General: 2006 Big Ten Player of the Year ... Progressed rapidly as a college player ... Two-time All-Big Ten selection ... Extremely long off the tee and an excellent ball-striker ... Can hit shots, particularly in the wind, that a lot of college players can't ... Becoming more consistent and shoring up the short game are keys to him becoming one of the nation's top players ... Began spring 2007 with a national ranking of No. 100 (Golfweek/Sagarin index).
2006-07: Second-team All-Big Ten selection ... Led team with the lowest score at three different events this season (Fighting Illini Invitational, Windon Memorial Classic, Kepler Intercollegiate) ... Ended the season with a team-best 74.74 stroke average ... Concludes his career with a stroke average of 74.27 -- the sixth-best career stroke average in Northwestern history ... Shot seven rounds of par or better, including two rounds in the 60's ... Tallied three top-10 and four top-20 finishes ... Qualified for U.S. Open Sectionals thanks to a 2-under 70 in local qualifying ... Ranked in the top 100 of the Golfweek/Sagarin Index at times throughout the season ... Finished 17th in this season's Big Ten Championships ... Best finish of the year was a fourth-place finish at the Kepler Intercollegiate.
2005-06: Big Ten Player of the Year ... First-team All-Big Ten ... Honored as a member of the Ping All-Midwest Region team ... Academic All-Big Ten ... Shot a round of par or better in 11 of the 13 events he participated in ... Career-low round of 67 came during the second round of the Fossum Invitational ... Finished second on the 'Cats with a 73.13 scoring average, representing over a stroke in improvement from 2004-05 ... Won the Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge individual title -- the first individual title of his career -- with a 54-hole score of 7-under 209, shooting a final-round 68 to outlast the reigning NCAA Champion James Lepp ... Led the Wildcats with five rounds in the 60's and matched teammate Chris Wilson with 19 rounds of par or better ... Consistently a factor in almost every event, finished in the top 25 of 10 events, including 7 top-20 and 4 top-10 finishes, both highs on the 'Cats ... Honored as Big Ten Golfer of the Week for his seventh-place finish at the Puerto Rico Classic ... Spent good portion of the season ranked by Golfweek.
2004-05: Led team with four top-10 finishes ... His 74.36 season-stroke average was team's second lowest ... His top-two finishes of the fall -- third place at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational and ninth place at the Windon Memorial Classic -- coincided with NU's top-two team finishes: fourth at the MacKenzie and first at the Windon ... Shot a 3-under 210 at the Alister MacKenzie ... Delivered his career-low score (67) in the second round of that tourney and again in the last round of the Bruce Fossum/TaylorMade Invitational ... Placed fifth at that tourney, carding a 2-under 214 ... Followed up with team's second-best showing at the Big Ten Championships ... Shot second and third round 70's, carding a 1-under 215 en route to a 10th-place finish.
2003-04: Earned a spot in the starting lineup for the final five events of the year ... Placed 16th at the Furman Intercollegiate Invitational, his best finish of the season ... Consistent performer who shot between 73 and 79 for all 18 rounds ... Finished 28th at the Kepler Intercollegiate ... Played individually in the Windon Memorial Classic, finishing 57th.
High School: All-state as a junior and senior ... AJGA Polo honorable mention All-American in 2002 ... Earned first-team all-conference honors all four years of high school, including Conference Player of the Year honors in his sophomore and senior seasons ... Helped team to state championship his sophomore season ... Team finished in the top five at state every year he played ... Qualified for two U.S. Junior Amateur Championships ... Recorded back-to-back AJGA wins in the MARSH Kansas City Junior and the SLI Junior Classic at New Seabury ... National Honor Society member.
Personal: Born David Bartos Merkow on 5/5/85 ... Son of Steve and Ann Merkow ... Chose Northwestern over Michigan, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Oregon and Wisconsin ... Economics major.
Merkow's Career StatisticsYear Rounds Strokes Average Low2003-04 18 1364 75.78 732004-05 28 2082 74.36 672005-06 40 2925 73.13 672006-07 35 2616 74.74 69Career 121 8987 74.27 67