Since he started playing golf, it’s been all in the family for Billy Kennerly.

The can’t-miss 26-year-old (usually outfitted in bright-colored duds from Vineyard Vines or RLX, Kennerly is also the rare professional golfer to wear glasses while playing) started playing golf at 12 at the recommendation of his father, after suffering a serious elbow injury while playing baseball.

He chose Clemson University for school since it was only two hours from the home he grew up in in Atlanta, and credits its “family atmosphere” as one of the biggest things he loved about his four years there.

His sister, Wilton, has caddied for him off-and-on the last few years while big brother Billy has been on the Web.com Tour. She made her on-the-bag debut for 2019 in the Bahamas and will return through the summer before she starts her first job post-college in August.

Needless to say, Kennerly’s tight-knit support system has been helpful to buoy his success to this point.

“We’re pretty close,” says Kennerly of his relationship with Wilton. “She’s good at distracting me. That’s the best way to put it. She’s really calm and she doesn’t get too worked up, excited, or down. It’s pretty good for me.”

Kennerly had Tommy John surgery on his elbow before his teen years, and picked up golf not long after – with much success.

He had a myriad of solid results as a junior, and even played the Wyndham Championship in 2011 as a 17-year-old after winning a top-tier junior event. He would miss the cut, but he shot two solid rounds (70-71) and since his PGA TOUR debut occurred right before he went to college, he was riding high.

“Any time you can play a PGA TOUR event, there are so many lessons to be learned,” says longtime Clemson assistant men’s golf coach Jordan Byrd. “How to deal with the crowd, how to deal with your emotions, and it’s an amazing tool for you to use to see what you need to work on in your game.”

Kennerly says he wouldn’t be where he is now without going through the Clemson program (he admits he’s come down from the recent college football championship win by the Tigers, but it was still a thrill for him to see) and points to the small community atmosphere as something he enjoyed immensely.

It was an “easy” decision for him to head there, he says.

As a freshman, Kennerly had nine top-25 finishes, which lead the team. He was off to the races.

Byrd, whose brother, Jonathan, was the PGA TOUR’s Rookie of the Year in 2002 and has won twice on the Web.com Tour, says even as a youngster Kennerly was methodical about his practice.

That separated him from his teammates early on.

“In each practice session that he had, he had a plan for the day. He knew exactly what he was trying to do in practice and he just went out and executed his plan every day,” recalls Byrd. “He worked hard on his game, but it was more the intentional nature of his practice that was fun to watch. A guy his age – even as a freshman – knew what he wanted to do in practice, and he’d just go do it.”

Prior to turning professional, Kennerly won the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship in 2015 and earned a spot in the RBC Canadian Open the following year. It was his second PGA TOUR start, and he says he still reflects back on those two TOUR events as something he can draw on in terms of experience.

“The biggest takeaway was … they’re not that much better than the guys on the Web.com Tour,” says Kennerly. “They’re just a little more consistent and know how to manage their games better.”

To start 2019, Kennerly has had two top-20 finishes. He took off last week’s Country Club de Bogota Championship, and says part of his planning for the year ahead is to get better at scheduling. With so many tournaments in a row on this year’s schedule, he wants to play less. He says it’ll be easy to know which tournaments to take off, since he has two years of experience under his belt.

Kennerly has gotten a little longer and a little stronger since gaining Web.com Tour membership for the first time, but the best parts of his game are his accuracy and short game. He’s been in the top-15 in driving accuracy both years he’s played on the Web.com Tour, and has been a top-30 putter both years as well.

Byrd said those areas were always ones Kennerly excelled at. The fact his former pupil has a laser-like focus on improving specific areas of his game isn’t surprising.

He recalls that despite Kennerly being on the quiet side, he had a fiery passion that sometimes came to the forefront in competition.

“There were a couple instances throughout his four years where you really got to see how competitive he really was. He’s a little quiet and reserved but once he got pushed in a corner, you could see how much he wanted to win and play great,” says Byrd. “There was fire burning inside.”

Quiet persona, but fiery inside.

Bright clothes, but a reserved nature.

Family first, but an individualistic sport.

Billy Kennerly may have a perceived life of opposites, but one thing is the same – his ultimate goal, the PGA TOUR, has never wavered.

“I just have one goal this year,” he says. “I want to be top-25 on the Web.com Tour money list.”