Senior Players Championship – Syndication Server

‘Troopering it out’: Bridgestone winner Jerry Kelly by wife’s side during cancer treatment

Champions Tour star Jerry Kelly supports wife’s cancer battle.

Jerry Kelly looked at his fist, often used for comparison to the size of a healthy kidney.

Kelly looked at his fist again, nearly the size of his wife’s tumor.

It has been more than eight months since Carol Kelly had her cancerous right kidney removed. But a glance at his hand reminded 10-time PGA Tour Champions winner Kelly how close he came to losing his beloved partner of 28 years.

And in a sense, Carol has been lucky.

Two doctors dismissed the blood in her urine as a normal urinary tract infection. When she doubled over in pain and went to the emergency room, Kelly said they were fortunate it was a hospital, not an urgent care center. Kidney stones were suspected; a CAT scan was ordered. Kelly said they knew it was bad news because of the interminable wait.

The tumor was four centimeters by six centimeters, he said.

“There’s no way her fist is bigger than four centimeters by six centimeters,” Kelly said Saturday at Firestone Country Club. “And it was contained. Pretty amazing.”

Since her diagnosis, the Kellys take amazing any way they can get it. As they stepped out of the car Sunday for the final round of the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship, Carol gave Jerry the words to win by.

He used her motivation to capture his second Senior Players title in three years, his final round 68 and 269 total two strokes better than defending champion and close friend Steve Stricker. The victory earned Kelly $450,000 and a trip to the 2023 Players Championship, one of the PGA Tour’s signature events.

“She said, ‘It doesn’t matter what happens, I want to see the attitude up the entire time,’” Kelly said Sunday after the trophy ceremony. “The lid was on the hole for a long time and I was rolling my eyes. But I was doing it with a smile on my face like I used to a little bit more. That was keeping me in a positive frame of mind knowing that it would come to me because of that. That was all her with that attitude.”

With Carol diagnosed with cancer for the second time — the first was melanoma when she was pregnant with son Cooper in 1998 — Kelly is cherishing the fact that Carol has been traveling with him since November.

“Just the fact that she’s here this week … It may not be our normal restaurant-laden place or the hotel that is our favorite on tour, but the golf course is that special,” Kelly said. “She’s like, ‘You know what, I want to be there for you, I love that golf course, it’s really cool just to be out there.’ I mean, this is a different world once you step inside these gates. I love it that she can appreciate that and that she wanted to come here.”

She nearly didn’t make it. Carol, 57, is undergoing immunotherapy treatments of Keytruda every three weeks, flying from their home in Madison, Wisconsin, to the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, where they have another house.

2022 Bridgestone Senior Players — Jerry Kelly gets a closer look at the green on the 16th hole during fourth round of the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship at Firestone Country Club on Sunday. (Photo by Jeff Lange/Akron Beacon Journal)

There are side effects. Carol said sometimes she feels run down for a couple days after treatment, a couple times it’s stayed with her until she was about to return to Phoenix.

“I was kind of dragging coming into this week and I was going to pass, just to try to recover again. He kind of gave me the sad eyes, so I’m like, ‘OK, I’ll go,’” Carol said Sunday morning. “This tournament, I love to walk this golf course.”

The bear hug Kelly gave her after he left the 18th green showed how glad he was that they shared the victory together.

“She’s been troopering it out,” he said.

With their positive attitude, luck has shined on Carol Kelly more than once of late.

Initially she was told she was not a good candidate for immunotherapy, which she called “the future of cancer treatment.” Eventually that was approved due to what she called a “reclassification.”

The every-three-week routine began in January, and Kelly has only missed one treatment, that when he had early-week commitments at his hometown tournament, the American Family Insurance Championship in Madison on June 10-12.

“I’m only going to miss one more, she’s got to have it done when I go to the British Senior,” Kelly said of the Senior Open Championship at Gleneagles July 21-24. “So I’ll miss two out of that year of treatment and I’m not happy about missing two of them.”

After capturing his second senior major, Kelly isn’t considering skipping the trip overseas.

“She would want me to go do my job. She knows how important the Senior Open Championship is to me, I love going over there,” Kelly said. “I’d love to have her with me, but she had to do it on those dates and we didn’t want to mess with that.”

Carol knows how much accompanying her to treatment means to her husband, and said his devotion is not out of character for him.

“There’s been one time he wasn’t able to be there, and I took a picture of his empty chair. I know he’s there with me in thought,” she said. “That’s who Jerry really is. I don’t think he lets people see that side of him very often. He gives me a lot of strength.”

She just went through her six-month scans and said, “I’m on a really good track. Things are looking real good right now.”

Kelly and Stricker families support each other during health crises

The Kelly and Stricker families are close as both live in Madison. Recovering from his own serious health crisis, Steve Stricker was glad to hear about Carol’s recent scans.

“She’s gotten some good news of late, so things are looking better. But still, with that you just cross your fingers with cancer, right?” Stricker said Sunday. “You just don’t know when it’s going to come back, you hope and pray that it won’t.

“To see her out here and them having a good time with each other, it kind of puts things in perspective really quickly. We’re out there battling for a golf tournament, but it’s not really what they were going through in life.”

It’s possible the kidney cancer was linked to her melanoma, but the Kellys will never know.

“They’ve just looked at everything and nothing makes sense. I’m just one of the unlucky ones,” Carol said. “But I’m lucky, too. It was not looking good originally. It sounds corny, but just to be alive it feels pretty good because I wasn’t feeling that way early on that I was going to be around.”

