Sixth-round notebook: Q-school

• The fifth round resumed at 7:45 a.m. Sixth-round play began at 8:30 a.m. The top 25 players (and ties) in the standings earned their PGA TOUR card for 2010. There were exactly 25 players who finished at 9-under 423 or better.

• The next nearest number to 50 earned fully exempt status for the first 12 events on the 2010 Nationwide Tour -- the cut line for that group was 2-under par (52 players total). The remaining players in the field will have conditional status for the initial 12 events. After the first 12 tournaments next year, all of the players from Q-school category will be subject to a reshuffle.

• Troy Merritt of Boise State nearly went wire-to-wire in taking medalist honors this week. Merritt, 25, held the outright lead after the first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth rounds and shared the lead with J.P. Hayes after the third round. Scott Verplank (1997) is the only player since 1992 to lead q-school wire-to-wire. Two years ago, Frank Lickliter shared the lead after the first round then went on to hold the outright lead after each round from that point on.

Merritt had a 22-under 410 total, one shot better than veteran Jeff Maggert. Merritt held the lead throughout the final round and was ahead by three strokes as he played the final hole. Despite a double bogey on the 108th hole, Merritt held on to win and earn the $50,000 top prize.

Merritt finished his rookie season on the 2009 Nationwide Tour at No. 39 on the money list. He earned his first career win at the Mexico Open in mid-September. Merritt made the cut in 12 of 17 starts and earned $153,821.

• Jeff Maggert, making his first appearance at q-school, hovered near the lead during the final three rounds and posted a 4-under 68 Monday to wind up solo second. Maggert posted a 5-under 67 and wound up at 20 under and thus regained his TOUR card after finishing No. 128 on the money list last year.

• Billy Horschel celebrated his 23rd birthday by earning his PGA TOUR card. Horschel carded a final-round 69 and wound up solo seventh. He will be a rookie on TOUR in 2010.

• David Lutterus posted an 8-under 64 on Monday to earn his PGA TOUR card. Lutterus began the day T28 and vaulted to a T8 spot.

• Brendon de Jonge birdied four of his final five holes, including the last three to finish with a 6-under 66 and tie for fourth place at 17 under.

• Brian Stuard shot an even-par 72 to wind up at 10 under and T19. Stuard had six birdies, six pars and six bogeys Monday. The 27-year-old needed birdies on his final two holes to earn his first PGA TOUR card. Stuard was in position to earn his card a year ago but a final-day 74 dropped him in the standings, and he missed his card by three strokes. This past year on the Nationwide Tour, Stuard was No. 23 on the money list entering the final event, the $1 million Nationwide Tour Championship at Daniel Island, S.C. Stuard wound up T14 but still was bumped to No. 26 on the money list -- the top-25 money winners earned their PGA TOUR card.

• Troy Merritt becomes the sixth consecutive player to maintain his place at the top of the leaderboard entering the final round. In the past eight years, only one player who held the lead after five rounds failed to take medalist honors.

• 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)