Leaderboard: The Memorial first round

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.�

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Rory McIlroy is still searching for the final piece of the career grand slam. Perhaps the odd fall date and the lack of patrons will provide the stage, at last, to try on that green jacket.

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SAN ANTONIO — Cameron Tringale made a move for his first PGA TOUR victory with a 3-under 69 Friday and a two-shot lead after two rounds of the Valero Texas Open. RELATED: Leaderboard Tringale, a 12-year veteran, was at 9-under after a round that included five-straight birdies and leads Jordan Spieth and Englishman Matt Wallace. Spieth continued his comeback from a three-year winless slump and was at 7-under after a 70. Wallace shot 68. Kyle Stanley also shot 68 and was at 5-under with Brandt Snedeker (67), Kevin Stadler (70) and Erik van Rooyen (68). First-round leader Camilo Villegas shot a 76 to fall five shots back in a group that includes Matt Kuchar, who shot his second 70. Tringale led by as many as five strokes after he closed out his front nine with consecutive birdies on his fourth through eighth holes and then birdied his 11th. Three of those featured approach shots that left him with putts of less than 5 feet. "I just hit a lot of really good iron shots to those holes," Tringale said. "I think my furthest putt was 4 feet, so just good approaches to the green. Still gotta roll those in, but was able to do it. I took advantage most of the time." His birdie run marked a quick turnaround from his start when he opened with bogeys on his first two holes. "I was really just trying to get back into the round and get into the red numbers again," he said. "I kept it in play and just had a lot of looks and a few went in." A win would give Tringale, 33, his first official TOUR win. He won a team event at the Franklin Templeton Shootout with partner Jason Day in 2015. This year he was tied for seventh at Pebble Beach. Spieth continues to look like he's getting past a slump that has seen him drop from No. 1 in the world in 2016 to No. 92 in January. Now 53rd, he's in good position for his fifth top-10 finish in the past two months after a four-birdie round. He hasn't won since 2017. "I'm really pleased with where things are at, but they're not where I want them to be at," Spieth said. "I'm trying to kind of take it slowly and patiently and reward myself, be excited about the good ones and not get too down about the bad ones." He opened with birdies on his first two holes but fell back to even for his round with bogeys at 11 and 13. "I thought the start was key for me, and I got off to a great start," he said. "I put some really good swings on the ball after kind of being a little sloppy at the end of yesterday's round." Spieth birdied the par-5 14th by getting up and down from a greenside bunker. He had an easy 3-footer for birdie on the next hole and almost chipped in for another at the 17th. Wallace is also looking for a first PGA TOUR trophy, but he's won four times on the European Tour since 2017. He had a bogey-free round. Only one of his scoring putts — a 20-footer on his 11th — came from more than 5 feet away. "Whenever you go bogey free, whatever golf course it is, it's nice, but especially here," Wallace said. "I've been feeling comfortable about my game for a while now, just trying to hole a few more putts and keep the scoring going and making the right putts at the right time." Snedeker, four strokes out of the lead, opened his round with three-straight birdies and added another two holes later. He pitched in for an eagle at his par-4 8th hole but played even par the rest of the way. Phil Mickelson recovered from a first-round that saw him take a 10 on the 18th hole. He shot 3-under 69 on Friday. He'll head to Augusta next week after missing the Valero Texas Open cut at 4-over.

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