J.T. Poston got his steps in at the Memorial Tournament – about 25,000 worth – and was happy he didn’t have to add 30,000 more the next day.
Winning the Memorial, as Poston did June 7 at Muirfield Village Golf Club, comes with plenty of perks, including a $4 million paycheck, an invite to the 2027 Masters and a handshake from tournament host and founder Jack Nicklaus.
But it also includes benefits that are harder to see. In Poston’s case, defeating fellow North Carolinian Ryan Gerard on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff meant not having to slog through 36 holes of a U.S. Open qualifier Monday at The Lakes Golf and Country Club in Westerville the day after playing 33 holes in Dublin.
Poston needed to finish first or second at the Memorial to automatically qualify for the U.S. Open, and while that goal was secondary to trying to win his fourth tour event, he was not keen on remaining in Columbus another day to walk those extra 30,000 steps. It was enough to traipse through 33 holes Sunday, which became necessary when Saturday’s third round was rained out with Poston still having 13 holes to go. He returned to the course at 7:30 a.m. Sunday to complete his third round with a 4-shot lead.
Weather suspension made Sunday an especially long day
Poston’s final round began at 12:50 p.m., and quickly took a turn for the worse. Due to the weather suspension, the 33-year-old was spared from having to sleep on the lead, but that did not stop him from sleepwalking through the front nine. He made the turn in 1 over, then lost the lead after back-to-back bogeys at 12 and 13. He appeared to be cooked as fan favorite Tommy Fleetwood raced to the lead with an eagle at 15, and Sam Burns, Wyndham Clark and Gerard played their way into the thick of it.
There was a definite feeling of “Too bad, J.T. It was fun while it lasted.”
Just don’t tell that to “The Postman,” as his golf buddies call him, who was ready to deliver.
“I’m not a quitter, so I hung in there and I just told myself – on the 14 tee I was one back with five to go – I needed to play the last five holes really well,” he said.
Poston birdied 14 and 15 to create a five-way tie for the lead with two holes remaining. Then, boom, it was the other guys who stumbled or went flat. Fleetwood and Burns bogeyed 17 and Clark parred. Only Gerard lit the match, his 36-foot, 9-inch birdie putt giving him a 1-shot lead with one to play.
Poston kept it from being a 2-shot lead by making an 11-footer to save par at 17.
“After Ryan made his putt [at 17], that honestly made my putt a little easier,” Poston said. “I knew exactly what I needed to do.”
Or as Nicklaus explained it: “No ifs and ands, he had to make it. Sometimes when you have to make a putt, and you find yourself in that position, you say, ‘Well, I don’t have any choice, I got to make it. I can’t be wishy-washy about it. I can’t sort of maybe lay it up, maybe make it, maybe not take a chance. I got to make it. So, yeah, I think by and large I think those are easier, actually.”
Birdie putt at hole 18 forced sudden-death playoff
What wasn’t easy is what Poston accomplished next. Trailing Gerard by a shot, Poston needed to birdie 18 and hope Gerard didn’t match. Voila. Poston drained a 7½ foot putt for birdie and watched as Gerard blew his 37-foot birdie attempt 5 feet past the cup. Gerard made the comebacker for par to send the match to sudden death, and both players returned to the 18th tee.
After both parred the first playoff hole, they played 18 again. This time, Gerard missed a 5-foot, 9-inch par putt and Poston made his 3½ footer for par to earn a handshake from Nicklaus.
His caddie, Aaron Flener, sounded more thrilled that he would not have to lug a golf bag over Westerville hill and dale.
“Aaron didn’t want to carry 36 holes tomorrow,” Flener said, referring to himself.
Now he doesn’t need to.
“I didn’t allow myself to marinate in those negative thoughts,” Poston said, explaining he refused to dwell on the possibility of walking 69 holes over two days. “So to do it the way I did – birdie three of the last five – is a dream come true and something I’ll certainly carry with me the rest of my career.”
Better than carrying it 36 holes and 30,000 more steps.
Sports columnist Rob Oller can be reached at roller@dispatch.com and on X.com at @rollerCD.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Memorial winner J.T. Poston steps it up to win in sudden death | Oller
Reporting by Rob Oller, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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By Rob Oller, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