Kelly remembered when Carol was pregnant and said it took some coaxing for her to address the melanoma.

“We made her go and get it out because if Coop would have been born, she never would have given a thought about herself,” Kelly said. “It would have been all him and she never would have got it checked and she wouldn’t be here already.

“There’s incredible positives.”

Golfer Jerry Kelly marvels at the advancements in cancer treatment

Kelly marvels at the immunotherapy “targeting system” that is helping her body attack renal cell carcinoma.

“The way I was described it, cancer cells hide from the body, so we don’t kill it. Certain immunotherapies plant a cancer flag for that type of cancer,” Kelly said Saturday. “So the body comes over and says, ‘That’s a cancer cell, I’m going to kill it.’

“Gene therapy, you find different gene mutations are susceptible to certain cancers. It’s amazing what they’re doing through the drugs, through the genes, the human genome, breaking that trail. It’s growing leaps and bounds.”

Carol has been back walking with her husband since the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix on November 11-14. Not that far removed from late October surgery, she could only last nine holes.

“I think it’s good for her to keep the blood going and keep that medicine actually circulating through her blood. It just wears her out,” Kelly said.

“I think I’ve been doing really well as far as bouncing back,” Carol said. “My energy is not great. But I know I can walk 18 holes, so I’m going to try it. I pay for it sometimes; it just depends on the day.

“Fresh air is good.”

Jerry Kelly credits his wife, Carol, for motivating him to two victories in 2022

Kelly, 55, said Carol’s presence provided huge motivation as he won the Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines, Iowa, on June 5.

“It’s the whole reason I won at Des Moines,” he said Saturday. “That just brings life into perspective so golf can be a little easier, and it really has been easier. Eased up on myself just because we’re having so much fun when we come out that we’ve got to realize that’s what life’s about.

“The work can obviously pile on you, especially in this sport, in any job I would say. We’re hard on ourselves out here, but to have a partner like Carol, we’re just loving it.”

He felt the same way Sunday.

“You know I get frustrated pretty much more than just about anybody. When you guys used to say Tiger [Woods] hates making bogeys more than anybody, I beg to differ. He just never made them,” Kelly said of the 18-time major winner and eight-time champion at Firestone. “But, yeah, perspective is a beautiful thing if you can get it.”

Kelly had no doubt Carol would eventually rejoin him.

“I knew she’d always come back out,” he said Saturday. “She’s always been there and she’s there. All I can do is be there for her, be strong for her, and hopefully play good golf for her. We just do it together, we always have.”

Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.

[vertical-gallery id=778282346]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

‘My first golf tournament’: Local couple brings baby to Senior Players Championship, meets champion Jerry Kelly

“It was very unexpected how much attention we got, but she is really cute, so it is not too surprising.”

AKRON, Ohio – Jayni and Ryan Hershberger were “looking for something to do” Sunday afternoon in Akron.

With temperatures in the mid-80s and plenty of sunshine, the couple made the short walk to Firestone Country Club with their five-month old daughter, Marlowe, to watch the final round of the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship.

They also brought a hand-written sign that read “My first golf tournament” to Firestone’s South Course.

Bridgestone Senior Players Champion Jerry Kelly saw the sign and young Marlowe after he compiled a four-day score of 11-under-par 269 and met with the family.

Kelly handed the Hershberger family his hat that he wore Sunday, posed for pictures and even held young Marlowe, who wore a shirt that read “Little Wonder.”

“I got her smiling,” Kelly said. “She is cute.”

Kelly also signed the hat and the sign, which came from the inside of a Pampers box.

When asked when was the last time he held a baby that little, Kelly said with a laugh: “Yeah, that would be 22 years ago, almost 23 years ago, yes. Nieces and nephews, things like that, but no grandkids. “Soon, I hope.”

Ryan Hershberger said the “My first golf tournament” sign idea came from his mother.

“We love the tournament that comes here every year,” Ryan Hershberger said. “We live two blocks away and decided to come over. We are looking forward to the Akron Symphony afterwards as well.”

“I grew up five minutes away and used to come to the golf tournament here all the time with my parents,” Ryan Hershberger said. “Now, we have this one so we wanted to share the tradition with her.

“… This is very memorable for sure, especially getting to meet the one who wins the whole tournament. To have that moment with our daughter is definitely something we can treasure forever.”

“It will be fun to show her things that she didn’t even know she was experiencing,” Jayni Hershberger said. “When she gets older, it will be fun to show her ‘Yeah, you met that guy.'”

Marlowe Hershberger smiled as her parents spoke and fiddled around with her new toy, a signed Jerry Kelly hat.

“It was very unexpected how much attention we got, but she is really cute, so it is not too surprising,” Jayni Hershberger said with a laugh.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Can Steven Alker add another senior major? He’s off to a fast start at the Senior Players at Firestone

Alker has four PGA Tour Champions victories, including the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in 2022.

New Zealander Steven Alker is enjoying playing golf at Firestone Country Club for the first time.

Alker spoke Friday about the first time he visited Akron and walked the famed South Course — as a spectator in the late 1990s.

“Funny enough, a buddy of mine, Phil Tataurangi, who used to play the [PGA] Tour, I think he played here a couple times in the World event,” Alker said Friday after posting a 4-under 66 in the second round of the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship.

“So, followed him around a couple days and I knew the layout and I’ve seen the golf course, but in terms of playing it, no. I’m loving it. You’ve just got to golf your ball.”

