 51-week victory drought just in time to defend his American Family Insurance Championship title in his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin.

Kelly conquered the field at last week’s Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines to pick up the ninth victory of his PGA TOUR Champions career. He rode accurate driving, a hot putter and typically solid ball-striking to a playoff triumph over Kirk Triplett.

Kelly was playing his third tournament with a set of new irons and new shafts, but he said the biggest difference was the swirl of positive events happening around him. His wife, Carol, who’s still undergoing treatment for a cancerous right kidney that was removed in October, received great news regarding recent scans. And their only child, son Cooper, just landed his first job, at organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry in Chicago.

“It was definitely because of what I had going on around me that I was able to play well,” Kelly said Wednesday. “We got a great positive report about my wife on Friday, and it made all the difference in the world. It just made us both so happy and optimistic for our future together. Golf became secondary, but golf also became enjoyable.”

Kelly said his wife has had treatments in Arizona every three weeks for the past six months. They have a second home in the area, which has alleviated much of the hassle about going back and forth.

“She's having a treatment right now and it’s the first one that I've missed,” Kelly said. “I’m pretty bummed about that. But this is a big one in the hometown. We host a lot of people. And our sisters got to go down with her to Arizona so that was good.”

Kelly actually is the two-time defending champ at the American Family Insurance Championship because the COVID pandemic caused the event to be canceled in 2020. He bested Retief Goosen and tournament host Steve Stricker in a playoff in 2019, and he won by a stroke last year over Miguel Angel Jimenez and Fred Couples.

Kelly has been using the new irons and shafts for about six weeks. He said the Principal Charity Classic was his third tournament fully committed to the new setup.

“There’s a lot that goes into it, and it takes some getting used to,” Kelly said. “I was playing better in the last couple of weeks when I didn’t have the results than I was doing when I had my top-10s earlier in the year. It was starting to come, but we didn't expect it to come together completely as fast as it did.”

Kelly also got a putting tip from Stricker, who’s still one of the best putters in the game. Stricker had his fellow Wisconsin native adjust his setup and add a little forward press. Kelly finished sixth for the week in putts per green in regulation; for the season, he ranks 32nd in putting average per GIR.

Kelly shot 67 in the final round despite hitting only eight fairways, his low for the tournament. He somehow managed to hit 17 greens, though, his best for the week. He tied for first in driving accuracy for the week at Wakonda Club.

Kelly had three top-10s before the calendar turned to May, and now he has his momentum back before an event which obviously he has enjoyed immensely. He has climbed to sixth in the Schwab Cup standings and is primed to make another jump.

“I like my chances. I feel good,” Kelly said. “But you know what golf is like. It doesn't matter what the rankings look like. It doesn’t matter who’s got the hot hand because somebody can get hotter. That’s why we play, man. I'm just excited to tee it up. That’s it.”