John Kelly (golfer) John Kelly (golfer) John Kelly (born November 1, 1984) is an amateur golfer who plays for the University of Missouri and was runner-up in the 2006 U.S. Amateur. Kelly was born in St. Louis, Missouri and graduated from Christian Brothers College High School. During his run to the U.S. Amateur final, Kelly beat several nationally ranked players, including Trip Kuehne (who was runner-up to Tiger Woods in the 1994 U.S. Amateur). He lost the final match to Scotland's Richie Ramsay on the 34th hole by a score of 4 and 2. By making the finals, he qualified for the 2007
Tiger Woods addition to his first major, the 1997 Masters. Woods won this tournament by 12 strokes in a record-breaking performance and earned $486,000. He first reached the number one position in the world rankings in June 1997, less than a year after turning pro. Throughout the 2000s, Woods was the dominant force in golf—he won the 2000 U.S. Open by a record 15-shot margin. He was the top-ranked golfer in the world from August 1999 to September 2004 (264 weeks) and again from June 2005 to October 2010 (281 weeks). Woods took a self-imposed hiatus from professional golf from December 2009