The Memorial Tournament Round 2: J.T. Poston's 65 Beats the Wind for a One-Shot Lead

On a Friday when Justin Thomas called Muirfield Village the hardest round he could remember, J.T. Poston went out and shot the best score of the day by four strokes.

Poston's 7-under 65 in a gusting wind moved him to 9-under 135 and gave him a one-shot lead over Ryan Gerard at the halfway point of the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday. Sam Burns is alone in third at 6 under after a second straight 69. Tommy Fleetwood, one of Thursday's four co-leaders, hung on with a 73 and sits fourth at 4 under. Eric Cole is next at 3 under, with Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Wyndham Clark at 2 under.

The Round Nobody Else Could Find

Context makes Poston's number look even bigger. The field averaged roughly 74 on Friday, so the 65 was about nine shots better than a typical card. Nobody else in the field broke 69. It was also the second-best round by anyone on TOUR this season in strokes gained, according to the PGA TOUR.

Poston made eight birdies, and the putter did the heavy lifting. Only two of those eight birdie putts came from inside 10 feet. He needed just 24 putts, holed a combined 134 feet of them and gained four shots on the field on the greens alone. The signature swing of the day came late, when a 199-yard approach into the 17th set up a birdie that pushed him past Gerard.

There was a gear change behind it, too. Poston switched golf balls the week before, moving to Titleist's Pro V1 Left Dash for better flight in the wind.

"It's supposed to help me a little bit in the wind," Poston said. Asked whether the ball or the putter deserved the credit, the answer was simple: "Both. The ball got me there, the putter helped me get it in the hole."

A Season Searching for a Spark

What makes this lead interesting is where Poston came from. The 33-year-old, a three-time TOUR winner whose last title came at the 2024 Shriners Children's Open, arrived in Ohio without a top-20 finish all season.

"When the results aren't there, it's easy to start questioning stuff, having doubts, doubting your game, your golf swing," Poston said. "But I've also played this game long enough, been out here long enough to know that these stretches come."

Thirty-six holes do not erase a slump, but a 65 on a day like this is a loud way to announce the game is still in there.

Gerard Refuses to Blink

Gerard, the 26-year-old who tied for 10th at Colonial the week before, led for much of Friday morning before Poston caught and passed him. His 69 was a grind of its own. He grabbed three birdies before the wind got nasty, which he said started blowing around the seventh fairway, then found hazards off the tee on both back-nine par 5s. Both times he recovered to hit the green in regulation from more than 240 yards out, which is the kind of salvage job that keeps a 36-hole lead alive.

"So it's a test of patience," Gerard said of the place.

Burns, meanwhile, has been the steadiest player in the field. Back-to-back 69s have him three back and very much in the mix.

Brutal Is the Word

The rest of the field mostly hung on for dear life. Fleetwood, asked how the course played, answered with a question before landing on the right word. "It was pretty brutal, actually," he said.

Thomas, who made the cut right on the number at 5 over after holing a 6-foot par putt on the last, was even more blunt. "That was the hardest round of golf that I can remember, major, non-major, it was just insane," he said, per the AP.

The cut fell at 5 over, with the top 50 and ties advancing. Ludvig Aberg also squeezed in on the number. Jordan Spieth was not so lucky, shooting 79 to miss at 6 over. Ben Griffin, last year's runner-up here, missed at 7 over, and Min Woo Lee, Akshay Bhatia and Rickie Fowler also went home early.

Scheffler and McIlroy Survive

Scottie Scheffler's bid for a third straight Memorial title is hanging by a thread. He shot even-par 72, but it took a late rally to get there. After three straight bogeys from No. 8 through No. 10, Scheffler birdied 13, 15 and 16 to climb to 1 over, tied for 19th and 10 shots back. Earlier he had even saved par after a shank out of a bunker on the fifth. The rally kept him safely inside the cut line and pushed his active streak of made cuts to 76, the longest on TOUR.

"That's maybe some of the worst I've hit it in a couple years," Scheffler said.

Rory McIlroy is right there with him at 1 over. He shot 74 in the tougher afternoon conditions, with a double bogey and two bogeys over his final six holes. The ugliest moment came at the 13th, where he needed five shots from 112 yards.

Weekend Outlook

Poston leads by one, Gerard is his shadow, Burns is lurking and four players sit within six. The scoring average says this course is not done fighting back, and Poston will tee off Saturday knowing a 65 here is the exception, not the rule.

Catch up on how Thursday unfolded in our Round 1 recap. The PGA TOUR's Round 2 recap (opens in a new tab) has more details.

Sources: PGA TOUR (Round 2 recap, Signature Scroll), AP, CBS Sports, Sky Sports. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.