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A year later, he finished 125th on the PGA Tour, the last spot to earn playing rights. He’s won twice on the Tour: beating Rickie Fowler by three strokes in 2015 in the Quicken Loans tournament, and the Barbasol by a stroke over Billy Horschel and others in 2018.
He lost the Rocket Mortgage event in the Detroit area in a playoff in 2021. That same year, he shared the lead with Fowler with opening 64s at the 3M Open. They both ended up down the leaderboard as long-hitting Cameron Champ won the tournament.
Four years later, the PGA Tour has changed greatly, with competition from LIV creating eight big-money “designated” tournaments for the top 70 players on the PGA Tour. At the same time, Merritt slipped to “conditional” status on the Tour in 2025 for the first time, which has caused him to do most of his playing on the DP Tour — the hybrid European Tour that has tournaments in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, as well as Europe.
“DP” is a reference to Dubai Ports, which is where that Tour winds up.
“The designated tournaments have changed the PGA Tour tremendously,” said Merritt, 39. “I thought I’d be able to split time between the DP and the PGA Tour, but with conditional status, it’s very difficult to get in a weekly tournament.
“I’ve been all over different continents with the DP, and the family can’t travel. It’s pricey, but it’s also that the boys don’t have passports.
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