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The headline at the Reno-Tahoe Open on Sunday was that Steve Flesch's third career victory earned him a spot in the PGA Championship. A bigger story, however, might have been that John Merrick finished tied for fourth, marking his first-ever top-10 on the PGA TOUR.

His putter has given John Merrick fits on occasion this year (WireImage)

Merrick, 25, first earned headlines as an amateur in his hometown of Long Beach, Calif., where, at age 19, he won the 2001 Long Beach City Amateur and the Southern California Golf Association Amateur in back-to-back weeks -- and became the youngest player since Tiger Woods in 1994 to capture the SCGAA, the nation's second-oldest continuously contested amateur championship.

Merrick also starred at UCLA, earning All-Pac-10 honors after winning the 2003 Pac-10 Championship. After winning the 2006 Peek'n Peak Classic, he wound up 21st on the Nationwide Tour money list to earn his spot on the 2007 PGA TOUR.

The Californian enjoyed a good spring, making eight out of 10 cuts in one stretch, then missed four cuts in a row before making his last two. He chalked up top-20 finishes in the EDS Byron Nelson Championship and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, but his tie for fourth in Reno is his best career finish on the PGA TOUR.

His rounds in Reno were a bit inconsistent, as he posted scores of 65-73-68-74. Still, he was tied for second heading into the final round, and in position for an even better finish until an untimely double bogey midway through his back nine on Sunday.

Merrick is succeeding from tee to green, but struggling a bit once he reaches the putting surface. He ranks 22nd on the TOUR in Driving Distance, averaging more than 299 yards per drive, and is a very impressive ninth in Greens in Regulation, hitting 68.15 percent of his greens. That last stat is even more impressive considering that he's a bit wild off the tee, ranking 110th in Driving Accuracy and hitting only 60.96 percent of his fairways off the tee.

On the greens, however, Merrick ranks 165th in Putting Average, needing an average of 1.822 putts per green. That stat is a little misleading: Because he hits so many greens in regulation, he is chipping from close-in far less than many of his competitors. Still, this is an easily identifiable area for improvement.

Merrick also tends to perform much better on his front tines than on his back nines. He ranks 30th in Front 9 Scoring Average with an average score of 35.31, but ranks 135th in Back 9 Scoring Average with a 35.98 average score.

Thanks to a big haul at the Reno-Tahoe Open, Merrick has banked $494,241 on the season, and earned 2,097 FedExCup points. That puts him 126th on the points list and in position to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs.