Jerry Kelly took the first step toward his third title at the fabled Firestone Country Club with a 5-under-par 65 during Kaulig Companies Championship first-round action on Thursday in Akron, Ohio.
Kelly tallied six birdies and one bogey negotiating his way around Firestone’s South Course to take a one-shot lead over Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke and Canada’s Mike Weir.
Kelly, 59, collected both of his PGA Tour Champions majors at Firestone, where he won in 2020 and 2022 when the tournament was known as the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship.
“Yeah, I love a tree-lined golf course,” Kelly said. “It’s what I grew up on in Wisconsin at Maple Bluff Country Club. It gives me a visual. That’s why I’ve always been able to shape it both ways because I’ve had to shape it with the size of the trees that we have out there.
“So (this) is very similar to home, just a lot longer.”
Clarke, like Kelly, had his lone bogey at No. 7. But Clarke, who played the back nine first, pulled within one of Kelly by capping his round with a birdie on No. 9.
“Any time you shoot under par at Firestone is a pretty good day,” Clarke said. ” … Got to keep on swinging the way I am and hopefully give myself more chances.”
Weir, 56, has just one top 10 to show for his last 18 months of PGA Tour Champions play, so he walked away from his five-birdie, one-bogey day feeling much better than normal.
“I think I’ve kind of felt like a bit of a 10-handicapper who hits it well on the range but can’t bring it to the course,” Weir said. “I’ve been doing that a lot where I feel good on the range and that same guy doesn’t show up on the course. So I was able to bring it to the course today, so that felt good.”
Zach Johnson, South Africa’s Ernie Els, Australia’s Cameron Percy, Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen and South Korea’s Y.E. Yang finished at 3 under to sit within two shots of the lead.
Stewart Cink, who came up short in the final round of last week’s U.S. Senior Open, posted a 69 to join David Duval, Justin Leonard, South Africa’s Retief Goosen and three others in a tie for 15th.
Padraig Harrington, who passed Cink on the final day for his second straight U.S. Senior Open title, is not at Firestone this week. He carded a 4-over 74 in the first round of the Scottish Open as he prepares for next week’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
