Winner Troy Merritt, Tiger Woods make big strides at Quicken Loans National

GAINESVILLE, VA. -- Golf sure is funny.

Troy Merritt missed five consecutive PGA Tour cuts and seven in his last nine starts heading into the Quicken Loans National. Of course, he won.

And Tiger Woods, who missed the cut in the British Open in his last start and was talking about checking his numbers and spin rates to see what was ailing his game, finished in a tie for 18th and was pretty darn pleased.

So it goes in golf, where Merritt followed up his brilliant 61 on Saturday with a solid 4-under-par 67 Sunday at sizzling Robert Trent Jones Golf Club to finish at 18 under and three shots clear of runner-up Rickie Fowler (69). Once he got to a weekend, Merritt, 29, made the most of it and shot 128 in his last two rounds to gain his first maiden Tour victory in his 96th start.

“Something just wasn’t quite there. I kept telling people I was close,” said Merritt, who earned $1.2 million, a trip to the PGA Championship in two weeks and the Masters in 2016. He made slight adjustments in his hand position for full shots and alignment for his putter this weekend. “There’s just that one little thing that can turn it around. I made two little fixes, and here I am.”

While Woods didn’t cash for the 7-figure check Merritt earned, he gathered golf currency heading forward. He had a hop in his step as he stepped into the scoring area, as optimistic about his game as at anytime this year. After turning a 78 into a 74 and plunging down the leaderboard Saturday, Woods shot 68 to finish his four rounds at 8 under.

The last four days, Woods at times looked like the Woods of old — a few vintage recovery shots that dropped jaws, a bunch of up-and-downs from around the green and power from both his meal woods and irons (he was among the leaders in driving distance with a 315-yard average).

And he made birdies in bunches. Six in nine holes in the first round, five in nine holes in the second round, five in eight holes in the final round. The former world No. 1, who is ranked No. 266, is enthusiastic heading into the PGA Championship.

He caught a bad break on the first hole when his approach caromed off the flagstick and wound up 50 feet from the hole. Instead of a kick-in birdie, he settled for a two-putt par. Undeterred, he started putting up red numbers two holes later. Hitting fairways and greens, Woods made five birdies in an eight-hole stretch to reach 10 under.

Then things started to fall apart. There was a missed 3-footer for par on the 11th, a drive into the hazard on 12, an approach spun off the green on 14. But there were far more ups the last four days than downs.

“Today I hit the ball really well. I hit the flag at 1 and kind of almost came off the green but I didn’t really miss a shot on the front nine,” said Woods, who hit 11 of 14 fairways in regulation, 15 of 18 greens and needed just 29 putts.

“It was kind of a mixed bag as far as results, but the fact I had total control of the golf ball was nice.”

Woods was optimistic heading into the British Open but then missed the cut. He feels differently heading to the PGA.

“This is much better, much, much, much better to have a round like today and basically yesterday,” Woods said. “Even though I struggled as bad as I did (Saturday), one thing has been missing, as I’ve been trying to explain to everyone, trying to make an up-and-down here and there, scramble and turn an awful round into a scoring round. The first seven holes (Saturday) I was slapping it all over the place and struggling for par. I had that shot at 8 to turn my whole round around and get it in the right direction. I didn’t do it. But today I did, which was nice. Today I started off well and really hit the ball well. My short game is starting to come back to where it used to be.

“The whole week in general, I felt like I made some big strides.”

So did Merritt.

Follow Steve DiMeglio on Twitter @Steve_DiMeglio.

GALLERY: BEST OF THE QUICKEN LOANS NATIONAL