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Tournament Recap: John Merrick Wins Northern Trust Open to Grab First PGA TOUR Title
It looked like a done deal for the 2011 FedEx Cup champ and Northern Trust Open defending champion, Bill Haas, who had a nice lead at Riviera Country Club before blowing up late on Sunday. In fact, the entire leaderboard was tight during the final round with only 7 holes to go, when what seemed like everyone began to unravel.
Just as last year, the event was ultimately decided in a playoff, but this time it was John Merrick and Charlie Beljan shooting it out. We all remember Beljan’s heroic performance at Disney during the 2012 Fall Series when he overcame panic attacks to win his first PGA TOUR title. Now the question was whether Beljan would bring that infamous tenacity to the final holes of the Northern Trust Open to beat out the inexperienced Merrick.
Merrick made two clutch shots to save par in the sudden-death playoff and won the tournament when Beljan missed a 5-foot par putt on the second extra hole. It was the first PGA TOUR win for Merrick, which rocketed him from 100 to number 4 on the FedEx Cup point list.
John Merrick had yet to win on TOUR before coming to Riviera this week. The key to his win was his consistency when others around him began to cave. A handful of notables like Hunter Mahan, Charl Schwartzel, and Luke Donald all threatened his lead at times, but Merrick ultimately prevailed.
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Not only did John Merrick take home his first PGA TOUR title and huge check, but his win at the 2013 Northern Trust Open earned the 30 year old Los Angeles native a coveted spot at the 2013 Masters.
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