Kelly earns title with steady round
PGA Champions victory is second this season
Madison’s Jerry Kelly played bogey-free Sunday at Warwick Hills and closed with a 4-under 68 for a twoshot victory in the Ally Challenge in Grand Blanc, Michigan, his second victory this year on the PGA Tour Champions and moving him a little closer to the top of the Charles Schwab Cup standings.
Kelly started the final round with a one-shot lead over Schwab Cup leader Scott McCarron and Woody Austin. Only one of them challenged Kelly.
McCarron fell apart with four bogeys in a five-hole stretch around the turn and shot 75 to tie for 15th. Austin caught Kelly briefly with a birdie on No. 3, but he never could conjure up the vibes at Warwick Hills, where Austin won his first PGA Tour event.
Kelly had a pair of birdies on the front nine, and he seized control on the back nine when Austin made bogey on the par-4 15th. Two holes later, on the par-3 17th, Kelly made his final birdie for a three-shot lead.
Austin birdied the 18th and shot 69 to finish alone in second. Steve Flesch (66) and Tim Petrovic (67) tied for third, four shots behind.
Kelly also won two months ago in Madison at the American Insurance Family Championship. He became the fourth multiple winner this year on the PGA Tour Champions, joining McCarron (three victories), and Steve Stricker and Bernhard Langer (two).
McCarron still has a big lead in the Schwab Cup. Kelly, who finished at 16-under 200, earned $300,000. He remained at No. 2 in the Schwab Cup, $492,083 behind McCarron with three more events before the PGA Tour Champions’ three-tournament postseason.
“We know we’ve got to catch up to Scotty,” Kelly said. “We’ve got to do something special.”
Fox Point’s Skip Kendall shot 2under in the final round and finished tied for 48th.
Solheim Cup: The most sensational finish in Solheim Cup history went down to the final putt of the entire match. Suzann Pettersen didn’t let Europe down.
By rolling in a left-to-right birdie from 6 feet on the 18th hole, the 38year-old Pettersen regained the biggest team prize in women’s golf for the Europeans in a 14½-13½ win over the United States in Gleneagles, Scotland.
“Just unbelievable. Never been a better moment,” said European captain Catriona Matthew, whose contentious decision to choose Pettersen as one of her wild-card picks paid off.
The Norwegian was called up by Matthew despite having played just two tournaments since 2017, having had time off because of injury and after having a baby boy, Herman.
As an afternoon of tension-filled singles matches drew to a close, the Americans took the lead in the contest for the first time since Friday lunchtime, at 12-11. At 13 1⁄2-11 1⁄2 they needed just a half-point from the final three singles out on the course to guarantee retaining the cup but then came the European fightback.
Anna Nordqvist completed a 4and-3 win over Morgan Pressel in Match 12 on No. 16. Then, on No. 17, Bronte Law sealed a 2-and-1 win over Ally McDonald to tie the score.
By that time, Pettersen’s opponent, Marina Alex, had slid a 10foot birdie putt wide on No. 18 that would have retained the cup for the U.S.
It was about 30 seconds after Law’s win was confirmed that Pettersen settled over her putt and made it, sparking raucous celebrations for the home team on the PGA Centenary Course.
PGA: Joaquin Niemann became the first player from Chile to win on the PGA Tour, shooting a 6-under 64 on Sunday for a six-stroke victory in A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia