GAINESVILLE, Va. -- Troy Merritt walked to the final tee with a three-shot lead and slapped hands with fans on both sides of the ropes, knowing he had all but wrapped up his first PGA Tour title and wanting to show his appreciation.
Not a bad turnaround for a player who had missed five cuts in a row coming into the Quicken Loans National.
Merritt shot a 4-under 67 on Sunday and finished his first career victory in 96 starts with a flourish, rolling in a 34-foot putt for birdie on the 72nd hole. After the putt fell, the 29-year-old former Boise State player raised his hands, looked toward the crowd and shrugged his shoulders.
"It's amazing how you can dream of winning a golf tournament your entire life and you've got it scripted and when it happens, you're not thinking," he said. "You don't remember what your name is. You're just reacting. That's all it was."
The victory came a day after Merritt soared to the lead with a tournament-record 61 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, and his closing 67 matched the best of the day on another sweltering afternoon. He finished at 18-under 266, also an event record, and became the 10th first-time winner on the PGA Tour this season.
"It was really nice coming down that final fairway with a two-shot lead," he said. "Not feeling very much stress, just trying to make as good of a golf swing as I could and, as you saw, it was nice to have only one putt."
Rickie Fowler, who started the day one shot off the lead, also made a birdie on the final hole to claim second place at 15 under, and David Lingmerth (Arkansas Razorbacks) was third, but both had up-and-down rounds. Fowler shot a 69 that featured seven birdies and five bogeys, and Lingmerth's 69 included five birdies and three bogeys.
Fowler waited and gave Merritt a hug after his final putt dropped.
"He went out there and earned it today," Fowler said. "He played some great golf. ... The score that he put up being in the lead and what he did yesterday, to back it up with a solid round of golf -- it's what you've got to do to win."
Fowler, one shot back at the start, had three bogeys on the front nine.
Lingmerth, who once shared the lead with Haas and Merritt at 15 under, followed with a bogey at the par-5 eighth, the first of three bogeys over the closing 10 holes that kept him from making a move.
Haas wound up with a 70 and shared fourth at 12 under with defending champion Justin Rose and four others.
Tiger Woods made a run at contention with birdies on five of his first 10 holes to get to 10 under, but with a huge crowd following and shouting encouragement, he missed a 3-foot putt at No. 11, the first of three bogeys in four holes.
His bogey on the 12th came despite one of the best shots of the tournament. After hitting his drive well right and into a hazard, he took a drop and then hit a blind 5-wood to the back fringe of the green, about 15 feet from the cup.
Woods finished with a 68 to tie for 18th at 8 under.
Woods rose from No. 195 to No. 185 in the FedEx Cup rankings and has just three weeks left to climb into the top 125 and qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs, but said that that is not his focus.
Ken Duke (Arkadelphia, Henderson State) had a 3-under 68 to finish at 6 under (278) and in a tie for 30th. He won $38,116 after making the weekend cut Friday following a long birdie putt on the 18th hole.
Bryce Molder (Conway) shot a 2-under 69 and finished in a tie for 39th at 5 under and earned $26,130.
CHAMPIONS TOUR
Perry repeats at 3M
BLAINE, Minn. -- Kenny Perry successfully defended his 3M Championship title, shooting a 4-under 68 for a four-stroke victory over Bernhard Langer, Scott Dunlap and Kevin Sutherland.
After shooting a 61 on Saturday to take a four-stroke lead, the 54-year-old Perry had six birdies and two bogeys in the final round to finish at 18-under 198. He became the first player to successfully defend a title in the tournament's 23-year history, winning for the eighth time on the Champions Tour.
Perry made a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole to beat Langer by a stroke last year.
Langer closed with a 67, and Dunlap and Sutherland each shot 68.
EUROPEAN PGA
Match play goes to wire
ABERDEEN, Scotland -- Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat won the inaugural Paul Lawrie Match Play, holing a 4-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a 1-up victory over Sweden's Robert Karlsson.
Aphibarnrat had three European Tour titles, also winning events in Malaysia and China.
In the third-place match at Murcar Links, England's David Howell beat Scotland's Marc Warren 1 up. In the morning semifinals, Aphibarnrat topped Warren 3 and 2, and Karlsson beat Howell in 20 holes.
Kakko closes strong
SANTO DA SERRA, Madeira Islands -- Finland's Roope Kakko won the Madeira Islands Open for his first European Tour title, closing with a 9-under 63 for a three-stroke victory.
The 33-year-old Kakko had eagled the par-4 10th and had seven birdies to finish at a tournament-record 24-under 264. Scotland's Scott Henry was second after a 66.
The tournament was postponed in March after a round because of rain and high wind.
Sports on 08/03/2015