Until he showed up for his tee time this morning we weren't sure if Troy Merritt would play in todays opening round of the PGA Championship in St.Louis.

Last week the former Boise State golfer and now Meridi9an resident had arm surgery to remove a blot clot that had been swelling. Merritt said he wasn't in pain after the surgery but had little arm movement.

Merritt qualified for the deepest field on the year on the PGA circuit by winning the Barbasol Tournament in July. He didn't practice this week except to putt but when he teed off this morning Merritt looked solid.

So solid he was 2 under par through 12 holes and just 3 shots behind Rickie Fowler who posted a 5 under par 65.

Maybe that's when the arm and surgery became an issue because Merritt played the last 6 holes in three over and finished the first round with a +1 71 and is 6 shots behind Fowler.

Merritt was lucky it wasn't worse than that because he struggled on the 18th to get bogey. Merritt will play in the afternoon tomorrow giving him some extra time to rest the arm.

More From Power 105.5