It just goes to show you that the game of golf discriminates against all. Jerry Kelly, at age 34, has never won a professional tournament and with only 3 holes left it sure seemed like it was going to be his day. Kelly has come close to winning since turning pro in 1989, losing once to Loren Roberts in a playoff at the 96 Milwaukee Open, which by the way was Tiger Woods first tournament as a professional golfer.

After 69 beautiful holes of golf with only 2 bogies, Kelly seemed to be in cruise control rehearsing his victory speech. Kelly hit his tee shot on the par 3 16th 15 feet pass the hole, as did most players today, into the deep rye grass ruff. Instead of chopping the ball out of the rough and taking his bogie, Kelly tried to get cute and flop a Phil Mickelson sand wedge to within inches. 5 shots later Kelly sunk a 3 footer for triple bogie. It gave me the same sick feeling I had when Retief Goosen 3 putted the 18th green at this year’s Open. Kelly now needed a birdie, birdie finish to force a playoff with John Cook already in the clubhouse at 17 under par. After a duck hook drive, Jerry could not birdie the difficult par 5 17th hole, but almost holed out his second shot on 18 to force a playoff. Kelly laid sprawled out on the 18th fairway after his second shot knowing he let another one slip through his fingers

PGA Tour veteran John Cook was almost in the shower when he heard the news of leader Jerry Kelly’s triple bogey at 16. Cook started the final day some 6 shots and 6 groups back of leaders Kelly and Molder. Even after a final round of 64, consisting of 8 birdies, 1 eagle and 2 bogies, Cook seemed to be just one shot short of Kelly who he thought was cruising right along at 18 under par. John Cook subsequently gets his 11th win on tour and a check for $540,000, not a bad week!

Even more impressive was the play of 4 time NCAA All – American Bryce Molder. Playing in his first tournament as a professional, Molder fell just 2 shots shy of winning this tournament. The last time a rookie won his first tournament was some 22 year’s ago when a young Ben Crenshaw captured a win after just turning pro. Molder’s solo 3rd place finish and $204,000 check puts him close to the top 150 on the money list allowing him possible sponsor exemptions for next year. I’m sure we will see much more from this 22 year old golf phenom.

Finishing just behind Molder in 4th place was another 22 year old rookie Charles Howell III. Howell’s final round of 71 was unfortunately his highest score of the week. Howell just couldn’t get the flat stick to work missing crucial putts all day long. Justin Leonard’s solid final round of 6 under par 66 elevated the 1999 Ryder Cup hero into a tie for 5th with the always fashionable Duffy Waldorf.

Geoff Burke
VirtualTahoe.com Sports Editor

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