Morikawa Birdies Last 3 Holes, Passes Merritt to win in Reno

RENO, Nevada -- Earlier this month, Collin Morikawa played well enough to win the 3M Open in Blaine, but he was a little bit unlucky. Barely a month removed from his college graduation (the University of California), he singed the edge of the cup on the 17th hole at TPC Twin Cities during the final round of the tournament. He went into the par-5 18th hole one behind Bryson DeChambeau, who had just eagled the 18th to take the lead. Morikawa proceeded to reach the 18th in two. He missed his 18-foot putt for eagle but made a birdie, and tied DeChambeau. But the other player in the final group, Matthew Wolff, who had also recently made the transition from college golf (Oklahoma State) to the PGA Tour, holed a 22-foot putt for eagle to beat DeChambeau and Morikawa by a single stroke. 

Morikawa found himself in contention again on Sunday in the final round of the Barracuda Championship. This time, the 22-year-old rookie professional  made the crucial putts down the stretch, as he birdied the 16th, 17th and 18th holes at Montreaux Golf & Club -- and claimed his first victory on the PGA Tour. 

In this case, it was Troy Merritt who played well enough to win, but the former two-sport star (basketball and golf) at Spring Lake Park High School was overtaken by another player's sensational finish.

The Barracuda tournament uses a Modified Stableford Scoring System. An eagle is worth 5 points, a birdie 2 points, a par 0 points, and a bogey minus 1, etc. 

Merritt, 33, began the final round with the lead, having accumulated 37 points. He added three points on the front nine, with two birdies and a bogey, and his birdie at the 415-yard, par-4 12th hole put him back in the lead with 42 points.

Morikawa, who has played in six PGA Tour events this year and made the cut in all of them, was three behind at that point. He pulled within one with a birdie at the short 14th hole (303 yards, par 4).

The 233-yard, par-3 16th and 456-yard, par-4 17th holes were the two most difficult on the course during the tournament, but Morikawa hit a 6-iron to within 15 feet at No. 16 (because of the altitude in Reno, the ball goes roughly 10 percent farther than it would at sea level). He made the putt for birdie to take the lead -- but only briefly. About a minute later, Merritt made a 30-foot birdie putt from the fringe at the par-4 15th (433 yards) to reclaim the lead. 

But Merritt missed the green at No. 16 and did well just to make an 8-footer for par. 

Up ahead, Morikawa hit a 9-iron to 30 feet at the 17th. He gunned the putt, and it probably would have run 5 feet past the cup -- but it slammed into the back to the hole and went down.

Suddenly, he was back at the head of the pack with 45 points, one ahead of Merritt. 

Merritt missed the fairway at the 17th, and once again it was all he could do just to make a par.

The 18th at Montreaux G&C is a 578-yard par 5, one of the easier holes on the course -- if you can hit the fairway. Morikawa did, and he hit a 4-iron second shot just short of the green. He then chipped to 2 feet and made the putt for his third birdie in a row -- and fourth in five holes. 

That gave him 14 points for the day (7 birdies, 0 bogeys), and 47 points in all. So Merritt, still with 44 points, would need an eagle (5 points) to pass him and earn his third PGA Tour victory. Merritt had made an eagle at 18 on Saturday (he had 18 points on Saturday, 7 on Sunday). On Sunday, he was just short of the 18th green in two -- very close to where Morikawa had been a few minutes earlier. His chip shot had a chance. It looked as if it might go in, but it missed the cup by a few inches and trickled past.

The victory was worth $630,000 to Morikawa -- and it makes him fully exempt for the PGA Tour until the end of the 2020-21 season. In the two months since he graduated and turned pro, he has made $1,672,904. Despite his late start, he is now No. 46 on the 2018-19 PGA Tour money list.

After Merritt's eagle chip missed at 18, he was left with a 2-footer for birdie. He missed it, but it made no difference, because his 44-point total put him four clear of third place.

For the effort, he received $378,000. That boosted his season total to $1,324,868 and moved him up from No. 110 on the money list to No. 79, thus enhancing his prospects for the upcoming -- and potentially very lucrative -- FedEx Cup Playoffs. 

John Chin and Robert Streb tied for third with 40 points. Bronson Burgoon was fifth with 39, and Tom Hoge, the former two-time Minnesota State Amateur champion from Fargo, finished sixth with 38 points. 

There was a four-way tie for seventh (37 points), which included Charlie Danielson, a former Wisconsin state high school champ from Osceola. Danielson, 25, who was a four-time All-American at Illinois, missed virtually all of 2018 because of a chronic knee problem and mid-season surgery. But he's played well in the three PGA Tour events he's gotten into this year. (He's also playing on the Mackenzie Tour in Canada.) The $105,438 that he earned on Sunday bumped his "unofficial'' earnings to $223,928 on the PGA Tour.

As for Hoge, he got $126,000, which moved him up from No. 167 to No. 155 on the money list, with $561,932 in  31 events. With only one tournament (the Wyndham Championship) remaining in the regular 2018-19 season, the 30-year-old former TCU star -- he finished third in the 2009 NCAA Championships -- needs about $325,000 to get into the top 125 on the money list -- and thereby make the FedEx Cup Playoffs. 


PGA TOUR

Barracuda Championship

At Montreaux Golf & Club

Par 72

Reno

Final results 

The standings were based on a modified Stableford System (8 points for double eagle, 5 for eagle, 2 for birdie, 0 for par, -1 for bogey, -3 for double bogey)

1. Collin Morikawa            $630,000       13  7  13   14  --  47

2. Troy Merritt                  $378,000       7  12  18     7  --  44

T3. John Chin                  $203,000        9   11   11   9   -- 40

T3. Robert Streb              $203,000       13   12  10  5   --  40

5. Bronson Burgoon        $140,000         12   2  10 15  --  39

6. Tom Hoge                   $126,000         13   8   7  10  --  38

T7. Charlie Danielson   $105,438          5  12  10  10  -- 37

T7. Ryan Palmer             $105,438          8    7   14   8  --  37 

T7. Martin Laird              $105,438           5   12  11   9  -- 37

T7. Roger Sloan             $105,438          10   11   9   7  -- 37