Both Madison residents have won multiple senior major championships

For the Gazette

STEVENS POINT – Officials from the 43rd U.S. Senior Open Championship, conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA), announced on Apr. 17 that Wisconsin natives Steve Stricker, the 2019 champion, and Jerry Kelly, a two-time runner-up, have filed entries as exempt players.

The 2023 U.S. Senior Open will be contested at SentryWorld, in Stevens Point, Wis., from June 27-July 2.

Stricker, 56, has captured 12 PGA Tour and 12 PGA Tour Champions titles and captained the U.S. to victory in the 2021 Ryder Cup Matches in his home state (Whistling Straits).

Stricker, a veteran of 22 U.S. Opens, won the 1984 Wisconsin state high school championship at SentryWorld and has claimed five Wisconsin State Opens.

Kelly, 56, of Madison, has tied for second in two U.S. Senior Opens and owns four top-10 finishes in five starts.

He was runner-up at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs in 2018 and to Stricker at Notre Dame in 2019. Kelly has recorded 11 PGA Tour Champions victories, including a pair of Bridgestone Senior Players titles in 2020 and 2022. A three-time PGA Tour winner, Kelly has competed in 10 U.S. Opens.

Additionally, Stricker joins a list of five U.S. Senior Open champions who have recently filed entries. 

The list includes Brad Bryant (2007), Roger Chapman (2012), Jeff Maggert (2015) and David Toms (2018).