Washington (United States) (AFP) – Americans JT Poston and Ryan Gerard shared the lead when play was suspended Saturday due to course conditions after thunderstorms struck in the third round of the PGA Memorial tournament. Poston and Gerard were both on nine-under par for the tournament on the sixth green when the horn sounded to signal thunderstorms in the area. After about an hour and 40 minutes, play was halted for the day at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio.
The third round of the Jack Nicklaus-hosted event will resume at 7:30 a.m. (1130 GMT) Sunday, with the final round starting in the late morning in groups of three off the first and 10th tees. Sam Burns was third on eight-under, with fellow American Eric Cole fourth on six-under, while England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Americans Wyndham Clark and Keegan Bradley shared fifth on four-under.
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Poston, who turned 33 on Monday, seeks his fourth PGA title, his first since the 2024 Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas. Gerard won his only PGA title at last July’s Barracuda Championship. Poston sank a 14-foot birdie putt at the second hole but missed the green and made bogey at the par-three fourth. Gerard birdied the second but needed two shots to escape a greenside bunker and made a bogey at the third. He answered at the par-five fifth with a blast from the rough to inside three feet for a tap-in birdie to match Poston for the lead.
Thunderstorms delayed play for an hour and 40 minutes earlier and returned with the co-leaders on the sixth green, Poston looking at a par putt from just inside six feet and Gerard facing a 14-foot par putt when they were taken off the course. Reigning US Open champion JJ Spaun, gearing up for his US Open title defense at Shinnecock in two weeks, was eighth on three-under through 12 holes when play was stopped.
Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, trying to become the first player to three-peat at a PGA event since Steve Stricker won the John Deere Classic from 2009-2011, was on one-under through 14 holes in a share of 12th. World number two Rory McIlroy, the reigning Masters champion, was also in the one-under pack, having finished 16 holes.
© 2024 AFP
