In six years of professional golf since he finished playing at UW, Tacoma native and Central Kitsap graduate Troy Kelly has bounced around the game's minor leagues, never really finding a home tour. That's all changed now.

BY TODD MILLES; The News Tribune

The half-day orientation was for the 28 professional golfers who had earned full-time playing privileges through qualifying school for the 2009 PGA Tour season.

Guys such as Q-School medalist Harrison Frazar, and former tour winners John Huston, Glen Day, Notah Begay III and Chris Riley had been through it before, and waited it out calmly – tuning in only when they needed to.

Troy Kelly, the Tacoma native and Central Kitsap High graduate, treated it like the first day of kindergarten.

“Yeah, it was a little like the first day of school,” he said, laughing. “But I was happy to be there, obviously.”

In six years of professional golf, Kelly had never really had a home tour.

That’s all changed now.

The 30-year-old, who finished in a tie for 11th with a six-round final score of 20-under 412 at the third stage of Q-School last month, will make his PGA Tour debut this week at the Sony Open in Honolulu.

Puyallup’s Ryan Moore will start a week later at the Bob Hope Classic on one of the courses where Kelly qualified – the Nicklaus Private Course at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif. Michael Putnam’s season on the Nationwide Tour will begin the first week of February in Panama.

The Sony Open is the first full-field event of the season. Kelly will start there, and is in line to play in five of the first seven PGA Tour tournaments, all on the West Coast.

“There’s a little bit of relief being here. I don’t feel like I’ve made it,” Kelly said. “Making it is keeping your card year after year, and making it a lifestyle. I don’t know how hard that is. I’ll learn this year.”

No doubt, these lessons will be frustrating and painstaking at times. But Kelly will have at least 30 chances (tournaments) to stay in the top 125 and keep his PGA Tour card next season, so his opportunities give him a greater chance for success.

And as the old tour-life saying goes, “It’s much harder getting to the PGA Tour than staying there.”

Kelly knows that first-hand.

Since leaving the University of Washington in the spring of 2001 with the ambition to turn pro, Kelly’s trail has been full of detours.

He played mini-tours, off and on. He was on the Gateway Tour for three seasons (2003, 2005 and 2006), played partial seasons the past two years on the Golden State Tour, and he toiled on the Canadian Tour last season, too.

Any crack at a Nationwide Tour event was a wait-and-see endeavor. He’d often make cross-country travel arrangements, hoping he would get in. And when he did, it was usually without a practice round and little preparation.

“When I would show up at tournaments, I would immediately be at a disadvantage,” Kelly said.

He couldn’t get a break, and he knew it. In fact, he got out of golf for much of 2004, working in construction and playing only in low-purse tournaments in the Northwest.

“He worked, and soon realized he did not want to beat nails for the rest of his life,” said Bob Kelly, Troy’s father and childhood instructor. “He was still playing a little bit, and was playing good.”

Troy Kelly advanced through two stages of qualifying to get into the 2005 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina. After opening with an embarrassing 13-over-par 83, Kelly fired a 67 in the second round. It would have tied the course record had Sweden’s Peter Hedblom not shot 66 earlier in the day.

The experience gave a little validation to Kelly and a shot in the arm to his career hopes. When he returned to Washington, he sat down with his father and a few investors, notably Tacoma’s Jamie Kirkebo, and talked about returning to mini-tours with the intention of catching on to something bigger.

Kirkebo should be a familiar name in these parts. He was a standout amateur golfer for the better part of three decades starting in the late 1960s, and he has various business investments in the area, notably in storage units and real estate.

“The last three years, we sat down and tried to make a real commitment to Troy’s career,” Kirkebo said. “I’ve always believed in his ability … and he finally showed me he wanted to get after it.”

Kelly moved to California full-time, but the renewed commitment did not net immediate gains. He reached the final stage of 2006 Q-School but never really threatened to earn his card.

A year later, he made two cuts in six events on the Nationwide Tour, with a tie for 25th at the Wichita Open his high finish, but didn’t come close to a tour card.

In 2008, he made seven of 12 cuts on the Canadian Tour but never won (although he was the Q-School co-medalist later that spring).

“I was competitive on the Canadian Tour,” Kelly said. “But as expensive as it is (to travel), I was losing a little bit of money.”

Last summer, he returned home for what seemed like a last-ditch effort to get his career going in the right direction. He worked out with a new athletic trainer and fine-tuned his swing with longtime instructor Ken Kubitz, who teaches at Gold Mountain, Meadow Park and Tanwax golf courses.

The goal was to get through the three stages of PGA Tour qualifying school, starting in late October.

“I knew if I didn’t get through,” Kelly said, “(the financial backing) was probably over.”

What Kelly accomplished over a five-week span, at three different sites against three large fields of elite players, well, few know what that’s like. Every shot of every round is important to keeping one’s dream alive.

The shot Kelly remembers most came in the second stage at Oak Valley Golf Club in California.

Late in the final round, Kelly was near the cut line. He faced a daunting approach shot to the par-5 16th hole, with little room for error since a pond flanked the hole on the entire right side.

From nearly 200 yards out, from a sidehill lie, Kelly’s 7-iron not only avoided disaster, but it bounced at the front of the green and stopped a short distance from the hole. He made the 8-foot eagle putt.

Had he missed, his three-putt on the 18th hole would have been fatal, knocking him out of Q-School altogether.

“And we wouldn’t be talking about any of this,” Bob Kelly said.

But he didn’t miss – one break that went his way, and the one he ultimately took advantage of.

