Kelly Enjoys the Walk

Jerry Kelly was walking up the 18th fairway when he saw the Western Open gallery stand and begin applauding him.

Chills ran through his body. Except for winning a major, it couldn’t get any better for a guy from nearby Madison, Wis.

Kelly was sizzling Sunday, shooting a seven-under 65 to win the Western Open at Lemont, Ill., by two strokes. Any time someone mounted a challenge, he held them off with a birdie. In all, he had eight.

“All of my friends and family are here. It doesn’t get any better than that,” said Kelly, who gave out 50 tickets this week.

“These are people I’ve gotten tickets for to these tournaments the last seven years. They were just coming out to support me, watch me play. They didn’t really care if I won.

“For me to win it for them, to have them have that much fun, I really enjoyed being able to do that.”

Kelly finished at 19-under 269, two strokes off the Western Open record. Davis Love III finished second. He shot a six-under 66 but made bogey on the 17th to cost himself any chance he had of winning.

After going his first six years on tour without a victory, Kelly has won twice this year.

With a victory at the Sony Open in January, he joins Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Len Mattiace as the only multiple winners this season. He earned $720,000, giving him a career-high $2.39 million this year.

“This was something I could really savor,” Kelly said. “It was unbelievable.”

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Tom Jenkins had five birdies over the final nine holes and shot a seven-under 64 to win the Canada Senior Open for the second time in three years.

Jenkins, the first-round leader after a 63, finished with an 18-under 195 total, three shots ahead of Walter Morgan, Morris Hatalsky and Bruce Lietzke at the 6,703-yard Essex Golf and Country Club course in LaSalle, Ontario.

Jenkins, who won $240,000, clinched the win with a long birdie putt on No. 16 for a three-stroke lead. He won the tournament in 2000, tied for second in 1998 and finished fourth in 1999.

Morgan, who tied a Senior PGA Tour record with a 60 on Saturday, followed up with a 65.

He tied the tour record for low score over the final 36 holes with a 125. He had 21 birdies over the final two days after shooting a two-over 73 Friday.

“If I had played good the first day I would have run away with it,” Morgan said.