MERRICK BEATS BELJAN IN NORTHERN TRUST OPEN PLAY-OFF

GATOUR.COM wire reports
PACIFIC PALISADES, California -- John Merrick never allowed himself to think about winning at Riviera Country Club.
Not when he was a kid attending his local PGA TOUR event. Not when he was at UCLA and could play the fabled course. And certainly not late Sunday afternoon in a play-off when he faced a daunting 3-iron shot under a row of eucalyptus trees, and his opponent was in the middle of the fairway with a wedge in his hand.

No wonder Merrick (pictured) was at a loss for words when he won the Northern Trust Open, gaining 500 FedExCup points to move to fourth in the standings.
"Yeah, you dream," Merrick said, his eyes still glossy. "When you're alone sometimes, you think about different scenarios of winning tournaments.
"It was fun. We would always play here at UCLA and have great games out here. To be able to play the tournament was a dream of mine. But to win? I can't describe it. It's so much fun."
Merrick hit the perfect shot under the trees on the 18th to escape with par, and he followed with another flawless shot to a skinny section of the 10th green on the second playoff hole to 18 feet. He made another par, and won when Charlie Beljan missed a 5-foot par putt.
It was the second straight year the Northern Trust Open was decided in a playoff on the 10th, a diabolical par 4 at 315 yards that requires skill and strategy, a hole where players are happy to walk off with par. Beljan made bogey twice on the 10th, once in a regulation and then when the tournament was on the line.
He went long and left both times, and in the playoff, his chip didn't quite reach the green and he took three putts from 70 feet.
"I think you could play here 10,000 times and still not know how to play No. 10," he said. "Eighteen is a great golf hole. I just find it tough that we go to No. 10 to play a playoff hole. I think it's a great hole, don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking it. But it's just a tough hole to have a playoff on. We might as well go and put a windmill out there and hit some putts."

Beljan, famous for having an anxiety attack when he won at Disney late last year, holed an 18-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole -- similar to the theatrics provided last year by Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley -- to close with a 4-under 67 and wind up in a playoff.
Merrick, who grew up in Long Beach, had a number of big breaks on the back nine. None was bigger than his second shot on the par-5 17th headed toward the trees, only to find that he had just enough of a gap to go for the green and make par. He had a 69 and finished at 11-under 273.
He also hit the trees with his tee shot on the 15th, and while it left him a hybrid to reach the green, it could have gone anywhere.
"You give me 100 balls off that tee, I'm not going to be there in that spot," Merrick said. "I just hit a bad tee shot and was able to make par there."
Such are the breaks it takes to win, and for Merrick, it was a long time coming. He won in his 169th start on the PGA TOUR, earned another trip to the Masters and is virtually assured to qualifying for his first World Golf Championship next month in the Cadillac Championship at Doral.
Fredrik Jacobson missed a 4-foot par putt on the 18th hole that would have put the Swede in a playoff. He wound up with a 69 and tied for third with Charl Schwartzel (70) and Bill Haas (73), who also had chances to win at different stages in their rounds.
The final round contained far more drama than anyone imagined at the start of the day, when Haas had a three-shot lead. Six players were separated by one shot going into the final hour at Riviera, and it easily could have been a repeat of that six-man playoff in 2001 in the cold rain.
This pleasant day of bright sunshine brought a few cloudy moments.
Hunter Mahan was tied for the lead after a 30-foot birdie on the 14th, only to drop four shots on the last four holes. Nothing stung worse than the par-5 17th, where he three-putted from about 30 feet for bogey. He wound up with a 69. 
Jacobson was tied for the lead when he missed an 8-foot birdie attempt on the 17th, and then badly pulled a 4-foot par putt on the last hole and missed out on the playoff. The Swede closed with a 69, and bristled when asked about the final hole. "You want me to touch that one, only that one? I cannot speak about something else?" he said, before eventually conceding, "The last putt wasn't very good."
No one was more disgusted than Schwartzel, the former Masters champion. One shot out of the lead, he missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th, and then three-putted the 17th, missing a 6-footer for birdie. He closed with a 70 and tied for third, his seventh straight finish in the top five around the world.
Haas faded much sooner. He made five bogeys in a seven-hole stretch in the middle of his round, and his birdie-birdie finish allowed him to tie for third.
"Positives to be taken, but overall, you don't get this many opportunities," Haas said. "A three-shot lead at one of the best tournaments of the year is a great opportunity that I squandered."
Haas looked to be in good position to join Mickelson, Mike Weir, Corey Pavin and Ben Hogan as the only back-to-back winners at Riviera. And when he dropped in a 30-foot birdie putt on the third hole, he looked as though he would be tough to catch.
Instead of running away from the field, he let everyone back into the tournament. Haas made back-to-back bogeys late on the front nine, and his lead was down to one when he made the turn. It all began to take shape at No. 10, the hole where a year ago Haas holed a 45-foot birdie putt to win in a playoff.
Merrick laid up on the short par 4, and his wedge was inches from tumbling into a front bunker when it checked up on the fringe. He made birdie from just inside 15 feet and tied Haas for the lead.
Haas went just through the green and rolled down a slope into the rough, and from there he pitched too strong and into the bunker. He failed to get up-and-down and made bogey to fall out of the lead for the first time all day, and he never caught up. His tee shots sailed into the trees and into the rough, and he was out of the picture.
Beljan's only bogey in the final round was on the 10th hole. He was flawless the rest of the way, until coming to the 10th hole in a playoff with the tournament on the line.
"I made every clutch putt that you would ever ask to make," Beljan said. "And then to make that putt on 18 and hear the roar was really special. Obviously, not the way I wanted to end it, but you know what? You win some, you lose some, and that's how it goes."

