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BARBASOL CHAMPIONSHIP

July 23, 2018

Troy Merritt

Nicholasville, Kentucky

DOUG MILNE: Okay, well we will go ahead and get started. Like to welcome the winner of the 2018 Barbasol Championship, Troy Merritt.

Troy, congratulations on your second career PGA TOUR win. It was a long week, but you started off in grand fashion with at 10-under that we were just talking about.

Moved to No. 65 in the FedExCup standings.

Well on your way to finishing the season strong. With all that said, just some comments on the week.

TROY MERRITT: It was a great week. No complaints out of me this week. We got off to that great start, 62 on Thursday, and usually when you have that nice low round it's hard to keep it going.

The two other times I did it were on a Friday and Saturday, so wasn't as much golf left to play, but to do it in the first round and keep the momentum going on Friday, Saturday and Monday, since I didn't hit a shot yesterday, was pretty good.

We did a good job of keeping it one shot at a time. We knew it was going to take a lot of birdies to get the job done, but we didn't focus on any final number. We just tried to do our best on each shot and counted them up at the end and it was one shot in the positive for us.

DOUG MILNE: I got the sense from your interviews outside that this is a pretty emotional, for lack of a better term, victory for you. You got the one win and now this seems like a very validating victory for you. If you could just comment on the emotions you felt.

TROY MERRITT: Yeah, it's just so hard to win on the PGA TOUR. After my win at Quicken Loans in '15 there, I really didn't play overly well the last couple years. Couple Top 10s and finished 151 on the points list last year. Had to go back and get my card through the finals.

You always ask yourself, Is this the time to move on? But to get a win like this late in the season and to move up to 65 on the points list and to secure a job for two more years, it's a pretty good feeling.

DOUG MILNE: Okay. With that, we'll open up and take a few questions.

Q. Did you ever really doubt yourself?
TROY MERRITT: No, I didn't. You know, every now and then you think, you know, Do I have what it takes to win anymore? I've won at every level I've played at since I was eight years old. I know I can still play good golf.

But when you don't see it for long periods of time and you're always trying to find it and the guys are getting better and better and better, doubts will kind of creep in there.

I've played really well this year with several different caddies. I've got Wayne on the bag now and he's the most positive person I think I've ever met. I don't think anybody loves golf more than Wayne.

Just kind of the nice little spark that I needed. We started working at Valero in San Antonio together, and it's just a nice little spark I needed to kind of refocus and know that I can still play this game.

As a result, we've missed one cut in three months and now we've got a win to show for it. It's been a nice little run for us.

Q. (Regarding the eagle.)
TROY MERRITT: Yeah, it definitely helped, that's for sure. We were kind of spinning the wheels a little bit the first seven holes. Had a couple birdies, and then that whoopsie-daisy on 5 with a bogey.

But hit a nice little 9-iron in from about 128 into a cool little north wind with some mist, and just happened to find the bottom of the hole. It gave us the solo lead for a briefly little moment.

It's always nice to jump up 2-under par on the scorecard. For us, it was bypassing Billy at the time on the leaderboard. It just set the tone for the back nine, knowing that we were going to be right there. If we didn't have the lead, we were going to be tied, and anything can happen on the back nine.

After we got through 14 and we were still tied, and I think Billy and Richy were through 16, had a feeling just needed maybe one more. Knew 17 into the wind was going to play not as easy. It was going to be tough to make a birdie on 17.

I think that the wedge and the putt on 15 is what won the tournament. We got just one clear. They had to come get us with a hole and a half left and they weren't able to.

It was fortunate for us there. Just played solid golf in, stress-free, and got the job done.

Q. Did you think the course would yield birdies for you with the rain? Was that your biggest concern?
TROY MERRITT: Yeah, I mean, talking to people last basically 36 hours since we didn't play yesterday, I told them, I said, It could take upwards of a 65 to try and win this thing to get to 25-under par, because there is going to be a lot of birdies from guys that are playing very well right now. We didn't get to 25-under.

But, yeah, the course, for as much rain as we had, the groundscrew did just a fantastic job keeping this course playable. The greens were rolling very nicely, they were predictable, and you could still make putts on them if you hit good putts.

It's always tougher to make putts on the back nine in the final round, and it showed again today. I would imagine birdies kind of stopped flying towards the end of the day.

But, yeah, the golf course yielded birdies, and we knew they were out there and knew we had to get some to stay in contention.

Q. What did you do all day yesterday? How long you were you out here?
TROY MERRITT: I watched the Open. (Laughter.) I watched the Open. I got here about 2:00 or so. They kept pushing tee times back. Finally we had to prepare to tee off at 7:50 last night. We went a full warmup, and I think they called to right around 7:30. At least got some practice in last night. Got the mindset that we were at least going to play some golf.

Ended up not, but got in the right frame of mind. Didn't just have a lazy day of nothing.

