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Golf humbles many, even the best in the world.
Just ask JT Poston at the Travelers Championship on Sunday.
What started as a chance to put a low score on the card on the 13th hole after getting the greenside in two strokes, Poston, world No. 32 in the Official World Golf Ranking, posted a 12 in an absolute meltdown that derailed his entire day.
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JT Poston plays a shot from the first tee during the first round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn., on June 25, 2026. (Jordan Bank/Getty Images)
While Poston may not have been in contention, he didn’t see himself at the bottom of the leaderboard at the end of the tournament, but the 12 was the main reason he finished 6-over and 1-over in the tournament for 69th out of the remaining 72 who made the cut.
So what exactly happened to Poston?
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Well, the 13th hole began with a perfect tee shot that found the middle of the fairway. Then his second shot found a greenside bunker, but sometimes pros don’t mind finding those bunkers because of how great their short game is. A good bunker shot and Poston has a chance for birdie on the par-5.
But things went wrong from there as the bunker shot came up short, leaving him with a chipping situation. Again, professionals understand that it’s not the end of the world, with a chance at par after a solid chip.
The nightmare was just beginning for Poston, however, when his fourth shot went clear over the green and ended up in the water on the other side.
From there, Poston had to tee off not once, but three separate times because he couldn’t get his ball back onto the green. On his 10th shot, he finally got the ball into a putting position.
JT Poston stands on the first tee box during the second round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn., on June 26, 2026. (Ben Jared/PGA Tour)
Poston still had to go on, hitting his 11th shot and missing it before a tap-in 12, ending the meltdown in front of the fans.
Poston talked about the many drop balls near the water that kept rolling back into the drink.
“It’s not really rough where you can blast it out,” Poston told Golfweek. “It’s in the grain, but it looks like you can get enough golf ball on it, and that’s why I kept trying to hit a good chip.”
Poston was asked if he even thought about putting it out of the greenside rough with his chips clearly not working.
“I feel like it’s just going to bounce and it takes all the momentum out of it,” he replied. “And you have this big false front you have to get over. So my concern with trying to put it was that it wouldn’t have enough speed to really get there.”
JT Poston plays a tee shot on the first hole during the second round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn., on June 26, 2026. (Ben Jared/PGA Tour)
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Poston didn’t come back on the 14th hole either, posting a double bogey on the par-4 to put himself down even further. Ultimately, Poston posted a 76 on the day to end his tournament.
Meanwhile, the Travelers Championship will come down to a playoff to be played on Monday after Viktor Hovland and Scottie Scheffler found themselves deadlocked at 21 under after the latter sank a putt to force it. Hovland’s putt to win it all just missed and Scheffler capitalized on the open opportunity.
