For golfers in the Memorial Tournament, it already has been a difficult test in Dublin, Ohio.
It’s bound to become more challenging on the tournament’s final day.
J.T. Poston and Ryan Gerard share the lead after a weather-hampered partial third round Saturday.
They’re both at 9-under-par through five holes of the third round, which was suspended. That sets up a long day of play Sunday at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
“It’s a grind,” Gerard said at the tournament’s midway mark regarding the course. “Mentally and physically this place is a monster not only because it’s a big walk and I’m dealing with 9 million allergies or whatever they’re putting out there, the rough is thick, and I feel like every time you hit a golf ball that’s 50/50 it wants to kind of bounce into the rough and just, like, plop down into the nastiest stuff.”
Poston was the second-round leader and played Saturday’s five holes at even-par. Gerard made up one stroke.
Sam Burns at 8 under and Eric Cole at 6 under hold the third and fourth spots.
Play is scheduled to resume at 7:30 a.m. Sunday. The fourth round will begin in late morning with players going off in threesomes from the first and 10th tees.
“I think this golf course is just demanding,” Burns said.
Poston has only two top-25 finishes this year — tied for 21st in the Valero Texas Open and tied for 24th in the Truist Championship.
“I feel like I’ve had a lot of weeks where I’ve just had a tough nine-hole stretch and that was kind of what kept me from having a good result,” Poston said following play Friday.
The most-recent of Poston’s three victories on the PGA Tour came in the 2024 Shriners Children’s Open.
“I’ve also played this game long enough, been out here long enough to know that these stretches come,” Poston said. “It’s not the first time I’ve had these ruts. It’s maybe the longest one that I’ve experienced so far, but have always come out the other side of it.”
World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler, who’s at 1 under for the tournament, made a move on the front side Saturday with a three-hole stretch played at 4 under, capped by an eagle on the par-5 seventh hole. But he posted bogeys on Nos. 12 and 14, the latter of which was his final hole before the suspension.
There was a weather-related delay because of thunderstorms for more than one hour beginning late Saturday morning. That pause pushed some tee times back 1 hour, 40 minutes. Another suspension of play came at 4:34 p.m. and then it was determined the rest of the tournament would be pushed to Sunday.
This marks the second time in about a two-month period that a PGA Tour event endured major third-round weather issues, forcing a busy final day. In that earlier situation, J.J. Spaun prevailed in the Valero Texas Open in early April.
–Field Level Media