Q. You talked about Wayne's enthusiasm. Talk about how he's changed your mindset out there or helped you personally.
TROY MERRITT: Yeah, just there are times when, if you miss a putt, you make a bad bogey, just, All right, forget about that one. That's over with. Let's move on to the next one.

It sounds so simple to be able to tell yourself that, but after you make a stupid mistake it's really hard to refocus right away. Wayne does a good job of making me move on to the next shot, the next hole, leaving all the bad vibes behind. That's where they are, in the past.

He does a great job. When I step into shots, Best swing of the day right here. Tap it in. Go ahead and tap it in. Even if it's 50 feet with eight feet of break, Just go ahead and tap it in, Pro.

But, yeah, Wayne is a special man on the bag. Very happy to have him on the bag.

Q. Any particular time today that he did something that kept you...
TROY MERRITT: Yeah, he refocused me after I made the bad bogey on 5. We were going into 6 where you had to make birdie, and as a result I put it behind me, hit the ball right down the middle, got the ball on the fringe; didn't hit a great third shot, but was in trouble of making par there and basically losing another stroke.

Before I stepped in he said, All right. Step in with confidence. Know you're going to make it and I made it. There was couple times early where, yeah, he was crucial to moving on.

Q. (Indiscernible.)
TROY MERRITT: For a guy that has struggled to maintain a job for each year I've been out here, with the exception the year after I won Quicken because I had the two year exemption, just knowing I can play the last few weeks of the season not stressing about am I going to have full status next year, that's key. I mean, my wife loves it. My wife loves that I'm going to have a job for the next two years.

Yeah, just knowing that you've got that security for a couple years, it's awesome.

Q. (Indiscernible.)
TROY MERRITT: I thought that was going to be the case in '16. I only had one top 10. I think I got third place At Bay Hill and finished 121 on the points list, so nothing special.

So maybe got a little lazy. I don't know. But I need it refocus and try to keep winning.

Q. What was going through your head heading into the final hole?
TROY MERRITT: Starting about the middle of 16 I was just waiting for Billy and Richy to get through 17 to see if they made birdie or not to see how aggressive I had to be on 16 and 17.

After I saw that they went through with par, you just know the odds are they're probably going to make par on 18. It's not the easiest of birdie holes. Gave a good look on 16; made par.

I was making sure I was not going left at all on 17, so I bailed right and had a good layup and bailed right again and had a tap-in par.

Big thing was waiting for those two to get through 17. After they posted 22-under, I knew that par was probably going to be all right the rest of the way in.

Q. Spell your caddie's last name?
TROY MERRITT: B-i-r-c-h, Birch.

Q. Any nerves about having to shave the beard for Barbasol?
TROY MERRITT: I'm not shaving the beard. Wasn't even thinking about that. I was just trying to hit one shot at a time.

Q. How long have you had it?
TROY MERRITT: A full beard for the last two, three years. Kind of goes back and forth. I haven't been clean shaven in, I don't know, six, seven years.

Q. (Regarding being in Kentucky.)
TROY MERRITT: Yeah, absolutely. It was my first time actually spending some time in Kentucky. A lot of smiles, a lot of very nice conversations I had throughout the week on the golf course with volunteers, spectators, with staff, and they couldn't be more thrilled to be out here watching golf.

We love it when people come out and say they love being out here. Makes our job a lot easier, you know. It makes it a lot more fun to know that people are enjoying themselves.

Got a great ovation there on 18. People came out on a Monday in the rain and the cool weather to come watch a little more golf. I think that's pretty special. The course wasn't barren. Sometimes you just don't know on a Monday finish when the weather is not good.

But they came out, and like I said, it was awesome to play here all week. I'm looking forward to the next time I get the chance to play in Kentucky again.

Q. (Regarding whiskey/bourbon. )
TROY MERRITT: You know, I haven't. I'm a big fan of the Woodford Reserve, but weeks like those, those long weeks, and coming off a couple hot weeks, it's really hard to have one at night. You're just so tired. You just want to go to bed.

So I have not done any tasting. I did find out that I will need to take some kind of guy's trip sometime in the next few years and do the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Sounds like a pretty good time.

So I'll be back for that, for sure.

Q. Can you talk about just the maintenance crew and getting everything in shape. I've heard guys talk about how great the greens were this week considering all the weather.
TROY MERRITT: Yeah, I'll echo that with what everybody else has said with what I've already said. They did a fantastic job with how much ran we got the last four or five days, plus a little bit at the beginning of the week.

The golf course, it was still manageable to play it. It's a testament to how well they did, especially the greens. They were still rolling. They were still in good shape. If you hit a good putt, it would good in. They were still true. There weren't bumps all over the greens, which they can get that way when they get so wet.

Yes, my hat's off to them. They were awesome this week.

DOUG MILNE: Troy, congratulations.

TROY MERRITT: Thank you guys.

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