First US PGA Tour win for Troy Merritt

The fields are so deep that just anybody can win on the US PGA Tour these days. This week it was the turn of world no. 180 Troy Merritt – the 10th first-time winner already this season – who celebrated his first Tour win at the Quicken Loans National in Virginia.

American Merritt finished -18 after carding a -4 67 in the final round, three ahead of world number eight Rickie Fowler (69).

It was a magical moment for Merritt (29) who was clearly deeply shocked by his unexpected success, saying: “When it happens, you’re not thinking. You really don’t even know what your name is.”

England’s Justin Rose was among six players in tied fourth after shooting a 70 to finish -12.

And Tiger Woods at last finally seems to have found some form: he went round in 68 to end -8 in a tie for 18th place.

Woods, now ranked 266th in the world, had recorded three missed cuts, a withdrawal and just one top-25 finish in eight starts on the 2014-15 PGA Tour before the tournament and was well pleased with his week’s work. “Today I started off well and really hit the ball well and I looked at the whole week in general – felt like I made some big strides. I had total control of the golf ball which was nice.”