John

Catlin

The 29-year-old Meronk had been trending toward his career-first title all season, which has included making 11 cuts in 13 starts with six top-10 finishes prior to his win. Three of those were top-five results, including a solo third at the Dutch Open and T-3 finishes at the Qatar Maters and Catalunya Championship. “It’s such a relief, to be honest,” said Meronk afterward. “I’ve been coming quite close a couple of times this year and to finally open the door is just a dream come true. That’s why we practice every day and I’m super happy.” New Zealand’s Ryan Fox finished runner-up for the third time this season, marking his seventh top-10 in 2022. Also of note Sunday at Mount Juliet Estate were three players who earned their spots at St. Andrews through the Open Qualifying Series: Scotland’s David Law, American John Catlin and Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti finished T-4 at 15-under 273 to secure their tickets to St Andrews. “It’s a dream come true,” said Law, who will make his major debut at The Open. “I chose not to go to Final Qualifying last week so I could focus on this event and so now that getting a place has happened, I’m over the moon. … Playing in front of those crowds is going to be amazing. I’ve never played a major before so do it at St Andrews for the first time will be unbelievable.” Next week will mark Zanotti’s third appearance in The Open, while Catlin will make his second consecutive event start. Meronk, Fox, Law and Zanotti are in the field for this week’s Scottish Open.

It was a well-timed rebound for the 30-year-old American, who was looking to get back on track after missing two cuts in three previous starts prior to arriving at Valderrama. Catlin got off to a hot start on Sunday, making birdie on this first three holes and adding another at No. 5 before making bogey at No. 7. He dropped another shot with a bogey at 14 but rebounded with a birdie-birdie finish. His performance bumped him up to No. 121in the world rankings and 48th in the Race to Dubai. On the season, the three-time European Tour winner has made 13 cuts in 23 starts with a win at the Austrian Golf Open in April and two other top 10s. Catlin will play this week at the Mallorca Golf Open, which was added to the schedule as a replacement for the Trophee Hassan II event that was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 30-year-old California native shot 70-72 at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid to miss his second cut in his last three starts and his 10th cut in 22 starts overall this season. Last year at Real Club Valderrama, Catlin arrived at for his second start in the event without full playing privileges but finished at 2-over 286 to beat Germany’s Martin Kaymer by a stroke. Catlin entered the final day with a two-shot lead and as the only player under par, but difficult conditions turned Sunday into a boxing match with Kaymer, who made bogey on his 72nd hole to come up short. “It was a battle, Martin and I were kind of in a boxing match,” he said. “It felt like it was one punch this way and a counter punch back that way and it just happened that I was up after the 18th hole. If we had to keep going it might have flip-flopped.” Catlin won the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open three weeks later and won his third title in April at Austrian Golf Open to establish himself as a contender on the European Tour. “This was a special win for me last year being my first win out here in Europe, especially on a golf course like this,” he said of the 1997 Ryder Cup venue. “It’s a spectacular place to come back to. The memories start coming back. Each hole I think about some of the shots that I’ve hit, and it definitely makes me smile, so I’m looking forward to a great week. I always knew I could win. I had won quite a few times before, but the European Tour is a whole other level, and it definitely gave me a lot of confidence.”

The world No. 103 had an even-keel week at Celtic Manor Resort, site of the 2010 Ryder Cup, shooting 68-73-68-72 to finish at 3-under 281 (13 shots behind winner Nacho Elvira). It marked a nice rebound performance for the 30-year-old American, who had missed the cut in his two previous starts at the 149th Open Championship and the arbrd Scottish Open. Catlin, who has three wins on the European Tour, returns to the site of his second career victory where he won the 2020 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. This week’s event will be held at Galgorm Castle GC and Massereene GC. Last year at Galgorm, Catlin birdied three of his last four holes to finish with a 6-under 64 and notch a two-stroke victory over Englishman Aaron Rai. He added another title to his resume this season at the Austrian Golf Open in April, and overall he’s 7-for-15 in cuts made with one other top 10 – a solo fifth at the Tenerife Open in May.