Alker was playing the Canadian Tour at the time and said he drove down to Akron and spent a couple of days walking the grounds of Firestone.

Alker, 50, left Firestone on Friday in a tie for first with Tim Petrovic, Alex Cejka and Joe Durant at 6-under through the first two days of the Bridgestone Senior Players.

“It’s nice to have a bogey-free round at Firestone,” Alker said. “It’s that type of golf course, you’ve just got to keep going. But kind of everything, drove it in the fairway for the most part and hit a lot of greens except for the last few. I scrambled nicely the last couple holes. Overall, just a solid day. Kind of kept my nose clean and haven’t done too much wrong. A few more putts would be nice, but yeah, at Firestone, just fairways and greens around here.”

Alker has won four PGA Tour Champions victories — the TimberTech Championship during the 2020-21 season, and the Rapiscan Systems Classic, the Insperity Invitational the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in 2022.

He also has seven international wins — the Fiji Open in 1995, the Tahiti Open and the Queensland Open (Australia) in 1996, the South Australian Open (Australia) in 1997 and the McDonald’s PEI Challenge (Canada), the Bayer Championship (Canada) and the PEI Challenge (Canada) in 2000.

Alker is also enjoying playing in a field of Hall of Fame golfers on the Champions Tour.

“Just getting comfortable in this company, I think that’s the biggest thing,” Alker said. “Just like learning to play my game. It’s been hard to watch these guys but just stay in my skin and play my game. And then learning the courses, these are all new. I like playing new courses, it kind of gets me up and going. So just everything, to travel to different places, just the whole package. It’s been fun.

“… I hadn’t played with a lot of these guys when I was on Tour or Europe or anything. So [Steve] Stricker, Vijay [Singh], Ernie [Els] and all those guys, I hadn’t played with them before. Just getting comfortable playing with them. And they’re super guys. Maybe get a little bit older and soften up, loosen up a little bit, I don’t know, but they’re very approachable and it’s a lot of fun.”

Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Beaven on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBeavenABJ.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Justin Leonard dishes on the night Phil Mickelson threw BP at a Double-A game (and bet players they couldn’t homer off him)

“I said, ‘Do you guys want to go watch?’ And Fred (Couples) said, ‘I wouldn’t miss this for the world.'”

No need to witness “The Shot in Dark.” Last-minute tickets to a Pearl Jam concert at Blossom Music Center. Ambushing Phil Mickelson with a cheering section as he threw batting practice before a now-Akron Rubber Ducks game at Canal Park.

Justin Leonard hasn’t played at Firestone Country Club since 2010. But memories of Akron came flooding back as he returned for his PGA Tour Champions debut in the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship.

Leonard turned 50 on June 15, but said he’d been preparing for his transition to the senior tour for the last year and a half. Coupled with his schedule as a golf analyst for NBC Sports and recently moving his family from Aspen, Colorado, to Jupiter, Florida, he had plenty to keep him busy, especially a three-day drive with his 15-year-old son and their four dogs to their new home.

Winning the Claret Jug in 1997, Leonard will head to St. Andrews next week to broadcast the 150th Open Championship. But that won’t change his focus in the $3 million Bridgestone event, the fourth of five senior majors that opens Thursday on the famed South Course.

“I’m curious to see where my game is,” Leonard said. “There’s a big difference between playing with friends or playing with my kids and put a scorecard in the pocket and trying to beat some of these guys. So I’ll say I’m managing my expectations. I expect to learn a lot from this week.

“But as far as results and those things, not really thinking about those things. I’m just trying to ease my way back into competitive golf. I’ll play four or five events between now and the end of the season and get a sense of where these things are.”

Justin Leonard gets warmed up on the practice tee at the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship Pro-Am on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, in Akron, Ohio, at Firestone Country Club.

Pro Am5

The fun times Leonard had in Akron remain fresh, although perhaps not his tie for second behind Tiger Woods in the World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational in 2000, when eventual eight-time Firestone winner Woods beat Leonard and Philip Price by 11 shots.

Asked where he was for one of Woods’ most legendary finishes, Leonard said, “I think that was one of those years where he was going to win by 12 or something like that, so it’s not like I was on the range getting ready for a playoff.”

Reminded of Woods’ victory margin, Leonard added, “Yeah, so I won the B flight, which is nice. No trophy for that.”

Most of Leonard’s favorite stories come from off the course.

One year, in the days before he was immersed in satellite radio, he was driving to the course and heard an upcoming Pearl Jam show mentioned. He found Phil Mickelson’s longtime caddie, Jim “Bones’ Mackay, a good friend who is into the music scene.

“I told him, ‘I think Pearl Jam is playing somewhere here nearby,’’’ Leonard said of Mackay. “He said, ‘I’m on it.’ An hour later, we had tickets. And that night Davis Love and Bones and I drove 45 minutes to a great outdoor venue and saw Pearl Jam.”

Phil Mickelson and Justin Leonard won the first point for Team USA on Day 2 of the Presidents Cup.

Another night to remember came in 2003, when Mickelson threw batting practice to the then-Double-A Akron Aeros, reportedly offering three $100 bills to any player who could hit a home run off him. None did.

“I might have, I might not have been eavesdropping, but I heard Phil talking about it with Bones, and he said, ‘I’ll meet you here at the parking lot at 5:00,”’ Leonard said. “So I stored that away and told Davis and Fred Couples about it. I said, ‘Do you guys want to go watch?’ And Fred said, ‘I wouldn’t miss this for the world.'”

