J.T. Poston shot a 7-under 65 on Friday and credited two factors for getting him there: a new golf ball and a hot putter. While the rest of the field at Muirfield Village was battling the wind, Poston was making birdies and building a lead nobody saw coming.

The Memorial Tournament is played at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio. Poston's second-round 65 left him at 9 under and one shot clear of Ryan Gerard heading into the weekend.

His score was nine shots better than the field average for the day. Speaking to the reporters, J.T. Poston stated the timing of a golf ball change last week turned out to be well-timed.

"It's supposed to help me a little bit in the wind," he said, as reported by ESPN. "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 them perfect and it hung in there pretty well."

When asked whether the round came down to the ball or the putter, J.T. Poston kept it short.

"Both," Poston said. "The ball got me there; the putter helped me get it in the hole."

To deal with the windy conditions, Poston changed to a different Titleist ball, the model he calls the "Left Dash." The switch worked well for him. The majority of Poston's birdie putts came from longer distances, with only two finishing from inside 10 feet.

His putting performance also helped him collect four strokes across the rest of the field. Poston was asked directly whether he was happy to see the wind.

"Yeah, sure," Poston said. "It's hard to say I wasn't when you shoot 65."

That comfort in difficult conditions carried straight into how he spoke about the weekend ahead.

J.T. Poston Mindset Heading Into the Weekend as Memorial Leader

Holding a one-shot lead with two rounds to go, Poston pointed to patience as the key factor on a day when the wind made Muirfield Village a stern test.

"I just knew it was going to play tough and the goal was to try and be patient and keep hitting the shots like I was hitting yesterday," Poston said. "It helps to get off to a great start, make a few nice, longish putts the first couple holes, and I feel like I was just kind of off and running."

Poston also made some long putts early in the round, which helped him play with a lot of confidence. He used only 24 putts during the round, and the total distance of his made putts was 134 feet.

The American is now at 9-under par and leads by one shot over Gerard going into the weekend. Sam Burns is three shots behind after scoring 69 in both rounds. Notably, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy are 10 shots behind the leader.

Will J.T. Poston retain this momentum on Saturday? Or will the rest catch up?

Read more at Club Golf.

Written by

Sneha Abraham

Edited by

Sijo Paul