Signature Scroll: J.T. Poston's remarkable victory at the Memorial; Scottie Scheffler's focus shifts to Shinnecock

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Never a doubt that J.T. Poston would win. Well, there was some doubt. Let's get into it ...

Poston's remarkable victory

DUBLIN, Ohio —Standing just behind the 18th green, Jack Nicklaus turned to one of his associates and shook his head. The greatest golfer to ever live was in disbelief.

“Imagine birdieing that hole?” he said.

It takes a lot to surprise the 18-time major winner, who for 50 years has hosted one of the PGA TOUR’s most prestigious tournaments. J.T. Poston shocked him, creating one of the event’s most iconic moments in the process.

Trailing by one stroke entering Muirfield Village’s vaunted 18th hole, Poston found the fairway and took dead aim. Birdie was the only option. Hoisting an 8-iron in the air, the ball flew the greenside bunker, spun just short of the hole and settled 7 feet from the hole. When Ryan Gerard's long-range birdie putt missed, Poston’s opportunity was there.

“I’m not a quitter,” Poston said afterward.

To win this tournament, Poston first had to avoid losing it. His four-shot lead was gone midway through the back nine. As much as they tell you those leads aren’t safe at this place, they usually are. Nobody since 2000 has blown a lead of four shots or more at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, and Poston was on his way to creating the wrong type of history.

Nobody would have blamed him. He was without a top-20 finish this season. One of the steadiest golfers on the PGA TOUR had lost his consistency, and there was little recent form to say that was changing. Gerard poured in an improbable 40-footer on the 17th, the type that leads winning highlight reels. It just wasn’t Poston’s day, it seemed. That would have been the story.

But now, after a round of blunders, Poston still had a chance to make it all up.

Poston poured in the putt, let out a guttural roar, pushed Gerard to a playoff, won it on the second hole, and let out another scream. It’s his fourth TOUR win, but by far his biggest and most unexpected up to the last moment.

“I told myself on 14 tee — I was one back with five to go, still felt like I had a chance,” Poston said. “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.”

Poston, in my eyes, is a steady but unflashy force. So to see him win in such electric fashion, when he had lost every bit of his “high floor” this season, was quite profound. You don’t expect the golfer who blew it to redeem himself within 18 holes. Though technically, it took 20 to do it.

The downstream effects of this win are monumental. Poston earned his place in the final two majors of the year. His card was in jeopardy, outside the top 100 of the FedExCup in the final year of his winner’s exemption. He’s now within range of the top 30 and a TOUR Championship berth.

And he’s a winner at Jack’s place.

Imagine that.

Playing through

• 🎥 Catch up with Round 4 highlights ...
• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Poston avoids "Golf's Longest Day" and secures his spot in The Open Championship. Here's how ...
• 💰 The winner takes home $4 million and 700 FedExCup points. Here's what the rest of the field earned.

Scheffler and Shinnecock

Scottie Scheffler was pushing for a bit of history this week. With a win, he could have joined Tiger Woods as the only men to win the Memorial three straight seasons. That didn’t happen.

Oh well, now he turns his sights to another Tiger Woods record.

Scheffler will turn up at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club with more pressure than he’s ever faced entering a tournament. Because for the first time, the win is more than a win. If Scheffler can claim the U.S. Open, he would be the seventh player to win the career Grand Slam. He would also be the first since Woods to win it in his first attempt.

Scheffler’s pursuit will suck up all the oxygen in two weeks, and while the world No. 1 is used to the spotlight, the weight of history is heavy. Rory McIlroy spent more than a decade trying to overcome it. Jordan Spieth is still trying to find the solution. It might also never get easier than this. Every successive attempt faces increased scrutiny as the years rack up, and the questions get louder.

Scheffler feels solid about his game, but there were a few blips this week at the Memorial that will be in the back of his mind. He battled to make the cut on Friday and said afterward, “I felt like I was going to shoot about 90 today … That's maybe some of the worst I've hit it in a couple years out there.”

He showed frustration while battling the brutal early week conditions. He wasn’t the only one feeling that way, but Shinnecock will likely have very similar conditions, and only one man is chasing the history that Scheffler is chasing. On the flip side, no other superstar has cared less about what any win might mean for his legacy. Make no mistake, he wants to rip the souls out of every competitor, but it’s not because he wants to join an exclusive list of all-time greats. Yet perspectives change when history is within reach, and there’s no telling how Scheffler will react now that he’s tantalizingly close.

I’m excited to find out.

Parting shots

• 🎯 Rory McIlroy was candid after his T12 finish: He's not where he wants to be with his driver. He spoke longer and more eloquently here, but the TLDR is this: He needs to improve on his accuracy over the next week, or he will be in trouble at the U.S. Open.
• 🔊 Ryan Gerard should gain fans today. That putt on the 17th hole was incredible, and this moment after his tee shot on the 18th was fantastic, too. A fan called for Gerard's ball to get in the bunker, and Gerard had a perfect response. His time is coming.
• 💪 Wyndham Clark gained almost nine strokes on approach, the best in the field. That's insane. Just in time for another U.S. Open win?
• 😮 Ryo Hisatsune is the owner of one of the wildest sequences you'll see in pro golf. In a series of five holes, he made a double bogey (11th hole), quintuple bogey (12th), bogey (13th), par (14th) and eagle (15th). Disappointed to say he didn't ace the par-3 16th. Settled for only a par. Bummer.
• ⚠️ I have no data to support this, but there were an abnormal number of vicious lip-outs on Sunday. Off the top of my head, Shane Lowry, McIlroy and Poston all had ones that would've had me screaming if they were my own.
• 🇨🇦 A look ahead to next week.... Both Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa are in the field at the RBC Canadian Open. Hovland pulled out of the Memorial with some back issues, while Morikawa continues to load-manage his own. Neither has played since the PGA Championship. I'll be watching their form (and health) closely.
• 🤤 Milkshake count: 🥤🥤🥤🥤... I'm a flawed being, but at least I'm a happy one. Strawberry Oreo to close out a great week. Time for a nap.