Out of the fifth-to-last pairing, World No. 100 Troy Merritt swallowed a late bogey but still carded a 4-under 33-34=67 in R3 of the Valspar, up four spots to T6 on 11-under 202, seven short of leader, rookie and first-timer Davis Riley (62).
With rounds of 68-67-67, the Boise State product seems destined to continue his feast-or-famine record at the Valspar. In seven prior appearances, he’s missed five cuts, not recording a single sub-par lap in those five, but also finished 6th in 2015 and T8 last year (68-69-68-70). The 36-year-old has 18 holes remaining to improve on his results at the Copperhead Course, and will give chase out of the fifth-to-last twosome on Sunday w/ Xander Schauffele. Thru 54 holes, he’s tallied 19 birdies, No. 1 in that stat, against six bogeys and a double, the double coming today at the par-4 16th (watered tee ball), and ranks a lowly 56th in SG: Off-the-Tee (-0.840) but a lofty 9th in SG: Approach (4.158), including a 2.726 SG: APP in R3.