'That's Phenomenal' - JT Poston Earns Praise From Rivals After Defying Brutal Second-Round Conditions To Lead Memorial Tournament

To say the second round of the Memorial Tournament was challenging for players would be an understatement, as players battled with strong gusts of wind while navigating the notoriously difficult Muirfield Village.

The day after World No.1 Scottie Scheffler vented his anger at caddie Ted Scott when the wind led to him hitting a shot into the water, there was no let-up on Friday with further strong gusts playing havoc for the 72 players in the field.

However, one player, JT Poston, defied the conditions with a remarkable seven-under round of 65 to lead by one at the halfway stage.

Poston’s achievement was so extraordinary that his round, which included eight birdies, was nine better than the field average.

That was enough to see him lead by one over Ryan Gerard at nine under, 26 shots better off than Rickie Fowler, who was stranded at the foot of the leaderboard as he missed the cut.

Poston’s command of the conditions didn’t go unnoticed by some of his peers, who remarked on his round afterwards.

One was Justin Thomas. The 16-time PGA Tour winner made the cut by one following a 75 in the second round.

Afterwards, he explained to reporters just how tricky it had been, saying: "I can't put into words how hard that was. That was the hardest round of golf that I can remember, Major, non-Major, it was just insane.

"The wind wasn't really the direction it was supposed to be or kind of forecasted to be for kind of like half the day and that usually isn't something that happens when it's at 25, 20, 25 miles an hour.

"It was just hard. You don't have a bail out on half your shots out here so you have a lot of shots over water and you're like, well, I hope it's helping or I hope it's not hurting. But everybody's dealing with the same thing, but, man, it was brutal."

Later, on X, he focused on Poston's performance, writing: “I don’t think I can put into words how good @JT_ThePostman round was today… I’m out there trying to figure out where and how I can make ONE birdie, let alone shooting -7! Today was probably the most difficult round I’ve played on tour. On to the weekend!"

Another to praise Poston on X was Michael Kim, whose even par round of 72 saw him make the cut by two. He wrote: "Course was laughably hard this afternoon Proud of the grind today. Not sure when JT Poston teed off but wowza that is a hell of a round."

Tommy Fleetwood led after the opening round, but a one-over 73 saw him slip back to fourth, five back of Poston. Following Friday's play, he told the media: "It was pretty brutal, actually. It was tough. I felt like I played really well today and I hit maybe a couple of poor wedge shots.

"But for the most part, I think somehow accepting that at times it felt impossible to - there was there were good scores out there, wasn't there? So I can't believe somebody - did JT shoot 7-under?"

He added: "I think JT - I'm looking forward to watching his round back, actually I need to find that on TV and watch how he played today. But that's like, you know, that's phenomenal."

So, how did Poston get to grips with the wind? He said it came down to a change of ball.

He explained: "It's tough. We actually switched to a different golf ball. I went to the Left Dash that Titleist makes last week. It's supposed to help me a little bit in the wind.

"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 didn't quite hit 'em perfect and it hung in there pretty well. So I feel like just having that confidence in that too is big, where I just - we're trying to hit the smart shot and hit the right shot and just trying to execute and go from there."

He will be hoping it continues to perform for him, particularly with breezy conditions expected to continue in the third round, as he aims for his fourth PGA Tour title.