After starting the final round of the Memorial with a four-shot lead, J.T. Poston’s chances of victory appeared to be fading.
Three bogeys in a five-hole stretch had him trailing for the first time since he posted a 7-under-par 65 on Friday to take a one-shot lead.
But Poston rallied with three birdies over his final five holes, including one on the 18th hole to pull into a tie with Ryan Gerard at 12 under. He then defeated Gerard on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff, sinking a 3½-foot par putt after Gerard three-putted from 54 feet.
“I’m not a quitter, so I hung in there,” said Poston, 33, who earned $4 million for the Signature event win, his fourth career PGA Tour victory. “I told myself on 14 tee, I was one back with five to go, I still felt like I had a chance. I needed to play the last five holes really well. So just to do it the way that I did, birdieing three of the last five, is a dream come true and something I’ll certainly carry with me the rest of my career.”
Poston bounced back quickly
When he arrived at the 14th tee at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, after back-to-back bogeys, Poston was 3 over for the day as everyone else was charging. But he birdied 14 and 15 to pull into a five-way tie at 11 under.
Gerard took the lead after sinking a 37-foot birdie putt on the par-4 17th. But Poston delivered a dramatic putt of his own on the hole after hitting his tee shot into deep rough and laying up to 93 yards, short of the creek fronting the green, on his second shot. From there he hit a wedge to 11 feet and rolled the par-saving putt into the heart of the hole.
“After Ryan made his putt, that made that putt honestly a little easier,” Poston said. “I knew exactly what I needed to do.”
Poston continued his clutch play on the 482-yard, par-4 finishing hole, hitting an 8-iron from 164 yards to 7 feet, 5 inches and sinking the birdie putt to tie Gerard. To his credit, Gerard, who ran his first putt from 39 feet five feet past the hole, sank the par putt to remain tied with Poston and send the twosome back to the 18th tee for the playoff.
Wyndham Clark closed with a 67 to finish third at 11 under. Tommy Fleetwood (68) and Sam Burns (68) tied for fourth at 10 under. All three golfers had a share of the lead before Gerard and Poston pulled ahead.
Long, successful day for Poston
Poston was even par through five holes of his third round on Saturday when play was halted by thunderstorms. He played his final 13 holes of the round Sunday morning in 3 under for a 69 and a four-shot lead over Gerard. Along with the two-hole playoff, that was 33 holes of golf on a difficult course designed by tournament host Jack Nicklaus.
The victory meant that Poston did not have to play in a 36-hole qualifier on Monday for next week’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. He moved from 94th to No. 39 in the Official World Golf Ranking, which qualified him for the U.S. Open field. He also captured the one British Open spot available at the Memorial, and he gets in the Masters next year.
“I told myself in the playoff that this is my U.S. Open qualifier,” Poston said. “I want to play in the majors. I want to play in the big events. This is a huge boost of confidence for me and my game and knowing that I can compete in those and play in those. I’m just thrilled to get it done.”
Scheffler misses out on three-peat
Scottie Scheffler, trying to join Tiger Woods with a third straight victory at the Memorial, was never in the mix for much of the week. He closed with a 71 and tied for 12th, but felt he did enough right over the weekend that his game was headed in the right direction for the U.S. Open, where a victory would give him the career Grand Slam.
This week, Ryan Fox defends his title at the RBC Canadian Open at TPC Toronto, where last year he defeated Burns with a birdie on the fourth playoff hole. Canadian Nick Taylor, who won the tournament in 2023 in a playoff with Fleetwood when he made a 72½-foot eagle putt on the fourth playoff hole, also is back.
