Brendon Todd shoots 9-under 62 to win Bermuda Championship

Click here to read the full article…

BLAINE, Minn. – Dustin Johnson withdrew from the 3M Open on Thursday, citing a back injury, after shooting 78 in the first round. The round of 7 over followed a pair of 80s and a missed cut at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide last week for the world No. 4, who won the Travelers Championship last month. Johnson started on the back nine Thursday and actually was 1 under through his first six holes. But his troubles began when he bogeyed No. 16 and hit his tee shot at the par-3 17th into the water on the way to a double bogey. “I just hit a poor shot on 17,” Johnson said. “I hit it a little heavy in the water, made 5 there.” The 18th was a disaster, though. A good drive on the curving, dogleg-right par 5 left him 208 yards from the flag – a “perfect” 6-iron, Johnson later said – but that went into the water. So did two more balls, and suddenly he was signing for a quadruple bogey. “Hit it right at it and never once did I think it was going to go in the water,” Johnson said. “That never crossed my mind when it was in the air. Just went in the water and I hit two more shots in the water, then I hit a good one, made a tap-in for a 9.” Johnson made two more bogeys on the front nine before sinking a 19-foot birdie putt on No. 9 to finish off his round. Johnson placed the blame for his recent spate of poor play on his iron game. He hit 9 of 14 fairways on Thursday but just 13 of 18 greens in regulation. “I feel like I’m driving it well, but the iron play, first six or seven holes hit it close and then the rest of the day kind of struggled a little bit with iron play,” Johnson said. “Kind of the same last week, I just struggled with my iron play and makes it difficult.” At Muirfield Village, Johnson was similarly beset by big numbers. He had two doubles and three triples, along with nine bogeys, in two rounds at the Memorial.

Click here to read the full article…

AKRON, Ohio – Troy Merritt, who picked up his second PGA TOUR victory at the Barbasol Championship two weeks ago, underwent emergency surgery at Boise’s St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center on Friday to remove a potentially dangerous blood clot. He is still hoping to play in the 100th PGA Championship at Bellerive, and planned to get on a flight to St. Louis early Sunday morning. This, despite the fact that he probably won’t be well enough for practice rounds and will rely on his caddie, Wayne Birch, to scout the course. “I’ll go to the course; I might be able to hit a few putts,� Merritt, who played for Boise State, said by phone Saturday afternoon. “I’m not in pain, but I can’t move my arm very much.� Merritt had been dealing with swelling for a month, he said, but it would subside. This time, with Merritt taking the week off at home, it didn’t. The arm had expanded to twice its normal size and was turning purple when his wife, Courtney, a former BSU gymnast, suggested he get it looked at. The staff at the Idaho Sports Medicine Institute, which had treated Courtney for a torn calf muscle, sent him to St. Alphonsus for an ultrasound Friday morning, which showed the clot. “It was a quick progression from there,� Merritt said. He was whisked to the emergency room, given an IV line and supplemental oxygen, and was in and out of consciousness for two hours as doctors removed a roughly one-foot-long blood clot that started in his left biceps, came up through his arm pit, and went into his left pectoral muscle. Courtney drove him home Friday afternoon. Merritt’s first-round tee time for the PGA Championship next week is 8:51 a.m., with Ollie Schniederjans and club pro David Muttitt. If he can play, this would be Merritt’s third PGA and fifth major overall. He is 69th in the FedExCup, but was outside the top 125 before the Barbasol. “I would massage it and grit my teeth and try to get through it,� he said. “I didn’t know it was a blood clot. Competing, that’s what I know how to do. You play your best and fight through it. “It’s a tough decision when you don’t have job security,� he added. “I could hit a golf ball, so I kept playing. But this last week it swelled up so much so that there was no way I could’ve played, so I guess it was good timing to take the week off and get it taken care of.� Hours after the surgery, Merritt was joking with his agent, Peter Webb, and caddie, Birch. “I was asking Wayne and Webb how many guys have won on the PGA TOUR with a blood clot in their chest and arm,� Merritt said Saturday afternoon as he took a break from watching TV. He said he has no family history of blood clots, but was told they sometimes show up in young competitive athletes, baseball players more than golfers. He added that he’s getting used to his new regimen of blood-thinners, which he has to inject into his stomach twice a day. “You’re supposed to pinch yourself and shoot it into the fat, which is hard for me because I don’t have much of a stomach,� Merritt said. “I think pinching myself hurts more than the actual needle going in, and I am no fan of needles. I’ve got to go back in after the PGA and have more tests done and determine the actual cause so we can fix that and it doesn’t happen again. “There will be some type of program I have to do after that, for blood-thinners,� he added. In the wake of his first and only surgery, Merritt was feeling grateful to be on the other side. “I didn’t have time to think about it,� he said. “I was just trying to take it minute-by-minute, hour by hour. I was fortunate that everything went well and the arm responded. I had a good team of doctors working on me, doctors calling in favors to make sure I was seen as quickly as possible. “They said the plane ride shouldn’t be an issue,� he added, “and they gave me the go-ahead to compete. They just said to let the incision heal so I don’t rip it open.�

Click here to read the full article…