Jerry Kelly made a short birdie putt at the first playoff hole Sunday to win the Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines, Iowa.
Kelly and Kirk Triplett replayed the par-4 18th hole after each finished at 18-under-par 198 after matching rounds of 67. Kelly used a wedge to stick his second shot to about 3 feet, and Triplett couldn’t match his birdie.
The final round was disrupted late in the day due to a pop-up thunderstorm with lightning. When it resumed, Kelly had just three holes to go. He made his fifth and final birdie at the par-3 17th hole en route to polishing off a bogey-free round.
He credited a recent putting lesson from his friend, Steve Stricker.
“I just had to keep my patience in there,” Kelly said. “That was what sent me through, besides obviously Steve’s putting lesson again. But really is the patience. Because of that, because I was able to make some putts, that really carried me through.”
Kelly, 55, won for the ninth time on the PGA Tour Champions and the first time since June 2021, when he claimed victory at the American Family Insurance Championship, his hometown event in Madison, Wis. He will defend his title there next week.
Bernhard Langer of Germany (68) and Steven Alker of New Zealand (69) finished tied for third at 16 under.
Brett Quigley shot 70 and finished alone in fifth at 15 under. Paul Goydos tied for the round of the day, a 7-under 65, to finish T6 with Brandt Jobe (67) at 14 under.
–Field Level Media
