Kelly makes breakthrough in Sony Open and PGA

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

It took Jerry Kelly 200 tries to win his first PGA Tour event. His tenacity — in the past six years and the final nerve-wracking round of the Sony Open in Hawai'i — was richly rewarded yesterday.

Victory was sweet for Sony Open winner Jerry Kelly, who produced two flawless swings on the 18th hole to set up a two-putt birdie for the win yesterday at Waialae Country Club. It was his first victory on the PGA Tour. "You put in 3 1/2 years of hard work and it comes down to those two shots right there," Kelly said. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

On a breathtakingly beautiful day, almost an entire golf tour was flustered by precarious pin placements and a suddenly wicked Waialae. Of the 14 golfers in the Top 10 Saturday, only two —ÊCook and K.J. Choi — broke par yesterday. By one shot.

"It was a tough day to play golf," Cook insisted. "It was the way it should be on Sunday. The course was fast, the pins were tucked, the wind blew at just the odd angle where it wasn't comfortable.

"It was tough to get into the little corners where the pins were. I don't think the membership plays these pins very often. The grain was pretty substantial in those spots where they put the pins."

Kelly rolled with Waialae's punches and just kept rolling. A four-year swing fix suddenly paying dividends kept him confident. The tough pin placements convinced him to play conservative. He found safe landings and kept barely missing the 20-foot putts that ensued.

"I tell you, I hit so many great putts and I had the same reaction after every one — how did that miss?" the elated Kelly said. "But I knew since I was playing that steady that I could just keep on playing my game and hopefully I would get some birdies. Unfortunately, they never came, but fortunately even par was good enough."

The shootout that created Saturday's crowded leaderboard and yesterday's quick starts evaporated into an ocean of pars and problems for nearly everyone — some self-induced, some not.

On the first hole, PGA champion David Toms lofted his approach shot within six feet of the flag. Birdie boosted him within a shot of Kelly. When the leader bogeyed No. 5, Toms was tied for first.

Then he wasn't.

Toms, one of the hottest and most precise golfers, hooked his drive on the sixth. The ball bounced off the cart path and over the bougainvillea, somewhere near the women's No. 7 tee.

1992 Hawaiian Open champion John Cook shot 1-under 69 to finish second. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

By the time Kelly and Cook birdied the 10th hole, the tournament had turned into match play. Kelly was back where he started the day, at 14-under. Cook was back where his 62 on Friday had left him, at 12-under.

No one else could go that low.

Cook closed within one with a 15-foot birdie putt two holes later. Kelly, who had taken three leads into the final round previously only to come up empty, relentlessly protected his advantage with pars. He got up and down on the 14th from six feet, then drained a clutch 12-footer for par on the next hole.

"That was a lifetime of putts right there," Kelly said. "The one on 15 was the biggest putt I've had in my life. I probably showed more emotion than I ever show on a golf course. More aggressive emotion. I try to keep that in check when things go good because I can get out of hand. I wanted to kind of let it flow the last couple of holes because that was the way I was taking this tournament."

The 17th (189-yard par-3) proved dramatic. Cook, playing a group ahead of Kelly, had a cell phone go off during his swing. "Right at the point of no return," he recalled.

His drive flailed into the right bunker and the mild-mannered Cook simmered. He calmed down enough to hit a brilliant shot out of the bunker, but mis-read the four-foot par putt to fall two shots behind.

Minutes later Kelly covered his bogey, three-putting from the opposite side of the green. He returned to his one-shot advantage going into the final hole (par-5).

Japan's Hidemichi Tanaka watches his drive off the 10th tee during the final round of the Sony Open in Hawai'i. Tanaka shot 65 yesterday and finished at 273, earning $54,133. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Still, Kelly couldn't quite convince himself a career with more than its share of "debacles" could have a happy ending. Until his putt clanked into the cup.

"I just got up there and all I said to myself was, 'This is exactly what I have been working for my whole life,' " Kelly recalled. "Just be calm as you can and stroke the ball in the hole. It worked out."

Kelly threw his hands over his head and punched the air. Admitting "this is burning me up inside right now," he collected his $720,000 check and invitation to the 2003 Mercedes Championships.

Then all the thoughts he'd been trying to keep out of his head came flooding in: the University of Hartford hockey career cut short to instigate his golf career; the years of struggle on mini-tours; and 199 tour starts without the elusive victory.

His most vivid memory yesterday might have been of Cook shooting a final-round 64 at last summer's Reno-Tahoe Open to overcome Kelly's six-shot lead. Kelly double bogeyed the 16th hole.

"Today I was thinking him (Cook)," Kelly admitted. "Yesterday, when I was playing with him it didn't enter my mind. Today, I didn't let Reno happen again to me. Fine if he would have shot 30 on the backside and won today, more power to him, great playing again. I wasn't going to do the things that let somebody win. I wanted to win the tournament."

SHORT PUTTS: Jay Don Blake's eagle on the final hole was worth more than $100,000. ...David Toms became the 20th player to surpass $10 million in career earnings. ... Brad Faxon's streak of sub-par rounds at Waialae ended yesterday when the defending champion shot 71. ... Sergio Garcia, who won last week's Mercedes Championships, also closed with 71.

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