St. Andrews to host record crowd for The Open

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Troy Merritt’s focus has shifted after tying Liberty National’s course record in the first round of THE NORTHERN TRUST. Merritt arrived in New Jersey ranked 72nd in the FedExCup, just outside the cut line to advance to next week’s BMW Championship. Moving onto the correct side of that demarcation was his first priority when he teed off Thursday. Related: Leaderboard | FedExCup Playoffs primer | Scenarios: How to make the top 70 Now, he’s thinking about his third PGA TOUR triumph. Scores were low Thursday after Liberty National was soaked by rain, and Merritt was the lowest of them all. He shot 62 to take a one-shot lead over Dustin Johnson after the morning wave completed play. Merritt tied the course record set by Kevin Chappell in the third round of the 2013 NORTHERN TRUST. “We’re in a good position now to contend for the championship,â€� Merritt said. “That’s why we tee it up each week. Obviously this week, it’s a little bit different with just trying to get into next week … and now we can shift our focus from winning the golf tournament.â€� Merritt’s round came a little more than a year after he had a blood clot removed from his left arm. The operation was on August 4, shortly after he won the Barbasol Championship. That win, and his strong start to this season, gave him the freedom to have another procedure that fixed the cause of the clot. Merritt had a rib removed in January to relieve thoracic outlet syndrome. That condition is caused when blood vesssels or nerves become compressed between the collarbone and first rib. Merritt, who finished fourth in the season-opening Safeway Open, sat out until THE PLAYERS Championship. He still had a career-high four top-10s this season. He could end this season with the best FedExCup finish of his eight-year career. He finished 56th in 2015, the year he won the Quicken Loans National. He said the elective procedure has paid dividends in his swing. “I tended to get a little bit tight at the top of my swing, kind of where the rib was and I got a little bit quick at the top,â€� Merritt said. “Now I don’t get tight at the top and I can take my time and that usually helps out my tempo, and as a result, the swing’s been a lot better more often.â€� He hit 14 greens Thursday, gaining more than 3 strokes with his approach play. He made seven of the nine putts he faced from 7 to 15 feet and holed two putts outside 15 feet. He gained 4.5 strokes with his putting Thursday. A long par putt on the seventh hole, his 16th, may have been his biggest of the day, though. He had to lay up out of a fairway bunker on the par-4, leaving himself a third shot from outside 100 yards. He wedged to 15 feet and made the putt. Merritt has advanced to the BMW Championship, which is reserved for the top 70 in the FedExCup standings, just once. He was 110th in this year’s standings until his runner-up finish two weeks ago at the Barracuda Championship. A win this week would move him inside the top 10 of the season-long standings. “That putter was hot today and the greens were rolling beautifully and just took advantage of it,â€� he said.

