Fifth-round notebook: Q-school

Darkness suspended fifth-round play at 5:11 p.m. A total of 52 players in the field completed play.

• The fifth round will resume at 7:45 a.m. on Monday. Sixth-round starting times will take place from approximately 8:20 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. After the fifth round, players will switch courses, stay in the same groups, start on the same tee and the groups will be in the same order as in the fifth round. The leaders are finishing up play on the Links Course and will play the Lakes Course for the final round.

• The top-25 players (and ties) will get their 2010 PGA TOUR cards this week. The current cut line for that group is 9-under par (26 players).

• Boise State University's football program has been in the national spotlight for several years but perhaps it's time to give credit to the men's golf team. Tournament leader Troy Merritt and Graham DeLaet (currently second) both played for the Broncos. Merritt won nine times during his final two years at BSU, including seven during his senior season. Merritt was named the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 2007 and 2008. DeLaet finished up his college career in 2006. He won 10 times and was WAC Player of the Year in 2006.

• Withdrawals this week: John Riegger after the second round; Carlos Franco, Adam Bland and Kyle Thompson after the third round; Brian Smock during third round; Robert Damron during the fourth round; Vance Veazey, Robert Garrigus, Todd Hamilton and Ewan Porter all after the fourth round; Bubba Dickerson, Jesper Parnevik and Fabian Gomez during the fifth round; Aron Price, David Mathis and Alistair Presnell after the fifth round.

• Troy Merritt is trying to become only the third player since 1992 to hold/share the lead after each of the six rounds at Q-school. Merritt held the lead after the first, second and fourth rounds and shared the lead after three rounds with J.P Hayes. The only others to go through six days at the top were Frank Lickliter (2007) and Scott Verplank (1997). Verplank has the distinction of being the only player to hold the outright lead after each round (ie. wire-to-wire).

• Jeff Maggert, making his first appearance at Q-school, is in good position to regain his TOUR card after finishing No. 128 on the money list last year. The Texan is currently 14-under par and T3, four strokes back of leader Troy Merritt.

• Brenden Pappas looks to be a good bet to return to the PGA TOUR. The South African-born, Texas resident is T3, four back of leader Troy Merritt. Pappas played on the Nationwide Tour in 2009, with 14 cuts in 27 starts. He had three top-25 finishes and wound up No. 95 on the money list.

• Troy Merritt holds a two-stroke lead heading into the conclusion of the fifth round. If Merritt holds on to the lead heading into the sixth and final round he will try to become the sixth consecutive player to maintain his place at the top . In the past eight years, only one player who held the lead after five rounds failed to take medalist honors:

• David Duval (72) stands at 4-over 364 after 90 holes. He is making his first Final Stage appearance since 1993, Duval is currently T105.

• Final Stage saw 170 players tee it up after over 1300 applications were taken for the TOUR Qualifying Tournament, which included five pre-qualifying sites, 13 first-stage sites and six second-stage sites. Here's a breakdown of the numbers:

436 players participated at five pre-qualifying sites (224 successful)
908 players participated at 13 first-stage sites (305 successful)
469 players participated at six second-stage sites (132 successful)
170 players playing in Final Stage (including 34 exempt players and four Nationwide Tour Top 25)

By the numbers ... The top 25 players and ties at the conclusion of the tournament will receive 2010 PGA TOUR cards, while the next number of players nearest 50 will receive full status on the Nationwide Tour. All remaining players will have conditional status on the Nationwide Tour in 2010.