While Lee Hodges had seemingly sucked most of the drama out of the last few holes of the 3M Open late Sunday, his playing partner J.T. Poston provided plenty at the last possible moment.
That drama cost Poston $260,000.
The two were heading down the par-5 18th hole at TPC Twin Cities with Hodges holding a comfortable three-shot lead over Poston, who was three shots clear of third place. Hodges, looking for his first PGA Tour victory, hit his tee shot left and into the rough. Poston, a two-time PGA Tour winner, hit his drive right, a couple feet from the water and inside the red hazard line.
After a long discussion with caddie Aaron Flener, Poston opted to go for the green with his second shot from 214 yards. This despite the ball being a foot below his feet and Poston needing to carry almost the entire distance to cover the water guarding the front of the green. Ultimately, the ball came out low, bounced off rocks along the edge of the water and hit the 3M Open sign that was in the water.
After a drop, Poston laid up to 98 yards with his fourth shot. From there, he simply needed to hit the ball on the green and two-putt for double-bogey 7 to still secure solo second place. But he missed the green short, putted it from 30 feet away to five feet and missed that double-bogey putt. A tap-in for a triple-bogey 8 dropped him back into a three-way tie for second place at 17 under par.
So here’s where the $260K comes in. A solo second-place finish would’ve given Poston $850,000. The second-place tie with Martin Laird and Kevin Streelman gave him $590,200.
“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,” said Poston, who shot 69 and later reiterated his thoughts on Twitter. “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.”
Earlier, Laird and Streelman both produced some impressive play on the final hole, not knowing that it eventually would be worth more money and FedEx Cup points. Laird made a 20-foot putt for eagle on the 18th to shoot 64, and Streelman hit a wedge to eight feet and made that for birdie to shoot 66.