(Melissa Mercier photo) Bryson Mercier of Powers poses with the two trophies he was awarded on Thursday in winning the 2021 Wisconsin Junior PGA Championship at Brown Deer Golf Club in Milwaukee.

POWERS — For a young man who is already considered one of the top junior golfers in the U.P., Bryson Mercier of Powers added a significant title to his resume on Thursday. The soon to be senior at North Central High School captured his first Wisconsin PGA Junior Championship at Brown Deer Park Golf Club in Milwaukee.

With a one-stroke win over South Dakota State recruit and friendly rival, Ty Kretz of Marinette, Wis., Mercier now has exemptions into a few more prestigious junior golf tournaments in the upcoming weeks and months.

He’s qualified for the National PGA Junior Championship on July 11-15 in Lexington, Kentucky, along with exemptions into a Notah Begay Invitational on July 28 and 29 in West Lafayette, Indiana as well as the Wisconsin Open on Aug. 16-18 at Blackwolf Run & Pine Hills Country Club in Sheboygan.

Mercier used a series of clutch par putts at Nos. 11, 13 and 17 around back-to-back birdies at Nos. 15 and 16 to break free from Kretz, who burned the edge of the cup on birdie putts at Nos. 10, 13, 14, 17 and 18 — the latter sealing his fate as the runner-up to Mercier by a single stroke.

Mercier, the son of Adam and Melissa Mercier, started the second round 1 shot back of first place, and played last 13 holes in 4 under par for the comeback win.

There was drama down the stretch on Thursday that included a two-hour weather delay before the leaders even started.

“I had played the course before, once the year prior, but the rain yesterday (Thursday) made it swampy, and definitely changed the conditions,” Mercier stated in a phone interview Friday night.

Mercier shot 2-under-par 69 during the final round to finish with a 1-under 142 total over the 36-hole event. Kretz closed with an even-par 71 for a 143 total.

Ultimately, they combined to play the final seven holes in 3-under to pull away from Mason Schmidtke of Sheboygan, Wis. (74-146) and Braeden Resnick of Rice Lake, Wis. (73-146).

“I aged a lot during this round, that’s for sure,” Mercier said in an interview with Wisconsin.Golf. “I made a lot of big par putts. I would’ve loved to not have those par putts, but at least I made them.

“Nos. 15 and 16, that was a big stretch. I hit a couple of good wedge shots to 3 feet and made a couple of birdies. Ty (Kretz) was charging back; he made a birdie on 16. So it was big for me to make a couple of birdies and get that one-stroke lead.”

According to Wisconsin.Golf, both competitors had birdie putts from the same angle just left of the hole. Mercier blew his 25-footer some 7 feet past the cup, prompting Kretz to exercise some caution on his 15-footer and leave yet another putt on the lip of the cup. Mercier then stepped up and knocked his 7-footer for par in the heart of the cup like it was some sort of tap-in.

And so it went right down to the final hole.

Riding the wave of his huge par putt on No. 17, Mercier dropped his driver in disgust on the 18th tee after it looked as if he’d sent his tee shot toward the parking lot. It turned out he had cleared the trees and Mercier managed to hit his second shot on the par-5 finishing hole in the green-side bunker, hit a chunk-and-run to 3 feet and two-putt for par.

Kretz recovered from a bad break on his second shot when he closed the club face on a 6-iron from 195 yards and wound up having to punch onto the green from the left trees with his third shot. He nearly holed his 25-footer for birdie — the ball didn’t find the bottom of the cup, but it could see it from where it came to rest — and Mercier made sure Kretz knew that his close calls with birdies didn’t go unnoticed before Mercier closed out his comeback victory.

“I hit the ball really well. My driver was a little shaky. I missed a couple fairways, but I hit like eight greens on the front and I’m not sure how many on the back. I played well,” Kretz said in an interview with Wisconsin.Golf. “I just didn’t make the putts that I thought I could make. That’s how it goes sometimes.”

Mercier is a member of Wild Pines Golf Course in Hermansville, and works at Sage Run Golf Course during the season. He is also the president of the National Honor Society at North Central.

Rob Hernandez of Wisconsin.Golf contributed to this story.