Pro Golfer’s Stunning Collapse Ends With 12 on Single Hole

Clear Facts

• World No. 32 golfer J.T. Poston scored a 12 on the 13th hole at the Travelers Championship, one of the worst single-hole performances by a tour professional
• The meltdown began when Poston’s chip shot rolled into the water, forcing him to drop the ball three separate times as it kept rolling back into the hazard
• Poston finished the tournament at 1-over par in 69th place after the catastrophic hole derailed what had been a competitive round

Golf remains the great equalizer in sports, capable of humbling even the world’s elite players in a matter of minutes. World No. 32 J.T. Poston learned that lesson the hard way Sunday at the Travelers Championship.

What began as a routine birdie opportunity on the 13th hole turned into one of the most stunning collapses of the PGA Tour season. Poston posted a 12 on the par-5, effectively ending any hope of a strong tournament finish.

The nightmare score dropped Poston to 1-over for the tournament, leaving him in 69th place out of 72 players who made the cut. While he wasn’t in serious contention for the title, the professional wasn’t expecting to finish at the bottom of the leaderboard either.

The hole started with promise. Poston launched a perfect tee shot down the middle of the fairway. His second shot found a greenside bunker, typically not a major concern for tour professionals with elite short games.

That’s when things unraveled. His bunker shot came up well short, leaving him with what should have been a manageable chip. But his fourth shot sailed clear across the green and splashed into the water on the opposite side.

From that point, the situation deteriorated rapidly. Poston had to take three separate penalty drops because the ball kept rolling back into the water hazard. Only on his 10th stroke did he finally get the ball into putting position on the green.

Even then, his troubles weren’t over. His first putt missed, requiring a tap-in on his 12th stroke to mercifully end the hole.

“It’s not really rough, where you can kind of blast it out,” Poston explained afterward.

“It’s into the grain, but it looks like you can get enough golf ball on it, which is why I kept trying to hit a good chip.”

When asked why he didn’t consider putting from the greenside rough after multiple failed chips, Poston defended his strategy.

“I feel like it’s just going to hop and that takes all the speed out of it. And you’ve got this big false front you got to get it over. So my worry with trying to putt it was it would not have enough speed to really get there.”

The disaster continued on the 14th hole, where Poston posted a double bogey on the par-4. He finished the day with a 76, capping off a tournament he’d rather forget.

While Poston struggled, the tournament itself came down to drama at the top of the leaderboard. Scottie Scheffler sank a crucial putt to force a playoff with Viktor Hovland, both finishing at 21-under par. Hovland’s potential tournament-winning putt narrowly missed, sending the competition to a Monday playoff.

The tale of two tournaments—Poston’s collapse and Scheffler’s clutch performance—demonstrates the razor-thin margins that separate triumph from disaster in professional golf.

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