Troy Merritt may be on the verge of a breakthrough victory at Harbour Town, but there’s a pretty formidable foe lurking five shots behind him. Some kid named Spieth. Already owns one prize sportcoat, looking to expand his wardrobe. Anyway, here’s what You Oughta Know heading into the final round of the RBC Heritage, where Merritt leads by three shots over a trio of players:
- Jordan Spieth carded a 62 in the second round, and he heads into Sunday in a tie for eighth. With a victory, he would become the first player to win the Masters green jacket and Heritage tartan jacket in succession since Bernhard Langer in 1985.
- At 21, Spieth would become the youngest champion in tournament history (Davis Love III was 23 in 1987) and would have a mathematical chance to overtake Rory McIlroy atop the world rankings later this month at the WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championship.
- Erasing a five-shot deficit at Harbour Town is not unheard of. The biggest final-round comeback at this event came in 2004, when Stewart Cink won after trailing by nine shots.
- Merritt is making his 86th PGA Tour start this week. His best career finish came last year at the FedEx St. Jude Classic, where he finished second.
- With a victory, Merritt would become the first player to make this event his first win on Tour since Boo Weekley in 2007.
- Merritt entered this week with only one top-25 finish in 13 starts this season - a sixth-place finish at the Valspar Championship.
- Merritt could join Carl Pettersson (2012) as the only players since 2010 to win at Harbour Town without having played at the Masters the week prior.
- Matt Kuchar trails Merritt by three shots. He is looking to become the event’s first back-to-back champion since Weekley won in 2007 and 2008.
- Kuchar is in line for his 51st top-10 finish since the start of the 2010 season - the most on Tour across that span. His last top-10 came at the Humana Challenge (T-2).
- Brendon Todd also trails Merritt by three shots. He earned his maiden victory last year at the AT&T Byron Nelson Championship and has finished T-30 or better in five of his last six starts.
- Kevin Kisner is also tied for second. A native of nearby Aiken, S.C., Kisner’s career-best finish was a T-4 at the 2014 McGladrey Classic.
- Jim Furyk is 10 under, four shots behind Merritt. A winner at Harbour Town in 2010, Furyk has not won since the 2010 Tour Championship.
