JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 3, 2026

Troy Merritt

TPC Deere Run

Quick Quotes

Q. Four early birdies in the round, and then you were able to continue that momentum as the round progressed.

TROY MERRITT: Yeah, it was similar to yesterday after the first four holes. Just pretty stress-free and not working overly hard until the last hole.

On 17 and 9 on this round I had to work a little bit and make a couple of bogeys, but pretty stress-free. Really holed out and made some nice putts. Just need to keep finding some fairways.

The iron game feels pretty good. Wedge game feels pretty good, and rolling some putts. Hopefully the weekend bears more of that.

Q. I thought you showed a little bit of discipline back at the 5th. Some people, you know, try to get it as close as possible. Did you lay up to a nice number and then you really had a beautiful iron in there.

TROY MERRITT: Yeah, No. 5, the nice thing for me is my 3-wood goes a lot shorter than most, so I can hit that 3-wood out there. Same on No. 6. I hit the 3-wood down to the end of the runway there with that right flag and me him 3 off the tee, I would have had a tough second shot.

I took on the first shot and led to a more open shot on both 5 and 6 and made a couple of birdies.

Q. Talk to me about your putting, particular about your about your putter setup. You have a modified claw. Is that a counter-balance grip on the putter, too?

TROY MERRITT: Yeah, and I try to grip it as high up as I can. I've still got plenty of flinches in the stroke. If I get hunched over a little bit too far, I get a block out to the right.

I can't grip it for too long with carpal tunnel in both hands. It starts to hurt. So I'm just try to find a way to get the ball in the hole, and so far it's been working this week.

Q. Some of the knock on a longer shaft of putter, it's great on short putts. Sometimes you lose some touch on longer putts. What beautiful touch you had at 7. I thought that was a really difficult putt.

TROY MERRITT: Yeah, I mean, it was nice it was a little bit downhill, so I didn't have to give it too big of a hit. It was nice. It's breaking 4, 5 feet and changing levels to get it down there to about a foot, foot and a half is always a win. Hopefully if we have those this weekend, it yields in the same way.

Q. You've been on tour before. You've been off the tour. What do you learn about going into a good position going into the weekend?

TROY MERRITT: I've found it a little bit easier a little bit younger. Now the nerves are pretty well shot, and like I said, I got the flinches with the putter and dealing with the carpal tunnel.

I'm just trying to put a smile on my face, take it one shot at a time, and do the best I can and live with the results.

Q. I hope you're smiling tonight, because I thought that was a well-played round of golf.

TROY MERRITT: I'll be smiling when I get that first cold beer in me.