GAINESVILLE, Va. — Troy Merritt walked to the final tee with a three-shot lead and slapped hands with fans on both sides of the ropes, knowing he had all but wrapped up his first PGA Tour title.
Not bad for a player who had missed five cuts in a row coming into the Quicken Loans National.
Merritt shot a 4-under 67 Sunday and finished his first career victory in 96 starts with a flourish, rolling in a 34-foot putt for birdie on the 72nd hole. After the putt fell, he raised his hands, looked toward the crowd and shrugged his shoulders, as if to say that it was the perfect way to finish.
The victory came a day after Merritt soared to the lead with a tournament-record 61 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, and his closing 67 matched the best of the day on another sweltering afternoon.
He finished at 18-under 266.
Rickie Fowler, who started the day one shot off the lead, also made a birdie on the final hole to claim second place at 15 under, and David Lingmerth was third, but both had up-and-down rounds.
Merritt, who appeared to be walking in place as he set up for each shot, being sure to get his feet in exactly the right position, lost the lead only briefly and stumbled just once, with a three-putt bogey at the par-4 12th, the most difficult hole on the course. He made five birdies.
LPGA: Top-ranked Inbee Park won the Women’s British Open after coming from three shots behind fellow South Korean Jin-Young Ko in the final round at Turnberry, Scotland, becoming the seventh female player to win four different majors.
Park picked up seven shots in her last 12 holes for a 7-under 65 to reel in Ko, who lost the lead when her second shot at No. 16 rolled into the burn. Park finished at 12-under 276.
The LPGA Tour is calling Park’s achievement a career Grand Slam, although Park hasn’t won the Evian Championship since it was given the status of a fifth major in 2013. She did win Evian in 2012.
“This is something I have been dreaming of all my life and all my career,” Park said. “To finally reach my goal is just a relief. … I don’t know what else to go for.”
The Evian is staged next month in France, when Park can complete the modern-day Grand Slam and end the debate.
Louise Suggs, Mickey Wright, Pat Bradley, Juli Inkster, Karrie Webb and Annika Sorenstam are the other women to have won four different majors.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: Kenny Perry breezed to his second straight victory in the 3M Championship, shooting a 4-under 68 for a four-stroke victory over Bernhard Langer, Scott Dunlap and Kevin Sutherland at Blaine, Minnesota.
After shooting a 61 on Saturday to take a four-stroke lead, Perry had six birdies and two bogeys in the final round to finish at 18-under 198.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Roope Kakko earned his first European Tour victory after shooting a flawless 9-under 63 to win by three strokes at Santo da Serra, Madeira Islands.
The 33-year-old Finn made an eagle on the par-4 10th to go with seven birdies for a tournament-record 24-under total of 264. Scott Henry of Scotland was runner-up for the second year in a row.
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