Jerry Kelly is a professional golfer who was born in Madison, Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Hartford in 1989 and turned professional later that year, but didn't make it onto the PGA Tour until 1996. This followed a successful 1995 season on the second tier 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 PGA Tour's Sony Open in Hawaii and Advil Western Open. Kelly won the 2009 Zurich Classic of New Orleans with a two-foot par 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 last win. Kelly has been featured in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking and was an all-city ice hockey selection in high school while playing for Madison East and he has said that his hockey background may have hurt his golf early in his career, because of the aggressiveness it encourages him to bring to his game. 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 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 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).