So Leonard told Love and Couples to meet in the parking lot at 4:50 p.m. so they could see the look on Mickelson’s face when he arrived.

“He pulls in and we’re all sitting there, and Bones is kind of like, ‘Oh, I don’t know how this is going to go over,’” Leonard said. “Phil pulls in and goes, ‘Hey, guys, what are you all doing?’ I said, ‘We’re coming to cheer you on, big guy.’

“We went down and watched that whole scene. And Phil was all proud that nobody hit a home run off of him. And our kind of argument, ‘Well, you have to at least throw a ball 50 miles an hour to create enough velocity so it can get out of the park.’

“We had a good time with it. Little things like that that happen along the way that kind of create these fun memories when I get to come back to a place like this.”

Considering Davis Love III was a part of both of those classic stories, it’s no wonder he led off his press conference with Leonard’s Champions Tour debut.

“I walked right onto the property and right into Justin Leonard and got to play a practice round with him,” said Love, making his first appearance at Firestone since 2016. “In fact, he stuck a note on my car on Monday because he changed his phone number and where he lives and his job and now he’s out here and just excited to see him.

“It really made my day to get out and play with him. Everybody’s riding up and calling him ‘rookie’ and they’re coming from other fairways to welcome him. He asked me a whole bunch of questions about rules and procedures. I said, ‘You need to ask somebody else, I’m not the best one to ask.’ But we’re going to the pro-am draw party when we get done playing.”

Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Steve Stricker builds lead to five strokes at Bridgestone Senior Players Championship

Steve Stricker fired a second consecutive bogey-free round that kept in front at the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship.

Bogey-free golf.

Three of the sweetest words a player can hear.

Throw in a birdie or nine and it is golf nirvana. Maybe not the state of perfect happiness but it’s darn close.

Steve Stricker might not be feeling nirvana-ish but he has to be feeling pretty good about himself – as well he should – after a second consecutive bogey-free round that kept him semi-comfortably in front of the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship at Firestone Country Club.

Stricker’s 2-under 68 was not as dazzling as his opening 63 but it got the job done. His two-day total of 9-under 131 left him with a 5-shot lead over Englishman Paul Broadhurst (67-69) and a 7-shot bulge over Marco Dawson (69-69) and Ken Duke (67-71) at the halfway point of the $3 million event, one of five majors on the PGA Tour Champions schedule.

He is the only man in the 78-player field without a bogey.

Stricker’s five-stroke cushion matches the largest 36-hole lead in tournament history. J.C. Snead led by five after two rounds in 1992 but closed with rounds of 72-75 and finished tied for second behind Dave Stockton. And, it is the largest lead through 36 holes at a Champions Tour major since Bernhard Langer led by seven midway through the 2014 Senior Open Championship.

“You know, it was a little bit more of a grind today,” said Stricker, who parred the first nine holes before cashing in with the first of his two birdies on the 400-yard 10th. “I didn’t make a bogey, but I made a couple good saves for pars that kept the round going. But, overall, you know, really good, solid round again.”

That the 55-year-old Broadhurst is in contention is stunning. The winner of the 2016 Senior Open Championship revealed Friday that he has been suffering from vertigo for the past two months. The symptoms come and go, he said, after starting with an ear infection a few months ago.

“I’m just hoping my health holds out on me so it’s nice to find a bit a form and put a few good rounds together,” said Broadhurst, from Walsall, England. “It’s been tough. Putting’s so difficult, ball’s moving, you’re moving. I’m not swinging how I would like, balance is still not right through the ball. So I’m getting away with it at the moment, but as long as I stay OK for the weekend, I’ll give it my best shot.”

Broadhurst had four birdies and three bogeys to remain in contention in hopes of making a fourth top-10 this season. He said he fears that Stricker will have to come back to the field rather than the field catching Stricker.

“How impressive is what he’s doing?” Broadhurst asked rhetorically. “It’s not a course where you can shoot 6-under but then he shot 7-under yesterday so he proved that theory wrong. That’s what we’ve come to expect from Stricks. He continues to amaze us with some of the scores he puts on the board.”

Stricker, who will captain the Ryder Cup team in three months, had two close calls to having his bogey-free display disrupted.

On the 460-yard 14th he was able to save par after escaping the left rough and avoiding tree trouble from 116 yards. He had hoped to give himself a makeable putt from 10 to 15 feet, but a masterful 8-iron shot stopped about three feet from the hole.

“I wasn’t sitting too well after two shots and just tried to chop an 8-iron, keep it underneath the tree limbs in front of me and try to gauge it coming out of that rough properly. It was a lucky shot. It was like stealing one.”

Stricker hit 3-wood off the tee on the 395-yard 17th but ended up in the right rough, again with a tree in front of him. His 5-iron shot avoided the tree but bounced into some thick rough just off the back of the green, leaving him with a testy chip. He ran his third about four feet past but made the slightly uphill come-backer to keep his streak intact.

His lone birdies came on the 400-yard 10th when he made a 12-footer and on the famed 625-yard 16th. A 3-iron shot from 220 yards found the back bunker but he blasted out to two feet and made the putt.

“It’s a tough test,” Stricker said of the South Course, which is playing to an approximate length of 7,136 yards for the over-50 group “So, I’m happy to get out of here with another bogey-free round. And, if I can continue to do that I’ll be all right.”

Ernie Els, who finished in a tie for fifth here last year after a strong weekend, turned in the day’s lowest round at 3-under 67 and is one of six players tied for fifth at 1-under 139.

