Meridian’s Troy Merritt holds top-15 spot at Masters

Troy Merritt of Meridian shot a 71 on Friday in the second round of the Masters to grab a top-15 spot going into the weekend. He also tied for the best round of the day.

Merritt, a Masters rookie, shot 2-over 74 in the first round Thursday and 1-under on Friday.

He’s tied for 15th, five shots behind leader Jordan Spieth. Windy conditions made Augusta National Golf Club play even more difficult than usual this week. Only seven players are under par.

Merritt parred the first nine holes Friday. He bogeyed No. 10 but birdied Nos. 14 and 15.

He made four bogeys and two birdies in the first round.

If Merritt can finish in the top 12, he’ll be invited to return to the Masters in 2017.

Here is the story we published on Merritt earlier this week.

He also did a diary for Golf.com that included the fact that he’s listed as from Meridian, Ohio, in the Masters program.

This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 4:18 PM.