KAUPULEHU — It’s not just the course at Hualalai that’s special to Jerry Kelly — it’s the people too.
Among the faces in the crowd crossing their fingers for Kelly off of No. 18 was Brendan Moynahan, the director of golf at Hualalai.
Moynahan can still vividly remember meeting Kelly on Lanai back in 2002, when he was working at the Experience at Koele.
“He left me a voicemail and I knew who he was by the name,” Moynahan said. “I told him come out, use the range, play the course.”
The duo — along with a young pupil of Kelly’s — shared a round at Koele. The course was pretty open — as most things are on Lanai — but it took nearly six hours, as Kelly coached up the youth golfer in the group through the round.
It was quite the bonding experience, and a week later, Moynahan watched Kelly win the Sony Open on Oahu. They have been buddies since, and more often than not, Kelly uses Hualalai as his tune-up course for the season in advance of the Sony (previously the Hawaiian Open), which the Wisconsin native has been attending since 1996.
“You know, we hit it off right away. Then he came over here and I basically followed him over here,” Kelly said. “He’s been great to me. He has given me the ability to warm up on the islands for the Sony, and if he hadn’t given me that opportunity, I wouldn’t be coming back here all the time, so I owe him a lot.”
“Over the years, we have stayed in touch,” Moynahan added. “We are about the same age so we talk about getting old.”
In August of last year, when Moynahan watched Kelly win the Boeing Classic in Washington, he was finally able to send a text that was long overdue.
“I texted him, ‘Welcome to Hualalai,’” Moynahan said.
Now a champion at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship, Kelly will be coming back to the Kona Coast for at least five more years. But Kelly has never needed a tournament as an excuse to tee-up at Hualalai and visit his old friend.
