Leaderboard: What’s happening at the 3M Open

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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Oh Canada! It is time for the national championship of those living under the Maple Leaf, where the locals are hoping to end a significant title drought, but several of those from other parts of the world have other ideas as the race for the FedExCup Playoffs gets super serious. The RBC Canadian Open has been played since 1904, but Pat Fletcher was the last Canadian winner of the tournament in 1954, but he was born in England. Karl Keffer is the only Canadian-born champion, winning in 1909 and 1914. English-born Canadian brothers Charlie Murray (1906) and Albert Murray (1908 and 1913) also captured the title. This week’s PGA TOUR LIVE coverage gives us a look at some Canadian hopefuls but also FedExCup No. 2 and world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, plus the in-form Matt Kuchar, who wants to quickly get over his Open Championship loss. PGA TOUR LIVE will broadcast between 7 a.m. Eastern and 6:00 p.m. on both Thursday and Friday. The coverage will switch to Featured Holes at 3:00 p.m. Featured Hole Coverage consists of the 15th (Par-3) and 17th (Par-4) on Thursday and Friday. PGA TOUR LIVE also will be available on Twitter for approximately 90 minutes, beginning at 7 a.m. Here’s a look at this week’s Featured Groups. Click here to subscribe to PGA TOUR LIVE. (Note: FedExCup rankings in parentheses) THURSDAY Mackenzie Hughes (26), Scott Piercy (76), Ernie Els (210): Hughes will be flying the Canadian hopes as a TOUR winner this season. He’s proven he can win, now can he do it at home? Scott Piercy showed how to win the Canadian Open in 2012 and now he’s chasing a fourth TOUR win while Els is looking to capture the old magic as one of the Team RBC ambassadors. Tee time: 8:00 a.m. Eastern off 10th tee. Bubba Watson (117), Graeme McDowell (119), Matt Kuchar (17): Some big-name star power here with Kuchar coming off his runner up finish to Jordan Spieth at the Open Championship. He’s likely to want to put the memory aside with a dominant display. Watson and McDowell, both major winners sitting just inside the top 125 in the race for the FedExCup. They need some results to make sure of their place in the post season. Tee time: 8:10 a.m. Eastern off 10th tee. FRIDAY Grayson Murray (60), Adam Hadwin (13), Nick Taylor (78): Murray kept the trend of young winners running with his breakthrough at the Barbasol Championship last week and now gets the chance to back it up in a full-field event. He will be playing in front of some vocal locals as Hadwin and Taylor fly the Canadian flag. Hadwin, a winner earlier this season, is looking to consolidate a place in the International Presidents Cup team and Taylor wants a breakthrough result of his own. Tee time: 8:00 a.m. Eastern off 10th tee. Dustin Johnson (2), Jhonattan Vegas (87), Jim Furyk (147): Johnson lost the top spot on the FedExCup list with Spieth’s win in England but he can get it back if he wins in Canada. He’s burning after a slide on Sunday and will now look for win no.4 on the season with a chip on his shoulder. Vegas claimed the win at Glen Abbey last season and with hopes of making a run towards the International team in the Presidents Cup this week comes at an opportune time for the Venezuelan. Furyk, an RBC man, needs something big to make the FedExCup Playoffs. This could be the week he makes his move. Tee time: 8:10 a.m. Eastern off 10th tee.

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