Golf

Pro defends risky 72nd-hole decision that cost him $260,000: ‘No regrets’

J.T. Poston hit within the water and made a expensive triple bogey on the ultimate gap of the 3M Open — however he does not remorse it one bit.

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The 72nd gap of the 3M Open was fairly expensive for J.T. Poston.

Poston, a two-time PGA Tour winner, arrived on the par-5 18th gap three strokes behind his enjoying companion Lee Hodges. With three strokes between himself and the chief, his probabilities of successful the occasion have been slim — however that didn’t imply he wasn’t going to go down swinging.

After Hodges hit his ball into the left tough, Poston stepped to the tee and flared his ball to the best, contained in the hazard line bit nonetheless exterior the water. With 220 yards to the opening, Poston opted to not lay up and as an alternative took lifeless goal on the flag.

The shot by no means had an opportunity. With the ball beneath his ft, Poston’s shot got here out low, failing to hold the water and bouncing off the rocks lining the shoreline.

With a three-stroke cushion between himself and the duo in third place, Poston may afford to drop a pair photographs and nonetheless keep his runner-up end. But after the water ball, Poston dedicated a cardinal sin and adopted on mistake with one other.

After his drop, Poston laid up simply inside 100 yards, needing to hit his wedge on the inexperienced and two putt for a solo second end. However, his wedge into the inexperienced got here up in need of the inexperienced. He then took three putts to get residence, tapping in for a triple-bogey 8 that dropped him right into a three-way tie for second.

With a solo second end, Poston would have earned $850,000. But with the three-way tie for second, his earnings have been diminished to $590,200 — a distinction of almost $260,000.

But that doesn’t imply Poston has any regrets for a way the ultimate gap performed out.

“At the end of the day it’s not the way I wanted to end, but I had to try and give it a shot and see if there was some way I could make 3 there at the end and put some pressure on Lee,” Poston mentioned. “It was a shot that was going to be hard to pull off, but we weren’t playing for second place. I had to give it a shot.”

The T2 end is Poston’s finest on the PGA Tour this season, and his finest end since successful the John Deere Classic final summer season.

“At the end of the day we were trying to do something special and try and win,” he mentioned. “I wouldn’t want to be sleeping tonight wondering “what if” if I had simply laid it up as an alternative of attempting to go for it. No regrets on the decision. You know, tried to do what we may to win.”

Zephyr Melton

Golf.com Editor

Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com the place he spends his days running a blog, producing and enhancing. Prior to becoming a member of the staff at GOLF, he attended the University of Texas adopted by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all issues instruction and covers beginner and girls’s golf. He will be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com.


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