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An inch is what cost PGA Tour pro JT Poston victory at the Barbasol Championship on Sunday.
People often say golf is a game of inches. As 28-year-old Poston sadly discovered, that statement couldn’t be more accurate.
The North Carolinian held a four-shot lead heading into the last four holes of the Barbasol Championship, until disaster struck on the 506-yard par-5 15th hole.
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Poston hooked his tee shot and his ball landed ten yards ahead of a white out-of-bounds stake. Without being able to conclude whether the ball had bounced out of play, he struck a provisional.
As Poston reached his first ball, he immediately would have known that it was going to be a close call.
“It’s really close,” said Poston as he called over a rules official. “It might be out but I don’t know if a part of it is touching if it’s sitting down level with the ball.”
The rules official came over, and placed a piece of paper between the string and the ball to decipher if it was OB.
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It was clear that, although by an inch or two, there was a gap between the string and the ball.
Watch the moment for yourself below.
Golf is a game of inches.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 18, 2021
Leader J.T. Poston's drive at the 15th hole lands out of bounds by the smallest of margins.
He leads by 1 after making a double bogey on the hole. pic.twitter.com/DLwuF2es5b
Poston was forced to play his provisional and went on to double-bogey the hole, cutting his lead to just one by the time he stood on the 16th tee box.
The American, who’s last win on the PGA Tour came at the 2019 Wyndham Championship, then bogeyed the 16th, before losing out to Seamus Power in a six-hole playoff.
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“I mean, that’s a hole where if you just get it in the fairway, almost everybody’s making birdie,” said Poston after his round. “It’s a little bit of an awkward tee shot having to hit kind of a high fade. I like to draw the ball a little bit, so it’s definitely an uncomfortable one for me, but I just put an awful swing on it. I double-crossed it and it was out of bounds by half an inch or an inch or so.”
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