TRUCKEE, Calif. -- Richy Werenski holed a flop shot from the 16th fairway for a five-point eagle and birdied the last for a one-point victory over Troy Merritt on Sunday in the Barracuda Championship.
Richy Werenski rallies to win Barracuda Championship
August 3, 2020 at 6:17AM
Werenski won for the first time on the PGA Tour, scoring 13 points in the final round on Tahoe Mountain Club's Old Greenwood Course -- the first-time venue after 21 years at Montreux Golf and Country Club. The 28-year-old former Georgia Tech player won the event three years after losing to Chris Stroud on the second hole of a playoff.
The fifth straight first-time winner in the tour's lone modified Stableford scoring event, Werenski earned a spot next week in the PGA Championship in San Francisco. He and Merritt, also in the field next week at TPC Harding Park, secured spots in the U.S. Open in September at Winged Foot.
Werenski finished with 39 points, with players getting eight points for albatross, five for eagle, two for birdie, zero for par, minus-one for bogey and minus-three for double bogey or worse.
Merritt failed to convert the 54-hole lead into a victory for the second straight year. Last year at Montreux, Collin Morikawa rallied to beat Merritt.
Merritt left a 30-foot birdie try short on the par-4 18th to give Werenski the victory.
Matthias Schwab and Fabian Gomez tied for third with 37 points.
Playing on a sponsor exemption, Schwab had 13 points in the round. He needed to finish in a two-way tie for second or better to earn special temporary membership on the tour.
Gomez had a 16-point day.
about the writer
Frankie Capan III, who will be playing on the PGA Tour next year, finished at 13 under par at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship.
