2026 Memorial Tournament leaderboard: Rain shortened third round sets up long Sunday for leaders

Co-leaders J.T. Poston and Ryan Gerard will have 31 holes to play on Sunday in pursuit of the biggest win of either of their careers

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. 

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[Jun 6, 2026 at 6:05 pm ET · Robby Kalland]

The third round will resume Sunday morning as the line of thunderstorms rolling through Columbus will not allow play to resume this afternoon. Co-leaders J.T. Poston and Ryan Gerard will have 13 holes left to play in their third round on top of the final round, as a long Sunday awaits.

[Jun 6, 2026 at 5:31 pm ET · Robby Kalland]

We are now one hour into the weather delay at Muirfield Village and there's not a clear end in sight. A long line of thunderstorms from the west is moving directly east through Columbus. There hasn't been an official update provided by the PGA Tour, but as long as the electricity remains in the area, golfers will stay off the course. With the leaders only five holes into their round, it's becoming extremely unlikely we see the conclusion of the third round this afternoon. 

[Jun 6, 2026 at 4:37 pm ET · Robby Kalland]

Storms with electricity are entering the area from the west and play has been suspended for the second time on Saturday. They are pulling the players off the course, suggesting this will not be a particularly brief delay. This morning's delay lasted 1:44, pushing the afternoon tee times back an hour and 40 minutes, and with this latest stoppage it's not clear if we'll be able to get the entire third round completed this afternoon. 

[Jun 6, 2026 at 4:11 pm ET · Robby Kalland]

It didn't take long for the leaders to give back their early forward progress. After a pair birdies on No. 2, Ryan Gerard found the greenside bunker with a sand wedge from the fairway on the 3rd and left his first attempt in the sand to lead to a bogey 5 to drop back to 8 under. Then on the long par-3 4th, J.T. Poston hooked his tee shot left, clipping a tree and dropping into the thick rough. Despite a great chip, he lipped out his par putt to move back to 9 under. 

That's brought Sam Burns into a tie for second at 8 under, while Eric Cole is now three back at 6 under after his remarkable eagle on the 5th. 

[Jun 6, 2026 at 4:04 pm ET · Robby Kalland]

Muirfield Village has seen its share of dramatic chip-ins over the years, and Eric Cole's mega-flop on the par-5 5th belongs up there with the best ever as he landed it perfectly just in the first cut to take the heat off of it and then saw the ball roll down the hill and ride the ridge to the right to curl into the cup for an unbelievable eagle 3. 

That wasn't just a great shot, it was an important one that moved last week's runner-up into fourth alone at 6 under, now just three shots back of the leader J.T. Poston. 

[Jun 6, 2026 at 3:53 pm ET · Robby Kalland]

The top three on the leaderboard are off to fast starts at the Memorial on Saturday. The final pairing of J.T. Poston and Ryan Gerard each made birdies on the 2nd to move to 10 under and 9 under, respectively, as they look to drop the field and keep the likes of Scottie Scheffler and others at bay. Sam Burns isn't allowing them to turn it into just a two-man race though, as he's -2 thru 3 and has it to 8 under in third, now four shots clear of J.J. Spaun and Eric Cole tied for fourth at 4 under. 

There's still a long day ahead of us at Muirfield Village, so we could certainly see the leaders start coming back to the pack, but so far they've handled the early nerves well and are threatening to drop the pack and turn this into a three-man battle on Sunday. 

[Jun 6, 2026 at 3:26 pm ET · Robby Kalland]

Despite more receptive greens, there's still not much easy about Muirfield Village on Saturday. As Ryan Gerard and J.T. Poston begin their round with a couple of fairway finders off the 1st tee, the low round of the day is still just 3 under, with three on the course and one in the clubhouse -- Scottie Scheffler (thru 9), Harris English (thru 13), Si Woo Kim (thru 17) and Ludvig Åberg (F). 

Scheffler's presence is obviously the most menacing, as he's now tied for 7th at 2 under, seven off Poston's lead. It'll be up to that final pairing to keep some distance between themselves and the chasers, because if the lead suddenly drops back to 6 under or so there will be a lot of players that find themselves in the mix. Withit still difficult to go really low, even just holding steady at 9 under will make it exceedingly difficult for more than a handful of players to have a real shot on Sunday. 

