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After two days of sunshine creating firm, fast, challenging conditions at Muirfield Village, the third round of the 2026 Memorial Tournament was plagued by thunderstorms rolling through Dublin, Ohio, causing multiple stoppages and play to ultimately be suspended for the afternoon at 4:34 p.m. ET.
Because of an earlier delay, that was only five holes into the round for the final pairing of J.T. Poston and Ryan Gerard, who are currently tied for the lead at 9 under. Gerard reeled Poston in at the top of the leaderboard with a birdie on the par-5 5th just before the horn blew, and they will now face an extremely long Sunday, with 31 holes left to play across the third and fourth rounds.
That will only add to the stress of trying to pick up the biggest win of either player’s career, as a $4 million check, the coveted title of being a Memorial champion and the handshake with Jack Nicklaus on the 18th green awaits the winner this week. At present it is trending towards being a three-horse race between Poston, Gerard and Sam Burns, who made two early birdies to get to 8 under and stay attached to the final pairing.
Muirfield Village presents a stiff enough challenge as is, but having to manage a 31-hole day — if they can get it all in on Sunday — on top of the pressure of leading in the final round on an extremely difficult golf course is going to put their nerves and mental fortitude to the ultimate test.
The leaders
1. J.T. Poston, Ryan Gerard (-9)
It’s hard to take too much away from five holes of golf, but both Poston and Gerard seemed reasonably comfortable in the final pairing. Poston had a birdie, a bogey and three pars, while Gerard had two birdies, a bogey and two pars in the first five holes before the horn blew. Sunday in contention is a different animal, but the two North Carolina natives might help each other manage those nerves.
Other contenders
3. Sam Burns (-8)
4. Eric Cole (-6)
T5. Wyndham Clark, Keegan Bradley, Tommy Fleetwood (-4)
8. J.J. Spaun (-3)
T9. Xander Schauffele, Justin Rose, Alex Noren (-2)
T12. Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and six others (-1)
Burns looks like the biggest threat to that final pairing and he was probably the player most disappointed to hear the horn sound as he was playing some fantastic golf to start his Saturday and had a great rhythm working with his swing. Cole is continuing his great play from a week ago and was able to keep that top three from completely running away from him thanks to an outrageous eagle chip-in on the 5th from the rough long and right.
Everyone else on that leaderboard feels like they’ll need a bit of help. Fleetwood continues to be a scrambling man at Muirfield Village, doing everything he can to stay in contention and if his iron play wakes up a bit he could make a charge. Clark’s strong play of late also is carrying over this week, while Bradley (-4 thru 11) had the best round of Saturday working before the horn blew.
McIlroy and Scheffler are interesting names, not only because of their star power, but because they (along with Justin Rose) will have the fewest holes remaining to play in the third round of anyone inside the top 12. At Muirfield Village, that could be a good thing as that’s fewer chances for mistakes. If either of them can get in at 2 under after they complete the final few holes of their third round — Scheffler has four holes left and McIlroy has two holes to play — the front nine seems to be the more scoreable side and they could apply a bit more pressure and see if the top of the leaderboard backs up at all.
Still, for most of the names on this list, it’s going to take something incredibly special on a long Sunday or require some help from the three at the top of the leaderboard to really have a chance at the win.
2026 Memorial Tournament updated odds, picks
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook
Sam Burns (2-1)J.T. Poston (27/10)Ryan Gerard (3-1)Tommy Fleetwood (11-1)Eric Cole (35/2)Wyndham Clark (20-1)Keegan Bradley (25-1)
There is a lot of golf left to play, and it’s really more like trying to bet a tournament going into Saturday than it is Sunday at this point. I think Cole might be undervalued right now given the form he’s showing, as he didn’t lose it last week, he just got beat by a guy making four straight birdies to close. I still think this likely comes down to one of those top three and I’d take Gerard of that group, but Cole is the most interesting of the chasers to me.