Merritt finished the tournament at 18-under 266. His first PGA Tour win was all-but inevitable, holding a cushy two-stroke lead with roughly 35 feet to go. “I was trying to lag it, and if I had two feet left I was going to be lagging that one as well”. In between, he made three birdies and just one bogey. “Nonetheless, it had pretty ideal pace”.

“It was fun”, Merritt said.

Troy Merritt couldn’t miss Saturday in the Quicken Loans National.

“Eventually I’ll get to the point where I’m consistently comfortable with my game and can win tournaments at a consistent level”. He had missed five consecutive cuts before this tournament. His bid for par buzzed the right edge of the hole, but did not fall. “You’ve just got to be patient with it”.

Troy Merritt earned his first win on the PGA Tour.

Woods shot himself out of the tournament with a Saturday 74. Ishikawa’s top 10 is just his second of the season (T8, THE PLAYERS) on 25 starts.

This type of performance isn’t uncommon for Fowler, who has shaken off the overrated label that was handed to him by his peers earlier this year.

Merritt turned pro in 2008 after finishing his collegiate career at Boise State. Woods posted three rounds in the 60s for only the second time this year, and it seems like he might be figuring some things out.

The leading duo will take a one-shot advantage into the final day over Players Championship victor Rickie Fowler, who is alone in third place after a three-under-par 68. After a slow start on Sunday, he found his rhythm and worked his way back into contention. We wanted a little bit of a cushion coming down 18 and that 8-iron on 16 was pure. “You really don’t even know what your name is”.

In the end it was Rickie Fowler who finished as Merritt’s closest challenger. He was 6 under though 10 holes, and was draining putts from all over the course.

“Really excited for him”. “The 70-footer is a bonus”, Fowler said.

Minnesota native Tom Lehman, the first-round leader after a 64, had a 71 to drop into a tie for fourth at 9 under with Bernhard Langer and Marco Dawson.

Projections had him lifting three places to 11th on the FedEx Cup standings. “As a result I was picking the ball out of the hole versus tapping it in”.

“Basically it was a fight all day”, Woods said.

“I’m getting some speed back, which is nice”, Woods said.

“I finally made putts”, he said.

Woods, who has been struggling mightily to regain his form after back surgery and another swing change, hit another bump in the road with three bogeys in four holes from the 11th, but added a birdie at 17 for 68 and an eight-under total of 276. Still, Woods felt that he showed improvement during the course of the tournament.

The QLNational came in like a lion and went out like a lamb, but like we have been mentioning, the remainder of the 2015 golfing season hit the accelerator starting this week and never slows down.