Marco Dawson posted his second 69 and shared third place with Ken Duke, each at 138. Dawson, from Freising, Germany, won the 2015 Senior Open Championship but has not had a top-10 finish on the Tour Champions since September of 2020.

[lawrence-related id=778112567,778107764,778107513]

Stricker fires first-round 63 at Bridgestone Senior Players Championship

Fast starts and low rounds at Firestone Country Club are nothing new to Steve Stricker.

AKRON, Ohio – Fast starts and low rounds at Firestone Country Club are nothing new to Steve Stricker.

But, if the Ryder Cup captain gets any faster or goes any lower during the final three rounds he’ll likely leave the field distantly in his rearview mirror as the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship unfolds.

Stricker, 54, birdied five of his first nine holes on Thursday, including three in a row to close out his front nine, and went on to shoot 7-under 63 to take the first-round lead.

The 63 was Stricker’s personal best on the South Course, bettering the 64 he shot on two other occasions. It also was the lowest first round in Bridgestone Senior Players history.

Stricker’s nines of 33-30 gave him a 4-shot lead over two relative unknowns to Firestone fans. Ken Duke (35-32) and Englishman Paul Broadhurst (32-35) shared second place.

Reigning champion Jerry Kelly, who was paired with Stricker, was one of four players tied for fourth at 1-under 69 after nines of 35-34. The others are Marco Dawson (33-36), Bob Estes (34-35) and Gene Sauers (35-34).

Fast starts and superlative rounds on the South Course are part of Stricker’s Firestone DNA.

In the 2020 version of the Senior Players he opened with a 2-under 68 only to shoot 11-over during his final three rounds to finish at 9-over 289 and in a tie for 23d.

Part of that 68 including a hole-in-one on the par-3 seventh hole that helped get him to 5-under at one point.

In 2019, when Retief Goosen won by two shots, Stricker opened with a 6-under 64 then failed to break 70 the rest of the way and finished at 1-under 279.

He also laid a 6-under 64 on the field during the final round of the 2012 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. That lifted him into a tie for second place with Jim Furyk, each one shot behind winner Keegan Bradley. The 64 followed three consecutive rounds of 68.

“I have gotten off to good starts here before so I’ve got to continue with that,” he said, while acknowledging he is winless on the South Course. “Just have to keep playing with the confidence level that I played with today and keep trying to hit the shots I hit today.”

Stricker, who has been toying with his putter, its grip and how he holds it, needed just 22 putts on 14 holes and was not required to make many monsters as he hit the ball close to the hole all day. His longest birdie putts were 20 feet on the 17th and 15 feet on the 18th. His other birdie putts were close to or less than 6 feet.

“I’ve been struggling with my putting, the consistency of it,” he said. “I just haven’t been feeling that great on the greens lately and today was a good day. I putted well. I cleaned up nicely. I made all the little three, four, five-footers and those are what keeps the round going.”

After a roller-coaster front nine in which he had three birdies and three bogeys, Duke settled in for the final nine holes. He birdied three of his final four, including a chip-in from just off the 18th green for his seventh birdie of the day.

Broadhurst, who won the 2018 Senior PGA and the 2016 Senior Open Championship at Carnoustie, was nearly as steady as Stricker. The 55-year-old birdied the eighth and ninth holes that led to making the turn at 3-under, then reeled off nine consecutive pars to shoot himself into contention.

Stricker began play on the 10th hole on a sunny and windy day in which the winds grew progressively stronger as the day wore on.

“It got obviously windier as the day went on,” Stricker said. “There was a little bit of breeze right at the start and then it kept picking up, especially on our second nine. Coming down the stretch it was blowing pretty good.”

[lawrence-related id=778087073,778081281,778081251]

At age 61, Fred Couples is still chasing trophies, including first at Firestone

Fred Couples has finished tied for sixth or better in four of his last five events on the PGA Tour Champions.

He may play only occasionally on the PGA and Champions Tours, but Fred Couples is still chasing trophies.

That was evident Wednesday as Couples warmed up for the pro-am before the $3 million Bridgestone Senior Players Championship, which opened Thursday at Firestone Country Club’s famed South Course.

Couples has finished tied for sixth or better in four of his last five events on the PGA Tour Champions. He tied for second his last time out on June 13 at the American Family Insurance Championship in Madison, Wisconsin, one stroke behind winner Jerry Kelly.

Some might consider themselves on a roll with such 2021 results. But not Couples, who remains driven to succeed at age 61.

“Yeah, I was on a roll a couple weeks ago and bogeyed the last hole to lose to Jerry Kelly, but I played very well. In April I was in the last group in Naples and there were a couple really, really good scores the last round and I had kind of a so-so last day,” he said of the Chubb Classic, where he carded a 71 in the final round and tied for sixth.

LIVE UPDATES: Bridgestone Senior Players Championship

“I mean, on a roll, yeah. I’d like to win, but I’m playing pretty well. I don’t play that much, so my rolls are just getting to the tournaments and getting going.”

Couples has recorded 13 Champions Tour victories, the last in 2017, when he captured the Chubb Classic and the American Family Insurance Championship. He’s won 15 times on the PGA Tour, including the 1992 Masters, 1984 and 1996 Players Championship and the 1998 Memorial Tournament.

Part of Couples’ frustration likely comes from the preparation he put in before this year’s Masters, only to shoot 79-78 and miss the cut by eight shots.

