How J.T. Poston went from zero top 20s this season to earning the biggest win of his career at the 2026 Memorial
DUBLIN, Ohio — For 13 holes in his final round Sunday at the Memorial Tournament, J.T. Poston played like a guy who hadn’t finished inside the top 20 all season. It was almost as if he reckoned, based on his form the first five months this year, that he shouldn’t be leading Jack Nicklaus’ signature event. And as he reached the 14th tee, he was, indeed, no longer in the lead, having squandered all of his four-shot cushion after 54 holes.
But folding never entered his mind.
“I’m not a quitter, so I hung in there,” Poston said after consecutive bogeys on Nos. 12 and 13 left him three over par in the final round and trailing for the first time since Thursday. “I just told myself … I mean, I hit a great putt on 13, right where I wanted and just didn’t fall. But I told myself on 14 tee I was one back with five to go, still felt like I had a chance. I needed to play the last five holes really well. And I told myself I knew I was going to be shaking Mr. Nicklaus’ hand walking off 18 no matter what, and I want to be proud of the effort when I did. 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.”
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J.T. Poston and his daughter Scottie are greeted by Jack Nicklaus after securing the 2026 Memorial Tournament.
Dylan Buell
Poston somehow summoned something he had been searching for all year—“grit” is what he called it—as well as some rock-steady belief and rallied to forge a playoff with Ryan Gerard with birdies on three of his last five holes, including a stellar approach to seven on the tough par-4 18th. Poston then won it on the second extra hole, also at 18, with a three-foot par putt to claim his fourth PGA Tour title and the biggest check of his career, a $4 million bonanza.
That wasn’t the only prize. Poston collected the lone exemption to the 154th British Open via the Open Qualifying Series and he also avoided Monday’s 36-hole final qualifying for the U.S. Open by moving from 94th in the world to No. 39. Players in the top 60 not otherwise exempt after this week’s Canadian Open earn a spot at Shinnecock Hills for the 126th U.S. Open.
He surely earned all of that, going 33 holes on Sunday at Muirfield Village Golf Club after thunderstorms washed out most of Saturday’s third round.
“It sounds like a dream,” said Poston, 33, of Hickory, N.C. “Just incredibly proud, incredibly humbled. This is one of the events that we have circled on our calendar at the start of the year every year, and it just feels amazing to get it done, and just to be a part of the rich history here. We were talking about the past winners. It’s a good bunch, and to be able to add my name to that list is incredible.”
Poston got emotional talking about his victory with CBS’ Amanda Balionis, joined by his wife, Kelly, and daughters Scottie and Grace.
Ben Jared
It was an incredible finish to what was perhaps the biggest late-game logjam in the history of the Memorial, which this year celebrated its 50th anniversary. It seemed apropos that this one should end in a playoff after the inaugural edition also went extra holes.
With just two holes remaining, five players were tied for the lead. Even Nicklaus, the tournament founder and host was in awe of what was unfolding, the sheer drama. “That was some really, really good golf,” the Golden Bear marveled.
Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns and 2025 FedEx Cup champion Tommy Fleetwood also were part of the scrum at 11 under par. But Burns and Fleetwood bogeyed the 17th hole and Clark, who won two weeks prior at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, made two pars coming home. He finished alone in third at 277 after a 67. Fleetwood, who briefly leapfrogged into the lead with a four-foot eagle at 15, shot 68 to share fourth place at 278 with Burns, who had a 69.
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Poston’s birdie, just the fifth on the home hole in the final round, gave him a closing 72. Gerard fired a 68 to make up the four shots he spotted Poston after finishing up their third round Sunday morning. The pair had completed just five holes on Saturday, and Poston, building off an immaculate 65 in round two, added a 69 for a 12-under 204 total, while Gerard bogeyed two of his final three holes for even-par 72.
Playing in the final group for the second week in a row, Gerard, 26, looked like he might have cracked open the tournament when he holed a 38-foot left-to-right birdie putt on the arduous 17th hole for a one-shot lead. He let out a loud roar when the putt fell. “But I didn’t think I had the tournament won,” he said after settling for his third runner-up finish of the year.
Nevertheless, it was looking good. Poston still faced a downhill 11-footer for par. He drained it. “After Ryan made his putt that made that [par] putt honestly a little easier. I knew exactly what I needed to do. I had to make it.”
That kept Poston in the hunt, and when he stuck his 8-iron approach from 162 yards on 18 and sank another must-make putt, he and Gerard were headed to the 11th playoff in Memorial history—and seventh in the last 13 years.
Poston had a chance to win it on the first extra hole, but pushed his winning birdie try from eight feet. On the second, Gerard knocked his birdie attempt from 54 feet almost six feet past the hole. Then he fanned the par putt, missing on the low side. Poston ended it with his successful two-putt from 33 feet.
Vying to equal Tiger Woods’ record with a third straight win at Muirfield Village, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler closed with a 71 and settled for T-12 at four-under 284.
Poston admitted earlier in the week that he had never been in a rut of such a long duration, mostly caused by a putting stroke that had left him. He entered the Memorial ranked outside the top 100 in strokes gained/putting for the first time since his rookie season of 2016-17. But he changed putters last week at Colonial and what has long been a strength of his game returned. He ranked third in putting at Muirfield Village, gaining +6.865 on strokes gained/putting to offset the -1.683 strokes he surrendered to the field off the tee.
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J.T. Poston has always been known as a great putter, but he entered the week ranked outside the top 100 in SG/putting.
Mike Mulholland
With his putting returning as a weapon, his confidence was restored. He gave nary a thought to the potential of facing 36 holes or more of U.S. Open qualifying on Monday. “Yeah, I mean, first and foremost, the goal was to have the trophy at the end of the day, and that was kind of what I just kept focusing on,” Poston said. “I didn’t allow myself to marinate in those negative thoughts. I just told myself … I mean, it’s natural for them to pop up, but when they did, I just tried to focus on the positive of I have a great opportunity to win an incredible golf tournament, and that was the goal starting the week.”
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Winning always is the goal, even when you haven’t given yourself any chances for more months than you care to realize. Poston isn’t a poster boy for the power of positive thinking, just a very good golfer who thought to remind himself that he was positive he could still be a good one.
It’s more than belief. It’s faith. With a dash of will thrown in.
“I think it’s natural to have some doubts, and I think it’s certainly something that I’ve been working on and something that I’ve tried to work on this year,” Poston said. “It’s tested my patience more than any other year out here for me. I think this is just great validation that if I keep my head down and keep working on it and keep doing what I know is the right thing to do to play my best golf, then I can win big golf tournaments.”
