DUBLIN, Ohio — JT Poston built a four-shot lead Sunday morning at the rain-delayed Memorial to win the biggest tournament of his career. It turned out to be much more work than he had imagined.
Poston, who lost the lead after 12 holes, made a 7-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for an even-par 72 and set up a playoff with Ryan Gerrard, but Gerrard missed a 6-foot par putt on the second hole of overtime and won.
Gerrard briefly took the lead with a 40-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole, closed out with a 68 and made few mistakes in the remaining four hours until his final putt.
That ended the longest day for both players — 33 holes, including 13 in the morning to finish the third round and two holes in the playoff. But what a big win for Poston in so many ways. He hasn’t finished in the top 20 in 13 tournaments so far this year. He then delivered the goods and celebrated by shaking hands with tournament organizer Jack Nicklaus.
“There’s a lot of holes, there’s a lot of sand,” Poston said. “Obviously I didn’t play my best in the first 12 or 13 holes, but I told myself I knew I was going to shake Jack’s hand as he walked out from the 18th hole. I wanted to be proud of that handshake no matter the outcome. So I’m thrilled that we were able to make it happen this way.”
The award amounted to over $4 million in prize money. Poston had a great week, qualifying for the next three majors. He was high enough in the world rankings to avoid Monday’s 36-hole qualifying round for the US Open. There is one British Open spot up for grabs this week, and a return to the Masters is possible.
Poston and Gerrard pulled away from the five-way lead with an hour left, finishing at 12-under 276.
Tommy Fleetwood drilled the fairway metal 5 feet for eagle on the par-5 15th. Windham Clark made a breakthrough in the final stages. Sam Burns was never far behind. Everyone entered the final few holes at 11 under.
Clark reached 11 under with a birdie on the 16th hole and shot a 67 with two pars. He was only one stroke away from the playoffs and took third place.
Fleetwood hit the first three shots in the rough on No. 17 and had to make bogey. He shot 68.
Burns also missed the 17th fairway, and his next shot rolled into the rough and onto a bridge over a small stream. He hit it to 40 feet and the long par putt peeked into the cup but somehow stayed outside. On the 18th, he narrowly missed a 10-foot birdie putt. He shot a 69 to tie for fourth place with Fleetwood.
Scottie Scheffler, who is looking to join Tiger Woods with three consecutive wins at the Memorial, was not included for much of this week. He finished tied for 12th with a 71, but did enough over the weekend to feel his game was heading in the right direction.
His next stop is the US Open, where a win would earn him a career Grand Slam.
Rory McIlroy is currently 0-for-14 at Memorial. He birdied the first three holes, but his momentum slowed when he got caught in the dense rough. He tied for 12th in shots with 68.
There were two storm interruptions on Saturday, leading to Sunday’s marathon. Poston did his best job in the morning, making three straight birdies on the back nine for a 69 and holding a four-stroke lead.
A long three-putt bogey on the third, but as Burns, Gerrard and Clark were closing in, Poston missed the fairway and fell back, followed by another three-putt bogey from a long distance on the ninth, a bogey from deep rough on the par-3 12th, and a weak par putt from 10 feet on the 13th that put him back for the first time.
However, he made an 18-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole, made a birdie on the par-5 15th hole with an up-and-down from the bunker, and couldn’t afford to make any more mistakes on the 17th hole, saving par with a 12-footer.