“I worked hard to go to Augusta and what I shot, 78, 77 or something crazy, and I practiced and played and I ended up saying I can’t do this,” he said on the Firestone driving range. “Then I went to Naples and really liked the course. Going to Sunday, honestly, I was I think tied for the lead and I played pretty well, I just didn’t putt very well.

Fred Couples stretches as he makes his way to the 18th hole during the first day of the Chubb Classic, Friday, April 16, 2021, at the Tiburon Golf Club in North Naples, Florida.

“So I changed putters, and since then I’ve started to putt pretty well, so it makes the game a little easier when you’re making four-, five-, six-footers for pars. I’m going to definitely have to putt well here.”

In Madison, Couples was paired with Miguel Angel Jimenez (who tied him for second) and Retief Goosen (who tied for fourth). Couples shot 68 in the final round and lost to Kelly, who carded a 66.

“Even if I’m behind this Sunday and I come out and play a good Sunday and move my way up, it’s always a good feeling,” Couples said. “In Madison, I really played very well on Sunday. I hit the ball great, had a great pairing with Jimenez and Goosen and I thought one of us was going to win.

“Next thing I know Kelly starts birdieing every hole.”

Couples tied for eighth last year in the Bridgestone Senior Players, when only champion Kelly and runner-up Scott Parel shot under par. In 2019, the first year of the Champions event in Akron, Couples tied for 22nd, his 285 total leaving him 11 strokes behind of winner Goosen, who fired a 62 on Friday.

Couples started participating in the NEC World Series of Golf at Firestone in 1983. His best finish in that event was third in 1992. In five World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitationals, his best was a tie for 15th in 1999, the inaugural year.

But Couples loves returning to Firestone, even though friends at home in Newport Beach, California still believe Akron hosts a PGA Tour event. The WGC moved to Memphis, Tennessee, after the 2018 tournament.

“At home, everyone’s shocked that when I tell them I’m going to Akron. They don’t even realize that the Tour players don’t play here anymore and that the old guys play here, so it’s kind of funny,” Couples said.

“The guy who won the California State Open, he’s my age, and he said, ‘Where are you going next?’ I said, ‘To Akron.’ He said, ‘Akron? You’re not in the World Series?’ I said, ‘No, I’m not, but I’m in the Bridgestone event there.’ Then I told him the winner gets to go play in the Players Championship, so that got a rise out of him.”

This is the third year for the Bridgestone Senior Players at Firestone. The club has hosted a professional golf event for 68 years, and Couples considers himself lucky to compete on a course he considers U.S. Open-quality. He was honored as the event’s 2019 Ambassador of Golf.

“Like I said a couple years ago, this is amazing that we’re playing here,” Couples said. “We have a lot of great tournaments, don’t get me wrong, but we don’t play golf courses like this.

“We’re lucky to be here, thanks to Bridgestone and the local charities. You know, it’s one of my favorite places.”

Couples said the memories flood back when he returns. He played with eight-time WGC-Bridgestone Invitational champion Tiger Woods when Woods won at Firestone for the first time in 1999.

“I played on Sunday with Tiger when he won one year, that was crazy. Crazy fun just to see that,” Couples recalled.

That flashback helped Couples see the good in his game, despite what he considers disappointing results.

“I know right now what I have to do well and that is drive the ball well,” he said. “I feel like I am, so I just have to play smart and not panic if I make some bogeys and start thinking, ‘Oh, I’m going to hit a driver on this hole.’

“I played probably 25 events here and hitting driver on holes you shouldn’t doesn’t work out very well in your favor. It may work one day out of the four, but not if you’re going to play four rounds.”

Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.

How a Purple Heart recipient with a prosthetic leg has changed John Daly’s life

The vehicle he was driving in Iraq hit a 250-pound roadside bomb. Pulido swerved right, saving the lives of those with him.

AKRON, Ohio — John Daly has tried to help those in need throughout his PGA Tour career.

But a gregarious retired U.S. Army major with a Purple Heart and a prosthetic leg helped Daly when he reached a turning point with his 2020 bladder cancer diagnosis. Their partnership has given Daly’s charity work a newfound focus.

Major Ed Pulido teamed with PGA Tour Champions star Daly to launch the John Daly-Major Ed Heart of a Lion Foundation last October. Pulido said their fundraising events brought in $260,000 in the first three months and they’re on track to total $1 million in the inaugural year.

On Tuesday, Pulido stood at the 17th tee at Firestone Country Club’s North Course, greeting participants and posing for pictures during a pro-am put on by the Wentz Family Foundation to benefit Heart of a Lion.

The fundraiser precedes the $3 million Bridgestone Senior Players Championship, which opens Thursday at Firestone South.

First discussed by Bud Wentz, president of Wentz Financial Group in Hudson, and Daly during a pro-am two years ago, Daly’s event was capped by a Jake Owen concert hours later at the Archbishop Hoban High School football field. Most of the proceeds will benefit Daly’s and Pulido’s 501c3 charity that serves children, veterans and first responders.

“We do events all across the country. What we try to do that’s different, we try to keep at least 60 to 70 percent of the dollars local,” Pulido said.

Major Ed Pulido, the founder and CEO of the John Daly-Major Ed Heart of a Lion Foundation, swings on the North Course at Firestone Country Club Tuesday, June 22, 2021 in Akron, Ohio. Photo by Karen Schiely, Akron Beacon Journal/USA Today Network

Pulido, 53, of Edmond, Oklahoma, said he met Daly, 55, about 15 years ago at Whistling Straits Golf Course in Kohler, Wisconsin, and they did some charity work together.