The 30-year-old American, who captured his third ET title in April at the Austrian Golf Open, told media ahead of his second start at this week’s Cazoo Open that he’s still striving to break into the top 50 on the Official World Golf Rankings and play at lot more majors after getting his second crack at one last week at the 149th Open Championship. He missed the cut at Royal St. George’s but now turns his attention to Celtic Manor Resort, site of the 2010 Ryder Cup. “I’ve been excited for this one for a while,” said Catlin, who missed the cut in this event last year, but finished T-6 in the Celtic Classic, which was held at the same venue last season. “I love this golf course. It’s one of my favorite golf courses that I played last year. I just think every hole challenges you a little bit differently, different shots of tees, some holes are longer, some are shorter … It challenges every aspect of your game, which I’ve always liked, I’ve always liked courses like that.” Catlin is 6-for-14 in cuts made on the season with one other top 10 – a solo fifth at the Tenerife Open.

Last year at Galgorm Castle Golf Club, the 30-year-old World No. 84 shot 10-under-par 270 to defeat Englishman Aaron Rai by two shots. “This is my first opportunity to defend a win, I’m really excited,” said Catlin. “A lot of the memories from last year are coming back – different golf course, but definitely drawing upon some of those shots I hit coming down the stretch and the confidence that it gives me.” Earlier this season, the California native captured his third career ET win at the Austrian Golf Open by beating Max Kieffer in a five-hole playoff after they tied at 14-under 270. Two starts later, Catlin finished solo fifth at the Tenerife Open in Spain. He is 5-of-11 in cuts made on the season. “My game’s pretty good,” said Catlin, who took some time off after missing the cut at the PGA Championship before returning to action last week in Germany. “I’ve been putting in some good work when I was home just tightening some things up. I’m always trying to get a little better than I was before. I feel like I was close last week, I just couldn’t quite figure out the greens. I was hitting the ball OK, I was just missing too many short putts and unfortunately missed the weekend by a couple.”

The 30-year-old Catlin, currently No. 78 in the OWGR, captured his third career win on the European Tour in Vienna by beating Max Kieffer in a playoff after they tied at 14-under 270, and most recently he finished solo fifth at the Tenerife Open in Spain two weeks ago. He’s recorded 17 consecutive subpar rounds in Euro Tour action and is 5-of-9 in cuts made on the season. Catlin, a European Tour member since 2018, broke through with two wins in 2020, holding off former World No. 1 Martin Kaymer for his first title at the Andalucia Masters in September then winning three weeks later when he carded a final round 64 at the Irish Open. He is making his tournament debut at the Byron Nelson and has been given a special exemption into the PGA Championship.

After finishing at 14-under 274, Catlin dueled the German through five more trips around the par-3 18th at Diamond Country Club before ending the playoff with a bogey. Catlin failed to get up and down from the greenside bunker, but he didn’t need to after Kieffer hit two tee shots into the water. Catlin kept pace near the top of the leaderboard through three rounds (68-70-71), but he vaulted into the tie for the lead Sunday with a bogey-free 7-under 65. The win marked an obvious rebound from his missed cut three weeks ago at the Kenya Savannah Classic. The 30-year-old missed two other cuts this season (Abu Dhabi, Dubai) but made two in March at the Qatar Masters (T42) and Kenya Open (T28). Catlin, a European Tour member since 2018, broke through with two wins in 2020, holding off former World No. 1 Martin Kaymer for his first title at the Andalucia Masters in September then winning three weeks later when he carded a final round 64 at the Irish Open.

American John Catlin rebounded from a missed cut in his last start three weeks ago at the Kenya Savannah Classic and carded a bogey-free 68 to start his week Thursday at the Austrian Golf Open. The 30-year-old American, currently No. 124 in the OWGR, made just one birdie over his opening nine holes before carding three birdies over four holes on his second nine to vault to the top of the leaderboard. Catlin missed the cut in his first two starts this season at Abu Dhabi and Dubai but made two cuts in March at the Qatar Masters (T-42) and Kenya Open (T-28). Catlin, a European Tour member since 2018, broke through with two wins last season, holding off former world No. 1 Martin Kaymer to win his first title at the Andalucia Masters in September then winning three weeks later when he carded a final round 64 at the Irish Open at Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort.

The 28-year-old from the United States is down at 150th on the Race to Dubai but he’s produced flashes of form with T19 at the Volvo China Open and T12 in the Made In Denmark. A T30 at the Czech Masters last week shook off some rust (his first start since late June) and he was error-free at the par 70 in Sweden today. On his first nine, he ticked 12 and 18 while his only deviation from par coming home was eagle-3 on the par-5 3rd. Catlin found nine (of 13) fairways and hit 15 greens in the right number (ranked 4th).