Troy

Kelly

It’s Kelly’s fourth payday of 2012. For the week he’s struggled with ball-striking, hitting only 53.6 percent of his fairways and 69.4 percent of his greens, ranking him well down the field in both categories. The tournament has already seen challenges from weather in staying on schedule, and the unusually high number of players teeing it up in the third round will add another scheduling challenge. After 54 holes are in the books, another cut of top 70 and ties will occur.

The Web.com Tour grad circled eight birdies on the strength of 16 GIR. Ironically, he found just six (of 14) fairways, but had the flat stick working. Kelly needed 27 putts to the tune of a 1.625 average to navigate The Old White TPC. To date, his season has been a disappointing one as his best finish in six paydays is a T47 at the Shell Houston Open.

Kelly circled five birdies, with his lone bogey coming at the par-4 ninth. While he only hit half of his GIR, his flat stick saved him. He needed just 23 putts to a 1.556 average to navigate The Old White TPC. After halving the first playoff hole with tap-in pars, Kelly and Potter Jr. headed to the par-5 17th for the second playoff holes. Faced with a bad lie in a bunker, Kelly would eventually hole a 22'5" par putt and watch Potter miss a 4'9" birdie attempt that would have closed him out. The joy was short lived as Potter would stick his approach to 4'10" on the third playoff hole and brush that in for birdie to eliminate Kelly. After his career-best finish, Kelly now heads to the John Deere Classic to take on TPC Deere Run. He also qualified for the British Open for finishing highest amongh the top five at the Greenbrier not already exempt into the major. (Ted Potter, Jr. secured his berth via a short-term special money list that was plugged in first.)

The Nationwide Tour grad has seen the weekend just five times in 12 starts, with his best finish a T47 at the Shell Houston Open. While he’s 15th in driving distance, he’s only found 51.24 percent of his fairways and is 131st in GIR. He also played this event in 2009 and missed the cut.

After qualifying for the British Open at Greenbrier, he promptly missed the cut last week at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. He’s currently 111th in FedExCup points.

Kelly missed his two cuts immediately following the defeat at the hands of Ted Potter Jr., and has since made his last four cuts. The bad news is, a T48 at the Reno-Tahoe Open is the best of the bunch. The rookie is 107th on the money list and should be a lock to retain his PGA TOUR card by virtue of a top 125 spot on that list at season’s end, but a little insurance at CordeValle would be welcomed.

Kelly faced off with Ted Potter Jr. in a playoff in the mountains of West Virginia that he would eventually lose, but the $658,800 check represented almost 84 percent of his earnings. Needless to say, it would have been back to the Web.com Tour had he not have caught lightening in the bottle that week. Under those circumstances, it’s hard to be confident that he will navigate the 2013 schedule well enough to avoid the four-tournament qualifier for the 2013-2014 season.

It seems that early every year, a bug snipes a handful of touring pros. This winter has been no exception. Kelly opened with a 5-over-par 40-37=77 at Torrey Pines South. He was scheduled to go off the 10th tee on the North today but will instead go in the books with an 0-for-2 start following a missed cut at last week’s Humana Challenge. Look for him at next week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open. He’s 1-for-2 at TPC Scottsdale with a T57 in 2011.

Kelly called it quits at Torrey Pines before his second round last week due to flu-like symptoms. He opened well today, reaching the 11th hole in bogey-free 2-under, but then doubled the par-4 11th and chased it with a bogey at 12. One more bogey at the par-4 17th followed -- he whiffed on his 50-inch par save -- before he closed with a birdie-3 at the last. His only notable conversion of the day was a birdie attempt that dropped in from 25'4" at the par-3 fourth hole.

If you look back to the start of 2012, Kelly’s success on the PGA TOUR is completely tied to one week at The Greenbrier last year. He’s yet to secure a top-60 finish this season and is about to set foot on a course that he’s never played. The tree-lined fairways of the Copperhead Course may not bode well for someone who is 174th in driving accuracy.