J.T. Poston masters windy conditions to lead Memorial Tournament

The postman always rings twice, but J.T. Poston rang up eight birdies in the second round to lead the 2026 Memorial Tournament after 36 holes despite gusting winds for Round 2 at Muirfield Village Golf Club.

More: Memorial Tournament 2026 leaderboard live scores, updates from Round 2

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Poston, whose nickname is “The Postman” based on his last name and ability to consistently deliver solid scores, posted a tournament low 7-under 65 to take the Memorial lead after two rounds on a day that gave most of his competition fits.

Wind gusts affected the round from start to finish, but they gained strength as the day progressed, reaching 17 mph at one point and playing havoc with many shots. Using a new Titleist Left Dash ball that has a reputation for cutting through strong winds, Poston put a lot of iron shots where he wanted them to go.

“It's supposed to help me a little bit in the wind,” he said. “So, we felt like today was going to be a good test of that, and it obviously performed really well. We had a couple shots that I felt like I didn't quite hit them perfect, and it hung in there pretty well.”

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That was particularly the case on the front nine, which Poston finished at 5-under 31 with birdies on six holes to mask a bogey on the par-4 sixth. On the back, he notched two more birdies to shoot a 2-under 34 for a 9-under round of 65 that left him alone atop the leaderboard.

Ryan Gerard is second at 8 under after logging a 3-under 69 in the second round, while Sam Burns is third at 6 under. Poston’s 65 was the second-lowest round of his PGA career.

Asked for the secret to his success, Post pointed to three areas: putting, irons and that wind-resistant ball.

“I feel like I putted really well,” Poston said. “I hit my irons too. I hit it in a lot of the right places, and we just did a good job of taking it one shot at a time. This place is tough, especially when it's blowing like this, so nice to really feel like I played well and shot a low score.”

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It’s no stretch to say that Poston was eager to test his new ball in gusting winds.

“I knew it was going to be breezy,” Poston said. “I knew it was probably going to play tougher today. I switched to a different golf ball last week that's supposed to perform a little better in the wind, so I was actually kind of eager to see how it did, and obviously today was a great day.”

Poston, who’s looking for his fourth career PGA win and first since 2024, hit the range after his round to work on drives after hitting just 13 of 28 fairways, but "The Postman" left the course smiling.

“Can we go with that … J.T. was thrilled about the wind today?” Poston was asked by a reporter.

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“Yeah, sure,” he said, smiling. “It's hard to say I wasn't when you shoot 65.”

Dispatch reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: J.T. Poston masters windy conditions to lead Memorial Tournament