Merritt makes it as major champs fail

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bruced
December 8, 2009

Troy Merritt was the top qualifier at the final US PGA Tour Q-School – but former Open champ David Duval misses out.

Troy Merritt was the top qualifier at the US PGA Tour’s final Qualifying School – despite a double bogey at the final hole.

But while he safely secured his tour card for next year at Bear Lakes Country Club, former Open champions David Duval and Todd Hamilton and ex-US PGA champion Shaun Micheel all missed out.

Swede Jesper Parnevik, perhaps the only PGA Tour professional to have chastised Tiger Woods for his alleged infidelities so far, was another high profile golfer who failed to earn a tour card for next year.

Merritt’s three-under-par final round of 69 was enough to see him edge fellow American Jeff Maggert by one stroke at 22 under to claim the winner’s medal and a $50,000 prize.

It came after a late scare, but he labelled his last hole of the six-round championship “probably the most satisfying double bogey I’ve ever made”.

The trophy is to get to play with the big boys next year,” he added.
David Lutterus, Shane Bertsch, Cameron Tringale, Spencer Levin and Brent Delahoussaye all qualified after advancing from outside the top 25 with a round remaining.

But Micheel and Duval were well off the pace and Hamilton withdrew before the close to leave the trio among 13 past PGA Tour winners not to secure cards.

The nearest miss among those unfortunates was luckless Tom Pernice Jr, who missed out by just a stroke after finding the water at the last hole, while fellow two-time winner Jonathan Kaye was a further shot back.

James Hahn’s dream was ended after a final-hole collapse which saw him four-putt to finish one shot outside the qualifying mark at eight under.

ALL THE QUALIFIERS
Here are the qualifiers who earned their 2010 US PGA Tour cards:
(See under finishing position, name and score)
1 Troy Merritt -22
2 Jeff Maggert -21
3 Matt Jones -19
4 Martin Flores -18
T5 Neal Lancaster -17
T5 Brendon de Jonge -17
7 Billy Horschel -16
T8 David Lutterus -15
T8 JP. Hayes -15
T8 Graham Delaet -15
11 Jay Williamson -14
T12 Chris Wilson -12
T12 Brenden Pappas -12
T12 Kris Blanks -12
T15 Omar Uresti -11
T15 Rickie Fowler -11
T15 Shane Bertsch -11
T15 Joe Ogilvie -11
T19 Brian Stuard -10
T19 Cameron Tringale -10
T19 Michael Connell -10
T19 Chris Riley -10
T23 Spencer Levin -9
T23 Brent Delahoussaye -9
T23 Andrew McLardy -9

HOW FORMER WINNERS FARED:
And here is how former US PGA Tour winners fared at the qualifier:
(see inder finishing position, name, score and top event won)
QUALIFIED:
2 Jeff Maggert -21 1999 WGC-Accenture Match Play
T5 Neal Lancaster -17 1994 GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic
T8 JP Hayes -15 2002 John Deere Classic
T15 Joe Ogilvie -11 2007 US Bank Championship
T19 Chris Riley -10 2002 Reno-Tahoe Open
FAILED TO QUALIFY:
T26 Tom Pernice Jr. -8 2001 The International Presented by Qwest
T34 Jonathan Kaye -7 2003 Buick Classic
T48 Jason Gore -4 2005 84 Lumber Classic
T64 Mark Hensby -3 2004 John Deere Classic
T64 Shaun Micheel -3 2003 PGA Championship
T64 Dicky Pride -3 1994 Federal Express St Jude Classic
T72 Tim Herron -2 1999 2006 Bank of America Colonial
T90 David Duval 1 1999 The Players Championship, 2001 British Open
T90 Phil Tataurangi 1 2002 Invensys Classic at Las Vegas
T130 Tom Scherrer 7 2000 Kemper Insurance Open
T140 Paul Stankowski 12 1996 BellSouth Classic,
W/D Todd Hamilton 2004 British Open
W/D Jesper Parnevik 2000 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic