Kelly decided to put hockey dream on ice
“Keep your head down.”
It might be the most common tip in golf. But it’s not a recipe for success on a hockey rink.
PGA Tour Champions standout Jerry Kelly received a couple of NCAA offers as a high school puck prospect in Madison, Wis., but based on the stash of trophies he’s earned on the fairways and greens, he ultimately made the right choice.
“I knew I was a much better golfer than I was a hockey player,” said Kelly, who will be in Calgary later this month to tee it up at the sixth annual Shaw Charity Classic at Canyon Meadows.
“I played with numerous guys who went on to play in the NHL, much less win Stanley Cups, so I knew what really good hockey was.
“I was very fast, very good with the puck, a smaller centre who loved to go in the corners … (but) I put my head down too much. I mean, you could have all the talent in the world, but if your eyes aren’t up, I’m sorry, you’re done. My eyes were down way too much, and for that fact, I couldn’t read the ice. I see these guys now, just three steps ahead of everybody else, and that’s why.
“And I took a couple of Scott Stevens (hits) across the middle because of that, too.”
Kelly, announced Friday as one of the latest additions to the Shaw Charity Classic, has been lowering the boom on the PGA Tour Champions circuit.
Thanks to his victory in the season opener in Hawaii, and nine other top-10 finishes since then, the 51-year-old currently sits atop the Charles Schwab Cup money list.
That’s a pressure-packed perch. “It was tougher at the very beginning of the season for me because I had never been in that position before, even if it’s after just one tournament,” said Kelly, who has racked up US$1.54 million and change in earnings so far this season.
“So I was thinking, ‘Boy, I’ve got to stay there.’ But now, it’s like, ‘Yeah, it’s a nice place to be, but it means nothing until you’re there at the end.’ So I’ve definitely come to terms a little better with it now. It’s a great position to be in, but it’s just a head start.”
With the opening tee shot at Canyon Meadows just three weeks away, Mark Calcavecchia and Steve Flesch also booked their tee times Friday for the Aug. 31 to Sept. 2 senior showdown.
They join a star-studded field headlined by World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Bernhard Langer, Davis Love III, Colin Montgomerie, Mark O’Meara and Vijay Singh, plus fan faves Miguel Angel Jimenez, Rocco Mediate and defending champion Scott McCarron.
Right now, all of those gents are trying to reel in Kelly in the Charles Schwab Cup race.
On the strength of two major triumphs, Jimenez is currently in second. Langer is running fourth with McCarron hot on his heels.
Kelly won three tournaments during his PGA Tour days, including a pair of triumphs in 2002.
That year, he enjoyed a careerbest showing on the money list.
“I finished fourth, but Tiger (Woods) happened to blow everybody away, so I never really had a chance,” said Kelly, also a threetime trophy collector on the PGA Tour Champions.
“I want that chance this year. That’s one of the things that will drive me through the end of the year.”
Since his upcoming jaunt to Calgary is a birdie-seeking business trip, Kelly won’t be bringing his skates and stick to Calgary.
You can, however, find one of his hockey highlights on YouTube — a through-the-net blast during Blake Geoffrion’s charity event last summer, where the golfer shared the ice with the likes of Ryan Suter of the Minnesota Wild and U.S. women’s hockey star Hilary Knight.