} John Sampson Merrick (born March 20, 1982) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who plays on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

Early life and amateur career

Merrick was born and raised in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

. He grew up playing Recreation Park municipal golf course, a classic layout by William F. Bell. He attended

Wilson Classical High School Woodrow Wilson High School (colloquially known as Long Beach Wilson) is an American state school, public secondary school, high school located in Long Beach, California, Long Beach, California. This City block, two-block campus is located approxima ...

where he won the Moore League High School Championship. Merrick won th
Southern California Golf Association
Amateur Championship when he was only 19 years old, making him the youngest person since

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

in 1994 to capture that title. In 2003, he medaled at the Pac-10 Men's Golf Championships, leading the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...

to their first championship victory since 1985. He shot a course-record 63 at Oakmont Glendale, with three eagles in one round, the only collegiate player to do so that year. At the 2002

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

at Oakland Hills, he tied for second in stroke play at three-under par 137 (71-66) and advanced to the second round before losing 2&1 to finalist

Hunter Mahan Hunter Myles Mahan (born May 17, 1982) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He is a winner of two World Golf Championship events, the 2010 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and the 2012 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. ...

Professional career

Merrick is currently a member of the

. He was a member of the

Nationwide Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental golf tour, tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at tha ...

in 2006. He gained his 2007 PGA Tour card by finishing 21st on the money list in 2006 after his first professional win at the

Peek'n Peak Classic The Peek'n Peak Classic was a golf tournament on the Nationwide Tour. It was played from 2002 to 2007 on the Upper Course of Peek'n Peak Resort in Findley Lake, New York, United States. The 2007 purse was $600,000, with $108,000 going to the win ...

. He then went to

Q-School In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...

and finished tied for fourth. He was the first player to improve his status through Q-School. He consistently ranks among the top players in statistics for total driving (length plus accuracy), greens in regulation, and overall ball-striking.

2007

In his rookie year, Merrick played in 29 events, making 16 cuts. His best finish was T-4 at the Reno-Tahoe Open. After finishing 135th on the money list in 2007, Merrick went back to Q-School where he birdied the last hole to shoot -5 to regain his PGA Tour card for 2008.

2008

On his second full year on tour, Merrick exceeded $1 million in earnings by virtue of 4 top-ten finishes. He got off to a strong start with a T-16 in the Bob Hope Classic (playing as the last alternate into the field) and a career-best T-3 at the

Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun The World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in Mexico, held at Playa del Carmen, south of Cancún. It debuted in February 2007 and was the first PGA Tour event in Mexico this century. Hist ...

. He was the leader after the third round at the rain-plagued

Zurich Classic of New Orleans The Zurich Classic of New Orleans is a professional golf tournament in Louisiana on the PGA Tour, currently held at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, a suburb southwest of New Orleans. Beginning in 1938 and held annually since 1958, it is commonly pla ...

, finishing T-7. He was medalist at the 2008 U.S. Open sectional qualifying event held at

Cordova, Tennessee Cordova is a community in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. Cordova lies east of Memphis, north of Germantown, south of Bartlett, and northwest of Collierville at an elevation of 361 feet (110 meters). The majority of Cordova has been an ...

, shooting 65-65. At his second career U.S. Open, Merrick finished T-6 at Torrey Pines, a course he played frequently during his junior golf and amateur career. A long birdie putt on Merrick's 72nd hole earned a pass into the 2009 Masters as well as the 2009 U.S. Open. He qualified for the 2008 PGA Championship with the 70th-place ranking in official money standings. Merrick ended the year 83rd on the money list and retained his card for 2009.

2009

Merrick earned his best result on tour to date at the 2009

Bob Hope Classic The Desert Classic (currently known as The American Express for sponsorship reasons; previously known as the CareerBuilder Challenge, Palm Springs Golf Classic, the Bob Hope Desert Classic, the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, and the Humana Challen ...

, finishing 2nd by three strokes to

Pat Perez Patrick Anthony Perez (born March 1, 1976) is an American professional golfer who plays in the LIV Golf Invitational Series. Early life Perez was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and is of Mexican-American descent. He is married to Ashley Perez. Prof ...

. He finished T-6 at the

Puerto Rico Open The Puerto Rico Open is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour that was first played in 2008. It is the only PGA Tour event ever held in Puerto Rico. The tournament is played at the Coco Beach Golf Course (previously Trump International ...

in March. A month later, playing in his first Masters, Merrick shot a final round 66 to finish T-6, equaling his best major result to date. Although he missed the cut at the U.S. Open, he rebounded to finish T-10 at the 2009 PGA Championship. Merrick ended the year ranked 58th on the money list. He teamed with

Nick Watney Nicholas Alan Watney (born April 25, 1981) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. The highlight of Watney's career is his victory at the 2011 WGC-Cadillac Championship. In July 2011, Watney won the AT&T National and broke i ...

in the 2009 Omega Mission Hills World Cup, finishing T7, on the strength of a tournament-record 62 for the final day foursomes.

