Upper Midwest Connection of the Week Ending 9 July 2023

Normally, a post of this kind would have been put up 24 hours ago or so. After hitting the driving range yesterday, though, I had to help take care of our horses. After all, it got to nearly 90 degrees near Delano, Minnesota. Then came the All-Star Home Run Derby, which I have made an annual tradition of watching since we got satellite last decade. Now that Vladimir Guerrero Jr has taken home the trophy to go with his father's honour of that sort, I have had more time today. But that's enough for excuses made, so let's get on with it!

The KFT and PGA Tour Canada both took a break last week for the Fourth of July, which thinned out the pool of Upper Midwest connections in action. This after the PGA Tour Latinoamerica breathed its last with the conclusion of the Bupa Tour Championship. This meant no Frankie Capan III, no Justin Doeden, no Thomas Longbella. Furthermore, try as he might, former University of Minnesota star and one-time Big Ten co-champion Angus Flanagan fell three slots short of making the field for the Italian Challenge Open on the Challenge Tour. And with his spot in both the Scottish Open and the Open Championship secure, Tom Hoge of Fargo wasn't going to bother with the John Deere Classic, which lost its usual Open Qualifying Series tie-in this year to the Made in Denmark, AKA the Made in HimmerLand, anyway.

So, who did bother to show up among Upper Midwest connections? There were three, listed in order of their placement on the OWGR (such as it is) heading into the week:

• #184 Erik van Rooyen, former U of M golf captain (played 2009-13) with three Hall of Fame-eligible wins;
• #189 Troy Merritt, Spring Lake Park, MN HS grad and former Winona State golfer (2004-06), originally from Osage, IA with two such wins; and
• Unranked Anders Larson of Pine Island, MN, incoming sophomore at Tennessee Tech.

As it turned out, two missed the cut, leaving only...

Troy Merritt finished T17 at the John Deere Classic.

Troy Merritt.

Heading into the previous week's Rocket Mortgage Classic, Merritt had missed a whopping thirteen successive cuts on the PGA Tour since last cashing at the Sony Open in Hawai'i. But at Detroit Golf Club, where he'd finished second in a playoff only to Australia's Cam Davis two years ago, he registered his best finish since November's World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, where he had placed T3. In the Quad Cities, Merritt saved his best for last, registering only one bogey against seven birdies to card a 65 on Sunday to place T17 and move to #129 in the FedEx Cup standings and #177 in the OWGR. While it's hardly going to lead him to a playoff appearance this year, Merritt got a surprise on Monday when he received news that M.J. Daffue of South Africa had declined a trip to the Scottish Open, creating an opportunity for Merritt to qualify for one of three places in the Open next week.

9/

Field ▲s → @ScottishOpen

OUT
MJ Daffue (playing @BarbasolChamp)

IN
Troy Merritt (sponsor) https://t.co/tcVQwV72eN

— Rob Bolton (@RobBoltonGolf) July 10, 2023

Who will be Upper Midwest Connection of the Week next week?

Regards,

Edward the Scop