'We can't do enough:' PGA Tour champ raises awareness of the importance of colon cancer screening
MILWAUKEE -- Always one of the most affable guys on the course, Madison native Jerry Kelly has enjoyed great support from Wisconsin fans throughout the years. Now, he tops the PGA Tour Champions Money List, and he's being noticed by many more people, which means more people are benefiting.
"It's one of the highlights of our schedule. All the guys love to come," said Kelly.
For a third straight year, Kelly pleased the large galleries following him at the American Family Insurance Championship in Madison, a PGA Tour Champions event hosted by fellow Wisconsinite, Steve Stricker.
Jerry Kelly
"It's cool. I mean, Steve and Jack with American Family, they have done a fantastic job of putting this tournament on," said Kelly.
Kelly finished a shot shy, taking second and jumped to the top of the tour's "Money List."
"That does give me a little extra fire to go out there and perform so I can get this hat in front of everybody, and just have them be aware," Kelly said.
Kelly's hat simply says "Cologuard," and every time he's in a tournament taking a swing or just talking in front of a camera, thousands of people are seeing it on television and on the course.
Jerry Kelly
"People can get closer to us on the golf course. I'm not sure, but we just are really passionate about a lot of the different vehicles and causes around the tour," said Kelly.
Cologuard is a noninvasive colon cancer screening test that can be done at home. Exact Sciences, a Madison-based company, created it.
Kelly's involvement began with an innocent introduction at an airport.
Jerry Kelly
"Kevin and I met at the boarding area getting ready to go on a plane. He was going to a relative's funeral and I had known somebody who had just been diagnosed. We were both so passionate, you know, about this. Knowing that nine of 10 can be saved from early detection, that I said 'listen, I'm going to throw it on my collar and you know, let's get some awareness out there.' It just kind of grew from that chance talking about it," said Kelly.
The effort grew -- from a collar to a hat, and now to a PGA Tour Champions tournament in Tuscan, called the "Cologuard Classic" with Kelly as the host.
"I knew it was the perfect spot for 'em, beginning a colon cancer awareness month and everything just fell into place so fast," said Kelly.
"It's pretty neat to see and there's a lot of different storylines here," said Stricker.
Steve Stricker
The biggest being awareness.
"It's more than breast cancer. It's more than prostate cancer. Then one out of 10 can't be helped with late detection. Nine out of 10 can. It can be prevented nine out of 10 times with early detection. The more we brought it out in the open, the more people talked about, 'yeah, yeah, I went through it' or 'I'm going through it right now.' Because for some reason, it was kept under wraps, just because of where it is. I mean, it's foolish," said Kelly.
Kelly has brought it out in the open by giving back to family, friends and strangers.
Jerry Kelly
"I get so much love from so many people that I don't know. Then how can you not give back, especially to the people in Wisconsin," said Kelly.
Kelly did just that in Madison at the AmFam Championship.
"We can't do enough. We can't snowball this thing enough to actually reach everybody," said Kelly.
Kelly will be competing in the Senior US Open at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, starting Thursday, June 28 and you'll definitely see his hat as he is one of the favorites to win.