It took an extra day, but Troy Merritt found a way back to the winner’s circle at the Barbasol Championship.
With much of the final round spilling into Monday because of inclement weather, Merritt shot a 5-under 67 to finish the week at 23 under par at Keene Trace Golf Club in Lexington, Ky. That total left him one shot clear of a group that included Billy Horschel, Tom Lovelady and Richy Werenski.
Merritt started the round in a four-way tie for the lead, and the highlight of his finale came on the par-4 eighth where he holed a 133-yard approach shot for an eagle. He didn’t drop a shot over his final 13 holes, securing a narrow victory when Lovelady failed to make a lengthy birdie attempt on the final green.
Merritt broke through at the 2015 Quicken Loans National for his first career PGA Tour victory, but he struggled to maintain that form in the subsequent months. Merritt had only one top-10 finish in both 2016 and 2017 and had to return to Web.com Tour Finals last fall to keep his card.
His 2018 campaign wasn’t much better, with a T-8 finish at Pebble Beach his lone top-10 result, and Merritt started the week ranked 131st in the season-long points race with his 2019 status very much in jeopardy. But after earning win No. 2, he’s now exempt through August 2020 and has earned spots into the PGA Championship as well as the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions and Players Championship.
“You always ask yourself, ‘Is this the time to move on?'” Merritt told reporters. “But to get a win like this, late in the season, and to move up to 65 on the points list and to secure a job for two more years, it’s a pretty good feeling.”
Tour veteran Brian Gay finished alone in sixth at 20 under, while Hunter Mahan tied for seventh. The Barbasol has been played opposite The Open every year since 2015, but this year marked the first time it was played in Kentucky after three years in Alabama.
