Troy Merritt

Merritt is a very streaky player, but has found a way to make more than $1,300,000 each of the last four seasons. He racked up four top-7 finishes in 2020-21, all coming in an eight-start summer stretch. Merritt's ball-striking numbers aren't overly impressive, but his short game and putting were both pretty solid.

Merritt nearly notched his third career PGA Tour win at the Barracuda Championship, but ultimately had to settle for a runner-up. He ended up finishing 74th in the FedEx Cup standings. Merritt's ball striking still needs work, as he was way down in 184th in SG: Tee-to-green, but ended up 25th in SG: Putting. There isn't a whole lot of upside with Merritt.

Merritt might be the most obscure two-time winner on the PGA Tour. He picked-up his first win on the PGA Tour in 2015 and backed that up with another win 2018. Though he didn't win this past season, he had a fairly productive season. Merritt's best finish was a runner-up at the Barracuda Championship and he had a total of four top-10s. His consistency improved, but there's still a question of whether he can string together high-end performances. His ceiling is well above where he ended up last season, but he's still probably too pricey for salary cap purposes.

Merritt has been all over the map in his seven years on the PGA Tour. The high point came in 2015, when he picked-up his first win and topped $2 million in earnings. The low was a couple years prior when he failed to make even $200k. Last season, Merritt picked-up his second win on the PGA Tour and again made it into seven-figure territory. Outside of the years where he's won, Merritt hasn't produced much however and his win came at the Barbasol Championship, which is held opposite of the British Open. Merritt has enough upside to justify a salary cap pick at this price, but he hasn't proven consistent enough in his time on the PGA Tour.

In the three seasons prior to this year, Merritt had posted a top-3 finish, but this season ended with zero top-3s and just one top-10. As a result, Merritt had to earn his way through the Web.com Tour Finals to retain his card for a fifth straight year. Going forward it's hard to see Merritt breaking $1 million in earnings in 2017-18, but he'll likely top last year's measley total, which was his worst total since the 2011 season. He's not draftable in salary cap leagues and should go beyond the 10th round in drafts.

Merritt has spent five seasons on the PGA Tour and in four of those five seasons, he's finished under $1 million in earnings. The lone year he topped that mark, 2015, he ended-up just over $2 million, but that was due in large part to a win at the Quicken Loans National. Merritt is still fairly young, so he's got time to get everything figured-out, but that's not the type of golfer that should be on a salary cap team. In drafts, he'll go after the 10th-round.

Merritt's third season on the PGA Tour was his best, but considering he failed to make even $900k, that's not saying much. His rookie season was fairly productive, but his second season was a disaster. Merritt rebounded well in his third season, but if this is as good as it gets, then he's going to spend his career fighting to stay alive. As such, he's not a good option in salary cap leagues, mainly due to his limited upside. In draft leagues he'll likely go undrafted.

Merritt played his best golf early in Web.com season last year, earning five of his six top-10s. He was consistent in 2013 but only one top-3 finish and no wins.

In his rookie season on the PGA TOUR, Troy Merritt grabbed the final spot inside the top 125. Merritt used a strong fall finish to earn those last few dollars, but his season was made by a third-place finish at the Zurich Classic. In his first year on the PGA TOUR, Merritt ranked 36th in putting average. He also ranked 32nd in birdies per hole. Merritt has some potential, but after such an erratic opening season, it's probably better to wait on him.

Merritt will be on a lot people's draft board because of his win at Q School, but he was not really that successful on the Nationwide Tour in 2009. Merritt won an event in and the $117,000 earned for that event represented 77% of his earnings. Tread cautiously with the former player at Boise State.