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DUBLIN, Ohio — Justin Thomas kept another clean card at Muirfield Village and had a 6-under 66 to turn a three-shot deficit into a two-shot lead Saturday in the Workday Charity Open. Thomas first had to run off a string of birdies to stay within range of Collin Morikawa. And when Morikawa began to fade with three bogeys in a four-hole stretch around the turn, Thomas converted on the par 5s and played wisely on the short par-4 14th for another birdie to hold off Viktor Hovland. RELATED: Full leaderboard | | How to give Muirfield a second identity The final group is a glimpse of golf’s next generation. Thomas is the proven star, already a major champion, FedExCup winner and former world No. 1 at age 27 as he goes after his third victory this season and the 13th victory of his career. Hovland and Morikawa had just left college at this time last year. Hovland, the former U.S. Amateur champion from Norway, had eight birdies in his round of 66 and was two shots behind. Morikawa had to birdie the 18th for a 72. Thomas figures it won’t be the first time they all play together. “It’ll be fun to hang with those guys tomorrow, but at the end of the day I’m worried about myself and trying to win a golf tournament and have a good round,” he said. Thomas was at 16-under 200. The final round will start early because of heavy storms in the forecast Sunday afternoon, with threesomes starting on both tees. Morikawa had the lead for 31 straight holes, dating to the 15th hole in the opening round, until missing the ninth green with a short iron, hitting a wild tee shot on the 10th that led to bogey, and sending his tee shot on the par-3 12th well over the green in such a bad spot that even making bogey was hard work. “I put myself in spots you couldn’t put yourself in,” Morikawa said. “Couldn’t really figure out wind directions, how much to adjust. But whole new day tomorrow, and kind of glad I fought it out through even par got myself three back. So that can change really quickly tomorrow.” Hovland, who won the Puerto Rico Open this year, got back in the game quickly by opening with a pair of birdies at the start and making birdie on all the par 5s. He also took on the 14th hole, where the tees have been moved up for this tournament to play at 310 yards — reachable from the tee, but with bunkers left and water to the right. Hovland hit his tee shot to 30 feet for a two-putt birdie. Thomas tried to drive the green with a 3-wood Friday and had to work for his par. With the wind slightly at his back, he opted for a 6-iron off the tee and a short iron into the green. That led to a 10-foot birdie putt. Morikawa went left of the bunkers off the tee and no chance to get it close with the green running away from him. Hovand was thrilled to be in this position, especially with how his week started. He was 3 over through 10 holes on Thursday and finished with six birdies over his last eight holes. He followed with rounds of 67-66. The spotlight will be on youth — Thomas is the veteran in this group — with a few others on the fringe of contention. Sam Burns, a 23-year-old from LSU, had a 70 and joined Kevin Streelman (71) five shots back at 11-under 205. Ian Poulter, back at Muirfield Village for the first time since 2009 because of the reconfigured schedule, had a 69 and was six shots behind, along with Rory Sabbatini, who had a 69. “It’s going to have to be a low one tomorrow,” Poulter said. The biggest surprise was M.J. Daffue, a 31-year-old from South Africa who played college golf at Lamar and has been struggling to make it as a pro. He was a Monday qualifier for the Workday Charity Open, getting into only his second PGA TOUR event. He had to birdie his final hole Saturday morning to make the cut. And then he made an 18-foot eagle putt late in his round of 65, the best score Saturday. He was seven shots behind and loving every minute of his time around the course Jack Nicklaus built. The TOUR needs this tournament to end before the weather. The course is to be closed on Monday to replace all the signage and remove the 10 electronic scoreboards for the Memorial. It’s the first time in 63 years the PGA TOUR has had back-to-back tournaments on the same course.

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This is about the time that Dustin Johnson hit his stride last summer. If he still were among us, Yogi Berra might tell Johnson that he should hope this is déjà vu, all over again. Last summer, Johnson withdrew from the 3M Open after one round, citing a bad back. His game was nowhere. He’d won at Travelers, but he showed little consistency. Johnson was coming off an 80-80 showing at The Memorial and opened at TPC Twin Cities with a 78 before withdrawing and heading home to Florida. What happened from there, though, was something magical. Johnson would tie for 12th at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, then set off on an incredible tear that would lead him to his first FedExCup title as well as a green jacket at The Masters. For seven starts, he never left the heat of contending. There were three victories in that run (NORTHERN TRUST, TOUR Championship, Masters), and three runners-up showings (PGA Championship, BMW Invitational, Vivant Houston Open). Johnson will be first to admit he hasn’t played up to his normal standard in 2020-21. Does he see any similarities in the rhythm of the last two seasons? “I’ve been driving it pretty well,” said Johnson, who surrendered his No. 1 ranking to Jon Rahm at The Open Championship. “Not as well as I was obviously when I was playing really good last season for that really long stretch, but starting to drive it better, seeing consistency with the shots and misses. You know, I feel like the iron and wedge play is what I just haven’t been as sharp with. That’s starting to come around. “Last week (T8 at The Open), I felt like I hit a lot of really good shots, controlled the ball really well. So yeah, I’m starting to see a lot of similarities, and obviously that’s the form I’m trying to get back to, where I felt like I had a chance to win every single week I teed it up. I feel like that’s starting to get back into that form.” Johnson had very little going in his game Thursday in the opening round of the 3M Open. He was 1 over par through 16 holes before at least closing well, canning birdies from 9 feet at the par-3 eighth (his 17th hole) and 17 feet at the difficult par-4 ninth. The late run moved him to 1-under 70, and he knows he’ll need to do something big on Friday to get back into the tournament. “I’m hitting it very well, just need to tighten up the putter a little bit,” Johnson said. Johnson has an old friend, longtime TaylorMade tour rep Keith Sbarbaro, on his bag this week. Johnson’s regular caddie, his younger brother, Austin, tested positive for COVID-19 and drove home at the start of the week. A.J. is expected to be back on the bag next week when his older brother plays in Memphis.

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