2010

Despite making 23 cuts including 11 in a row, Merrick finished 2010 at number 140 on the money list. His only top 10 finish was a tie for 3rd at the Reno-Tahoe Open.

2011

Merrick played out of the conditional category (125 to 150 on money list). He Monday-qualified for the

Sony Open in Hawaii The Sony Open in Hawaii is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, and is part of the tour's FedEx Cup Series. It has been contested at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii, since the event's modern-day inception as the Hawaiian O ...

and the

Travelers Championship Traveler(s), traveller(s), The Traveler(s), or The Traveller(s) may refer to: People Generic terms *One engaged in travel *Explorer, one who searches for the purpose of discovery of information or resources *Nomad, a member of a community withou ...

, where he finished 9th. He finished the year 119th on the money list, and regained his PGA Tour card.

2012

Persevering after a mediocre start to his season, Merrick earned a solo second place at the

FedEx St. Jude Classic The FedEx St. Jude Classic was a professional golf tournament held in Memphis, Tennessee as a regular event on the PGA Tour. The tournament was held annually from 1958 through 2018, and was played in June at TPC Southwind (since 1989). In 2019, ...

, one stroke behind winner

Dustin Johnson Dustin Hunter Johnson (born June 22, 1984) is an American professional golfer. He has won two major championships, the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club with a 4-under-par score of 276 and the 2020 Masters Tournament with a record score ...

. He finished the year 93rd on the money list, and retained his PGA Tour card.

2013

After 169 starts, Merrick earned his first career PGA Tour win at the

Northern Trust Open The Genesis Invitational is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in southern California, first played in 1926 as the Los Angeles Open. Other previous names include Genesis Open, Northern Trust Open and Nissan Open. Played annually in ...

, beating

Charlie Beljan Charlie Benjamin Beljan (born October 10, 1984) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. Amateur career Beljan was born in Mesa, Arizona. He won the 2002 U.S. Junior Amateur at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Ge ...

on Riviera's famous 10th hole, the second hole of a sudden-death playoff. The win earned Merrick his third career Masters invitation and his first at a major since the

2010 PGA Championship The 2010 PGA Championship was the 92nd PGA Championship, played August 12–15 at the Straits Course of the Whistling Straits complex in Haven, Wisconsin (postal address Kohler). Martin Kaymer won his first major championship in a three-hole ...

. Merrick became the first native of Los Angeles County to win the event. His victory earned him a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour (through the 2015 season) and put him in the top-100 in the

Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolli ...

, moving from 241st to 74th.

2016

After finishing 162nd in the FedEx Cup during the 2015 season and failing to regain his PGA Tour card through the Web.com Tour Finals, Merrick balanced his season between the PGA Tour (past champion status) and Web.com Tour (category 6, 51st-75th on Finals money list).

Personal life

Merrick graduated from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

in 2004 with a degree in Sociology. He resides in

. He is married to the former Jody Schmidt, who was a member of UCLA's 2003 national championship water polo team, and has two children. Merrick is now a member of Virginia Country Club in Long Beach, along with fellow golf professionals

John Mallinger John Charles Mallinger (born September 25, 1979) is an American professional golfer. Early life Mallinger was born in Escondido, California, and is the youngest of four children. He graduated from Escondido High School. Amateur career Malli ...

Patrick Cantlay Patrick Cantlay (born March 17, 1992) is an American professional golfer. He had a successful amateur career and was the number one golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for 55 weeks. He has won eight times on the PGA Tour as well as the 2021 ...

, and

Peter Tomasulo Peter Jeffrey Tomasulo (born October 22, 1981) is an American professional golfer who plays on the Web.com Tour. Amateur career Tomasulo was born in Long Beach, California. He attended the University of California, Berkeley and in 2004 was named ...

Amateur wins (4)

*2001 Long Beach City Amateur, Southern California Golf Association Amateur *2002 Long Beach City Amateur *2003 Pac-10 Men's Golf Championship (individual)

Professional wins (2)

PGA Tour wins (1)

PGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

Nationwide Tour wins (1)

Nationwide Tour playoff record (1–0)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 3 (2008 U.S. Open – 2009 Masters) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (three times)

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

"T" = Tied

U.S. national team appearances

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

References

External links

* *
Profile on UCLA siteSouthland Golf Magazine - Breaking through John Merrick Torrey Pines
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merrick, John American male golfers UCLA Bruins men's golfers PGA Tour golfers Korn Ferry Tour graduates Golfers from California Wilson Classical High School alumni Sportspeople from Long Beach, California 1982 births Living people