Golfing denizens of the Northwest need no reminders that the 2015 U.S. Open was held at Chambers Bay. But Troy Kelly, a Bremerton native who was then on the back end of having clawed, scratched and fought his way through a PGA TOUR career, managed to make the cut at that national championship, at the course he once envisioned hosting it.
It was just one more tall glass of ice-cold lemonade made from the lemons that came with living that arduous life of trying to make it as a touring pro, which had also included hip replacement surgery, living paycheck-to-paycheck, and narrowly missing out on a huge win in a playoff.
But how did he get there?
Well, Troy can immediately tell anyone about how he was as high as 167th in the Official World Golf Ranking or talk about other precise details on some of his closer finishes as a one-man golfing band.
He certainly knows his way around the Northwest, and his golf origins trace here. He grew up further north in Bremerton, where his father was the PGA head pro at Kitsap Golf & Country Club. Naturally then picking up the game, Troy began a successful junior golf career and went on to play at the University of Washington. After a little over two seasons in Purple and Gold, he decided to try his hand professionally.
In pursuit of the dream, Troy traveled and played golf nearly limitlessly. He found himself on the Cascade, Gateway, and Golden State Tours, visiting the game’s hotbeds like California and Arizona, among others.
“Any event you can get in that’s got some money, it was worth trying to get to,” Troy recalled of those earlier years.
Two Gateway wins came in 2005 and 2006. Troy qualified for his first U.S. Open and major championship at Pinehurst in 2005, which offered a first taste of golf at its uppermost echelon. He missed the cut, but fired a 67 during the second round, which was the second lowest score of that championship.
The major was technically Troy’s first PGA TOUR start, and his tasty Friday round gave him much of the reassurance he needed to believe he was on the same level as the big guys.
“Man, I can do this,” he remembered thinking.
After a few more years, he went to PGA TOUR Qualifying School and successfully made it to the big tour, but he took a step back after making only three cuts in 17 starts. Troy settled onto the Canadian Tour for some time, where he entered a holding pattern of making ends meet, in tournaments still reminiscent of the best he could be part of.
“Playing against guys and getting those levels of competition where you’re just out there in the heat,” he’ll say of his goals during those patient years. “Trying to understand what it feels like and then trying to take it to the next level.”
Eventually, injuries started to appear. He began to experience discomfort in his hip, for which he eventually underwent total replacement surgery, a difficult but necessary decision given how unbearable the pain became.
“It got to the point where I was just eating so much Advil and still not feeling any better stretching, working out, doing all the things I should be doing,” he said. “So I finally got the surgery.”
It was moments like those, in addition to various others throughout the journey, when Troy always tried not to let any lack of positivity faze him.
“You’d beat yourself up, you’re like, ‘I shouldn’t do this anymore,’” he said. “But you just keep pushing and trying to get better, and I was still young enough that I wanted to keep fighting and keep giving it a shot.”
In the wake of his operation, financial constraint set in. About eight months after the procedure, clinging to medical status on the Korn Ferry (then Nationwide) Tour, he Monday-qualified into a Phoenix event and made the cut to pocket a timely check of around $14,000.
“It was a lifesaver,” he said, adding how he had just paid his rent and “barely had money for any food” prior to the tournament week.
After that, he found a new sponsor and earned a heftier winner’s check on another Monday-qualifying occasion, by virtue of finishing second to a then-amateur Russell Henley. He finished 11th on Nationwide’s 2011 money list, granting him full-time PGA Tour status again for 2012. That led to the best golf outing of his career, a solo second place at the Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia in July, after a close playoff loss.
He maintained status through 2013, but his results slowly declined in the following years, and he eventually decided to step away from competition.
But hey, if golf taketh away, it must also giveth. That became the case in June 2015.
He qualified for the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay, a championship he foresaw coming to fruition years before.
“I knew that thing was coming long before it came,” Troy said of the USGA’s grand presence in University Place. “When you hear that Chambers Bay got it, it was like, ‘Dude we’re all gonna qualify for an Open that’s right in our hometown.’”
In that arid June major week, Troy only just made the cut, returning to the golf course from having gone home and sank a couple beers after his second round to see the last groups finish out that day. His game held up through the difficult Saturday and Sunday conditions, and he finished T39.
“Playing good over the weekend, which was fun, and having people yelling and screaming again,” he said of the raucous U.S. Open galleries, who gave him special treatment by referring to him as ‘TK.’ “It was cool.”
Golf is a funny game. Anyone who’s ever played knows that. But whether by making the cut at the U.S. Open an hour away from home or sinking a birdie putt from the white tees using a scuffed yellow ball, the game always provides a degree of memorable gratification that one can feel inspired to share.
In Troy’s case, sure, he wishes he could have one-upped Ted Potter Jr. at the Greenbrier that one summer day 13 years ago. But as he settles in Gig Harbor, he can look back on what was unforgettable while presently lending himself to what matters most.
“I'm content doing what I'm doing,” he said. "I'm not on the road all the time. I'm with my son a lot and I just spend a lot of time with him and help him. So I'm enjoying life in that sense. I get to help my son grow up and learn the game that I fell in love with.”