[Jun 6, 2026 at 2:55 pm ET · Robby Kalland]

After a frustrating bogey to start his third round, Scheffler has woken up in the middle of his front nine. Back-to-back birdies on Nos. 5 and 6 got him back to even par and he jumped into the top 10 suddenly with an eagle at the par-5 7th to reach 2 under for the week. 

Scheffler got a great break off the tee as his tee shot trickled into the rough but ended up in a sprinkler head, allowing him to take relief into the fairway. That gave him the green light to smash a fairway wood right at the flag, leaving himself inside 10 feet for eagle, which he paid off by rolling it dead in the center. 

The two-time defending champion at Muirfield Village has not had his A-game at all this week, but he might've found something with his ball-striking suddenly and if that's the case, he could make a charge on a day where the greens are much more receptive after a little rain this morning. At 2 under, he's now just seven shots off the lead as the leaders get set to tee off in 25 minutes. 

[Jun 6, 2026 at 2:41 pm ET · Robby Kalland]

Spaun was part of the 18-hole co-lead before a 77 on Friday dropped him all the way back to even par, nine shots back heading into the weekend. With some better conditions for scoring early Saturday afternoon after this morning's rain, Spaun is moving things back in the right direction quickly with three birdies in his first four holes, most recently throwing a dart to just a few feet below the hole on the 219-yard par-3 4th to get back to 3 under overall and into a tie for 5th. 

[Jun 6, 2026 at 1:44 pm ET · Robby Kalland]

McIlroy played one shot before the weather delay, and since returning to the course he is taking advantage of a more receptive golf course. He's now got two quick birdies in his first four holes to move into red figures, eight shots off J.T. Poston's lead, with the leaders still an hour and 40 minutes away from their delayed tee time. 

While McIlroy is pushing into red figures, the back-to-back defending champion at the Memorial is going the other way. Scottie Scheffler has not been able to take advantage of the improved scoring conditions, spinning his approach on No. 1 off the false front and failing to get up-and-down from short and left of the green to fall back to 2 over. On the 2nd, he fired a dart to inside 10 feet below the hole, but pushed his putt to the right as a frustrating week at Muirfield Village continues for the World No. 1. 

[Jun 6, 2026 at 1:14 pm ET · Robby Kalland]

The wind is down and the course has undoubtedly softened up a bit after the morning rain. That means there are some scoring opportunities out there at Muirfield Village for those who are able to find fairways off the tee. We're seeing players actually able to spin the ball back and get the kind of grab that wasn't possible on Friday afternoon when things were getting very crispy, with big first bounces and not much friction to get the ball to grab and spin. 

It should be noted that while it's softened some, it's far from a soft golf course, as we're still seeing the ball bounce and roll, but coming out of the fairway we're seeing a lot more grab on the greens which is letting players get more aggressive at flags. 

[Jun 6, 2026 at 1:07 pm ET · Robby Kalland]

Players are back on the course as skies have cleared and we'll hopefully get the remainder of the third round in without any further interruptions. 

[Jun 6, 2026 at 12:18 pm ET · Robby Kalland]

After a delay of 1:44, play will resume at Muirfield Village at 1 p.m. ET. Tee times in the afternoon will be pushed back an hour and 40 minutes from their scheduled start times, meaning the leaders, J.T. Poston and Ryan Gerard, will now tee off at 3:20 p.m. ET. 

It'll be interesting to see how different Muirfield Village plays after being soaked by rain this morning. It was extremely firm and fast on Friday afternoon, creating a significant challenge for the players, but will now play softer which should make it play a bit wider and more forgiving. That said, misses in the thick rough will probably be punished even more severely with the moisture, meaning it won't suddenly become an easy course to get around if you can't keep it in the short grass. 

[Jun 6, 2026 at 11:15 am ET · Robby Kalland]

The best round going on the course early in the third round belongs to Chris Gotterup, who his -3 thru 8 on another day where the scoring average is over par at Muirfield Village. Gotterup birdied the first and then eagled the 7th, with six pars around those two holes that have gotten him to 1 over for the tournament and into the top 20. 

Moving Day at the Memorial isn't always in a positive direction, and while Gotterup and Si Woo Kim (-2 thru 6) are showing it is possible to make a move up the leaderboard, there are also an awful lot of players over par on their front nines to start Saturday. We're still almost two hours away from the leaders teeing off, but how that final pairing fares on Saturday will determine how many players come into Sunday's final round believing they have a real shot at hoisting one of the most coveted trophies on the PGA Tour schedule.