But it wasn’t until last year when Daly began planning the new foundation that they reconnected and became partners.

“A turning point, he had a cancer diagnosis and for him it was like, ‘What’s next? How long can I continue doing what I’m doing?’ and making some changes to not only his philanthropy footprint, but his life,” Pulido said. “I think all of us have a point in life when that comes to be.”

Pulido’s came when he was 37 in 2005, when he was forced to retire from the military after 20 years of service and three tours of duty.

On Aug. 17, 2004, the vehicle he was driving in Baqubah, Iraq, hit a 250-pound roadside bomb. Pulido said he had been trained to swerve right or left in such an instance. He swerved right, saving the lives of those with him.

“The first fragment broke my knee in three places, the fragment is still in the left side of my body,” Pulido said. “A combat medic pulls me out. I spent about 17 hours in surgery after I got back to Bagdad. Then Germany, Walter Reed, and Brooke Army Medical Center [in San Antonio, Texas]. I spent almost 40 days in ICU with e-coli, two staph infections and some kind of chemical infection in my leg. On Oct. 1, there was no other remedy except to amputate.”

With retirement inevitable, Pulido remembered the words of his father Manuel, a chief warrant officer 4 in the Army with whom he served when he enlisted at age 17.

“I’m thinking, ‘What’s next?’ I could have sat down and said, ‘I’m going to take my retirement and hang out at the house,”’ Pulido said. “But it was my father, he said, ‘Be resilient. Never quit. Move forward.’ That’s what John represents.”

Pulido went to work for the United Way, then spent 13 years with Folds of Honor, which aids families of fallen or disabled servicemen and women. Pulido gained valuable experience he’s now using to help Daly.

Manuel Pulido, who lives in Lakeland, Florida, was diagnosed with terminal cancer in June 2020, which Polido said coincided with Daly’s test results. Daly revealed in September that he’d undergone surgery, but the bladder cancer had an 85 percent likelihood of returning. That strengthened Ed Pulido’s bond with Daly.

The Heart of a Lion Foundation soon followed. The lion in the logo represents Daly, the Purple Heart Pulido’s service and the American flag in a heart shape says to Pulido, “America’s heart is with all of us and we should do our part to make a difference.”

[vertical-gallery id=778101580]

The foundation has worked on a house project for a veteran in Oklahoma. Some battling suicidal thoughts have had help in seeking counseling. Injured first responders have received assistance. The foundation also aids St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Boys & Girls Clubs.

“We try to empower veterans to be difference-makers,” Pulido said. “We have veterans who are selling coffee, they’ve started a coffee business, veterans who are doing woodworking. Some are doing long drive and playing golf.

“A lot of it is morale, welfare and recreation, taking care of their families and connections to organizations that can provide support and healing and educational opportunities.”

Pulido said Tuesday’s pro-am and concert would not have happened without Wentz, Heart of a Lion’s first corporate sponsor.

“We talk about unity and we talk about all of these words, but what’s our action?” Pulido said. “Our action is we’re not going to leave anyone behind on the field of battle for our military, but also on the homefront. That’s what’s Bud’s all about. For us to do our part with him and raise a substantial amount of money, tonight (Tuesday night) the concert with Jake Owen is going to be a pretty powerful thing.”

Pulido agreed that his partnership with Daly centered Daly’s charitable efforts that had been well-intentioned but somewhat scattershot before.

“We gave it focus, we gave it horsepower, we gave it connection,” Pulido said. “We reconnected with our network of people that have helped us with other things. Now it’s inventoried and we know what we’re doing.

“We’ve got people coming at us with golf course management, square (toed) shoes. We’ve got a coin coming out soon with John’s logo and name on it. I’m just re-starting this new brand. We’re the heart of a lion, the heart of America, the heartbeat of our nation. That’s the focus that we want to give. We want to change lives.”

Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

John Daly’s snapped putter aside, Senior Players was eerily quiet

Akron Beacon Journal photographer Jeff Lange didn’t see John Daly snap his putter on the 16th hole Saturday at Firestone Country Club. But Lange heard it. During a normal year, even in 2019 when the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship replaced …

Akron Beacon Journal photographer Jeff Lange didn’t see John Daly snap his putter on the 16th hole Saturday at Firestone Country Club.

But Lange heard it.

During a normal year, even in 2019 when the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship replaced the departed World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, the loud crack might not have been audible. Still a man of the people on the PGA Tour Champions, Daly would have drawn a crowd and there would have been buzz as he hit two shots in the water and 3-putted.

In the fan-less COVID-19 world of professional golf, Lange was still able to capture the aftermath of Daly’s dismay after a quadruple-bogey 9, which left Daly putting with a 3-wood for his remaining holes.

Through four beautiful days marred only by a Sunday afternoon thunderstorm, Firestone’s South Course was eerily quiet. A tough Friday crosswind left the field fighting to compensate, but at least the sound of a ball cutting through tree leaves kept one observer from being struck.

The few outside the ropes were marshals, volunteers, girlfriends, wives, tour officials, the cleaning crew and Golf Channel staffers.

John Daly places his broken putter in the back of his cart after finishing with a quadruple bogey on hole sixteen during the third round of the 2020 Bridgestone Senior Players Championship at Firestone Country Club, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2020, in Akron, Ohio. [Jeff Lange/Beacon Journal]

With no television towers erected, the network used “spiders,” a motorized vehicle that looks more appropriate for saving house fire victims from the second story. Only two spiders were on site last year, but with no fans in 2020 the Golf Channel decided to bring in more.

