With one hole to play on Sunday evening in Blaine, Minnesota, J.T. Poston trailed 3M Open leader Lee Hodges, his playing competitor, by three shots. He needed something heroic on TPC Twin Cities’ par-5 18th hole.
The Postman couldn’t deliver this time.
Poston’s drive came within inches of finding the lake, which the finishing hole wraps around, and with Hodges laying up to wedge distance, Poston opted to play from a decent lie in the rough just inside the penalty area. From 213 yards out, and even less to clear the water, Poston still had a chance at eagle. But his second shot came up short, hitting some rocks and ricocheting backward into the lake.
Hodges would stick his third shot from 115 yards to inches for a tap-in birdie to finish at 24 under while Poston went on to card a triple bogey, dropping from solo second at 20 under to a three-way tie for second at 17 under.
It was a costly triple, as CBS Sports’ Kyle Porter pointed out on Twitter afterward.
“J.T. Poston needed to make a 7 at the last to wrap up solo second and win $850K. He made an 8 to fall into T-2 and win $590K. A $260K hole,” Porter tweeted.
Highlights: 3M Open, Round 4
Full-field scores from 3M Open
Poston not only saw the tweet, but he responded.
“Not out here to finish 2nd,” Poston wrote. “Trying to win. Would make that decision 10 times out of 10 under circumstances.”
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