“In a month span, when needing to play good golf, yes, that was the best I played,” said Troy Kelly, whose lives in the offseason with his girlfriend in University Place. “Now, for the first time in my life, I know where I’ll play almost every week. And as my agent, Rick (Fehr) has told me, if you’re getting tired and wake up in the hotel one morning and don’t remember where you’re at, it’s probably time to go home.”

Todd Milles: 253-597-8442

blogs.thenewstribune.com/golf

THE TROY KELLY FILE

Hometown: La Quinta, Calif., and Tacoma.

College: University of Washington.

Age: 30, born Aug. 2, 1978.

Turned professional: 2003.

Best PGA Tour/major championship finish: Missed cut (150th) at 2005 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina.

Coaches: Bob Kelly (Silverdale), Ken Kubitz (Tacoma) and Chris Walkey (Jim McLean School at La Quinta).

Caddie: Roger Bock, Bremerton.

Management team: Phoenix-based (Rick) Fehr Sports Management, along with Bob Kelly, his father, and investor Jamie Kirkebo of Tacoma.

In his bag: Cleveland driver, Cleveland CG Gold irons and Titleist Pro-V1x ball.

Endorsements: Titleist, FootJoy, Cleveland and Plantation Golf Course.

Todd Milles, The News Tribune PGA Tour schedule

Jan. 8-11: Mercedes-Benz Championship, Plantation Course at Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii (Winner: Geoff Ogilvy)

Jan. 15-18: Sony Open in Hawaii, Waialae CC, Honolulu

Jan. 21-25: Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, PGA West-Palmer Private, PGA West-Nicklaus Private, Silver Rock, Bermuda Dunes, Palm Springs, Calif.

Jan. 29-Feb. 1: FBR Open, TPC Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Feb. 5-8: Buick Invitational, Torrey Pines GC (South Course, North Course) San Diego

Feb. 12-15: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill, Poppy Hills, Pebble Beach, Calif.

Feb. 19-22: Northern Trust Open, Riviera CC, Pacific Palisades, Calif.

Feb. 25-March 1: WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at Dove Mountain, Marana, Ariz.

Feb. 25-March 1: Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya, El Camaleon GC at Mayakoba, Riviera Maya, Mexico

March 5-8: The Honda Classic, PGA National (Champion Course), Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

March 12-15: WGC-CA Championship, Doral Golf Resort and Spa (Blue Course), Miami

March 12-15: Puerto Rico Open, Trump International GC, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico

March 19-22: Transitions Championship, Innisbrook Resort & GC (Copperhead Course), Palm Harbor, Fla.

March 26-29: Arnold Palmer Invitational, Bay Hill GC and Lodge, Orlando, Fla.

April 2-5: Shell Houston Open, Redstone GC (Tournament Course), Houston

April 9-12: The Masters, Augusta National GC, Augusta, Ga.

April 16-19: Verizon Heritage, Harbour Town GL, Hilton Head, S.C.

April 23-26: Zurich Classic of New Orleans, TPC Louisiana, New Orleans

April 30-May 3: Wachovia Championship, Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, N.C.

May 7-10: The Players Championship, TPC Sawgrass (The Players Stadium Course), Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

May 14-17: Valero Texas Open, La Cantera Golf Club (Resort Course), San Antonio

May 21-24: HP Byron Nelson Championship, TPC Four Seasons Resort, Irving, Texas

May 28-31: Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, Colonial CC, Fort Texas, Texas

June 4-7: The Memorial Tournament, Muirfield Village GC, Dublin, Ohio

June 11-14: Stanford St. Jude Championship, TPC Southwind, Memphis, Tenn.

June 18-21: U.S. Open, Bethpage State Park (Black Course), Farmingdale, N.Y.

June 25-28: Travelers Championship, TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Conn.

July 2-5: AT&T National, Congressional CC (Blue Course), Bethesda, Md.

July 9-12: John Deere Classic, TPC Deere Run, Silvis, Ill.

July 16-19: The Open Championship, Turnberry (Ailsa Course), Turnberry, Scotland

July 16-19: U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee, Brown Deer Park GC, Milwaukee

July 23-26: RBC Canadian Open, Glen Abbey GC, Oakville, Ontario

July 30-Aug. 2: Buick Open, Warwick Hills Golf and CC, Grand Blanc, Mich.

Aug. 6-9: WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Firestone CC, Akron, Ohio

Aug. 6-9: Legends Reno-Tahoe Open, Montreux Golf and CC, Reno, Nev.

Aug. 13-16: PGA Championship, Hazeltine National GC, Chaska, Minn.

Aug. 20-23: Wyndham Championship, Sedgefield CC, Greensboro, N.C.

Aug. 27-30: The Barclays, Liberty National GC, Jersey City, N.J.

Sept. 4-7: Deutsche Bank Championship, TPC Boston, Norton, Mass.

Sept. 10-13: BMW Championship, Cog Hill GC, Lemont, Ill.

Sept. 24-27: The Tour Championship, East Lake GC, Atlanta

Oct. 1-4: Turning Stone Restort Chamnpionship, Atunyote GC at Turning Stone Resort, Verona, N.Y.

Oct. 8-11: The Presidents Cup, Harding Park GC, San Francisco

Oct. 15-18: Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, TPC Summerlin, Las Vegas

Oct. 22-25: Frys.com Open, Grayhawk GC, Scottlsdale, Ariz.

Oct. 29-Nov. 1: Viking Classic, Annandale GC, Madison, Miss.

Nov. 12-15: Children’s Miracle Network Classic, Walt Disney World Resort (Magnolia Course, Palm Course), Lake Buena Vista, Fla.