Don Padgett III, executive director of the Bridgestone Senior Players, got the chance to sit behind the ninth green for about an hour watching some groups come through, which he said he’d never done in 14 years in this role. He marveled at being to hear every “good shot” or “good putt” uttered and felt like he was sneaking a peek at an everyday foursome, not the world’s best 50-and-over pros.

Those who did the same clapped politely but lightly at such shots. A robust reaction felt totally out of place.

Padgett also stood at the first tee on Thursday when Fred Couples, Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez opened the tournament.

“We all watched them tee off and said, ‘There would have been a lot of people here with that group going off,’” Padgett said.

But even without fans, Padgett was glad the event went on. Especially after 13 Champions Tour events were canceled and two Senior majors were postponed, including the Bridgestone, previously scheduled for July 9-12.

[vertical-gallery id=778061008]

“Everybody uses ‘Things are fluid,’ and when you’re trying to plan a big event and all the volunteers and supporters, it’s definitely a moving target. We had the goalposts moved on us a few times this year,” Padgett said.

The biggest challenge in putting on the $3 million tournament during the pandemic was awaiting the decision on fans, not announced until July 22, because of the structures that needed to be erected.

“We could have had limited fans-full hospitality, like Memorial had been approved for, we could have had just hospitality, or we could have had nobody,” Padgett said. “There was a time where we could have a full event, or if things really went sideways no event, and about three scenarios in between. You were just trying to make your best guess.”

Amid the economic devastation brought on by the health crisis, the event held a Wednesday pro-am at Firestone, a priority on the Champions Tour, and the Westfield Legends Pro-Am Thursday at Westfield Country Club. This year $750,000 was donated back to charity, as compared to $825,000 in 2019.

“It will be gratifying to know that we had a big impact on the community —$150,000 to the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, other great partners, the LeBron James Family Foundation will get some funds this year,” Padgett said. “That’s what it’s all about for a lot of people and why they’re involved with this event.

A masked volunteer works as a spotter along the No. 2 fairway during the final round of the 2020 Bridgestone Senior Players Championship at Firestone Country Club, Sunday, Aug. 16, 2020, in Akron, Ohio. [Jeff Lange/Beacon Journal]

“All things considered, I think we’re going to have a really successful week.”

The field saw Firestone with all its teeth, with firm and fast conditions rarely seen during the WGC days from 1999-2018. Yes, there were COVID-19 tests and protocols. In-restaurant dining was prohibited by the tour, which meant no visits to the Diamond Grille.

But the competitors, even as they struggled, their wives and girlfriends may have enjoyed a peaceful respite amid the beauty of the historic oak-lined course.

If John Daly’s putter could talk, it might be the lone dissenter.

[jwplayer 7NBaZ2A0-9JtFt04J]

Ace propels Jerry Kelly to Senior Players Championship title

Jerry Kelly survived more than a two-hour weather delay and shot a final-round 1-under 69 to win his first major.

What began as a relatively wide-open race with a possible mad dash to the finish became a two-man pursuit that muted what could have been a drama-filled day on the South Course of Firestone Country Club.

Then, with one scene-stealing, dagger-like swing, Jerry Kelly stood alone.

Buoyed by a stunning hole-in-one on the 200-yard 12th hole, Kelly won the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship by two shots over Scott Parel.

Kelly survived more than a two-hour weather delay and shot a final-round 1-under 69 to win his first major with a 72-hole total of 3-under 277.

One by one the contenders – there were seven players within four shots of the lead at the day’s outset – shot themselves out of the picture until just Kelly and Parel were the last men standing.

Scores: Bridgestone Senior Players Championship

Parel, third on the Charles Schwab money list and the winner of the Chubb Classic earlier this season, shot a final-round 70 to finish at 279.

Kelly’s ace, which extended his lead from one to three shots, came one hole after his bogey enabled Parel to get to within one shot of the lead with seven holes to play. Then, Parel bogeyed the 13th hole to fall four shots behind. Even a birdie on the 17th was not enough.

Kelly, who held or shared the lead from Thursday’s opening round, was winless and had just one top-10 finish this season before prevailing Sunday to win the $450,000 check and a spot in the 2021 PGA Players Championship at Sawgrass. He last won more than one year ago in the American Family Insurance Championship on the senior circuit.

Colin Montgomerie and Miguel Angel Jimenez, one of the first-round leaders, tied for third at even-par 280.

Kelly, with six Champions Tour and three PGA Tour wins on his resume, began the day at 2-under and held a one-shot lead over Parel, Montgomerie and Woody Austin.

He quickly took charge with birdies on two of the first three holes to get to 4-under.

Parel did the same to remain on Kelly’s heels until a bogey on the 469-yard sixth hole dropped him to 2-under.

No one was able to mount a challenge.

Jimenez, who began the day three shots behind, suffered back-to-back bogeys. Montgomerie, with seven career Tour Champions wins, bogeyed two of his first six holes and Els, winner of the Hoag Classic in March, suffered three bogeys on the front.

Austin, who has five top-10 finishes in six events this season, fell back with a bogey on the 471-yard fourth, a double-bogey on the sixth and another bogey on the ninth.

Kelly got sloppy on the final hole and created a little drama with a double-bogey six but Parel was unable to take advantage and finished with a bogey.

[lawrence-related id=778061379,778061233,778061020]