Riviera Country Club: Round 4

About the winner: John Merrick • UCLA graduate and Long Beach, California, native John Merrick won the Northern Trust Open in his sixth start at Riviera CC to become the first player from Los Angeles County to win the event. Merrick made a par-4 on the second play-off hole (No. 10) to defeat Charlie Beljan. It was Merrick’s first playoff on the PGA TOUR. • Merrick wins the 18th playoff in tournament history and the second consecutive at Riviera CC. The only other time there has been back-to-back playoffs at the Northern Trust Open was when there was four consecutive from 1969-1972. • Earns his 1st career US PGA TOUR victory at the age of 30 years, 10 months and 25 days in his 169th career start. • Merrick’s best previous finish at the Northern Trust Open was T54 in 2010. • In 14 rounds prior to this week at Riviera CC, Merrick only had three under-par rounds. He had three of four rounds in the 60s this week. • Merrick has qualified for the FedExCup Playoffs each of the first six years. He finished No. 72 in the 2012 FedExCup standings. • Prior to this win, Merrick’s best finishes on TOUR were a pair of runner-up finishes (2009 Humana Challenge and 2012 FedEx St. Jude Classic). • Merrick earns his third career start in the Masters in April. He finished T6 in 2009 and missed the cut in 2010. In 2008, Merrick finished T6 at the U.S. Open to earn a spot into the 2009 Masters. His top 10 at the Masters in 2009 got him in the field the following years.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 284 (4x71)
Players from US unless stated
283 John Merrick 68 66 70 69, Charlie Beljan 67 71 68 67. Merrick ($1,88,000) bt Beljan ($712,800) at second hole of sudden-death play-off.
274 Bill Haas 70 67 64 73, Fredrik Jacobson (Sweden) 68 65 72 69, Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 69 67 68 70 ($343,200 each).
275 Webb Simpon 70 66 68 71, Josh Teater 70 68 68 69 ($22,350 each).
276 Sang-Moon Bae (South Korea) 68 65 76 67, Hunter Mahan 70 69 68 69 ($198,00 each).
278 Greg Chalmers (Australia) 69 69 73 67, Ted Potter junior 71 67 71 69, Adam Scott (Australia) 71 67 70 70 ($165,00 each)
279 Ernie Els (South Africa) 70 68 73 68, Jim Furyk 68 72 69 70, Sergio Garcia (Spain) 65 73 69 72 ($127,600 each).

SELECTED TOTALS
280 Luke Donald (England) 69 66 70 75 (T16) ($99,000)
281 Phil Mickelson 71 67 71 71, Lee Westwood (England) 68 68 70 71 (T21) ($66,000 each).
282 Brian Davis (England) 70 69 73 70, Greg Owen (England) 69 71 70 72 (T27) ($45,870 each).
284 Ross Fisher (England) 71 72 68 73, Matt Kuchar 64 73 74 73 ($29,040 each).
286 David Lynn (England) 67 74 71 74 (T46) ($18,295).         


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