What a playoff thriller! JT Poston claimed victory at the Memorial Tournament, securing his fourth PGA Tour title on the second extra hole against Ryan Gerard. Poston had squandered a four-shot lead at the start of the final round and had to sink a birdie putt on the final hole of regulation to even force the playoff.
On the second extra hole, the 18th, he then sealed the deal with a nerve-wracking, three-and-a-half-foot par putt, securing the crown and with it, the legendary handshake from host Jack Nicklaus at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio. “A lot of holes. A lot of fight,” Poston admitted after the round. “I didn’t play my best golf for the first 13 holes (of the final round), but I kept telling myself that I was going to shake Jack’s hand on the 18th green, and I wanted to be proud of that handshake. I’m thrilled it turned out that way.”
Poston's Comeback and the Long Road to Victory
For the 33-year-old Poston, this marks his first PGA Tour victory since the 2024 Shriners Children's Open in Las Vegas. Poston, who played a grueling 33 holes on Sunday, had not recorded a top-20 finish this season (2026). “A lot of hard work. A lot of people believing in me when maybe I didn’t believe in myself,” Poston explained his recipe for success. “Hard to believe. I haven’t been playing my best golf, but I felt like it was trending in the right direction.”
Gerard had taken the lead on the 17th hole with a nearly 37-foot birdie putt and carded a very strong round of 68 (-4). Poston countered with a seven-foot birdie on the 18th, posting a 72, tying Gerard at a total of 12-under 276 shots after 72 holes.
In the playoff, also held on the 18th hole, both players made par on their first attempt. On the second attempt, neither landed on the fairway. Poston's birdie putt was 29 feet, while Gerard was nearly 54 feet from the hole. Gerard lagged his putt to just under six feet, and Poston pulled his putt three and a half feet past the hole. Gerard's par putt then rolled past the right edge of the hole. All that remained for Poston was to sink his tense comeback putt for the win. “It was a fun finish. I made it interesting,” Poston laughed to Nicklaus.
Five Players at the Top: A Wild Finish
American Wyndham Clark secured third place with 277 strokes after a round of 67. Sam Burns (USA) and England's Tommy Fleetwood shared fourth place with 278 strokes each.
Burns, Gerard, and Poston temporarily shared the lead at 10-under after Poston bogeyed the par-3 12th hole. Clark and Fleetwood were one shot behind at that point. Fleetwood had placed his 240-yard shot with a 9-wood on the par-5 15th hole just five feet from the pin, and
