Hickory native J.T. Poston shines in hometown PGA Championship
Across the golf course from where Scottie Scheffler was about to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy stood J.T. Poston
About a dozen family members and friends stood against the railing blocking off the Quail Hollow putting green, talking with Poston and his wife, Kelly, while taking turns holding their 1-year old daughter, Katherine.
Eventually, exiting spectators began noticing Poston standing there, leading to 15 minutes of the Hickory native signing autographs and taking pictures. When everyone was accounted for, Poston walked back to the putting green, where Kelly and Katherine were sitting, at which point all the fans began to clap for him.
“Thank you,” a few of them hollered.
These are the moments for the other PGA Championship winners, the ones who gained confidence, but not a championship. The ones who finished another major without a trophy and walked off the course smiling — because they proved they could — at some point in their career — win.
“I think as pros, you say that you can (win a major) but it’s different to truly believe it,” Poston said. “I think it’s hard to believe it until you are thrown into the atmosphere and see how you react.”
Poston reacted marvelously, posting his best major finish with a T-5 (5-under), with a payday of $694,700. Prior to this week, Poston had appeared in 17 majors, missing nearly half the cuts and never finishing inside the Top 30.
“It was kind of the first time being in the mix on Sunday at a major,” Poston told The Charlotte Observer after his round. “So a little bit of a new feel and I felt like I held my own pretty well. Obviously I would have loved a different outcome, but Scottie played great.”
Sure there will be regrets.
Poston stood on the 17th tee box all by himself in second place. It is unclear if he was aware of his standing, or the $2 million prize that comes with silver, but Poston did not get conservative. He was searching for birdies, for a way to put himself into the picture if Scheffler folded.
Instead, he finished bogey-bogey, dropping from No. 2 to T-2 to T-5.
“I was trying to win the golf tournament all day, which I was proud of,” Poston said. “I think it’s easy to kind of play it a little too safe and just try and have a good finish. I feel like I played to win.”
This tournament was always going to be different for Poston. He grew up in nearby Hickory and attended Western Carolina. As much as a major championship can be, this was a home game for Poston. Heck, he acknowledged Thursday, there was no need to rent a big house in Charlotte because most of his loved ones planned on just driving from their house every day.
Throughout the week, Poston estimated, “between 10 to 25-30” friends and family were around the golf course every day. And if you wanted to throw in all the acquaintances and former classmates and everyone he actually knew: “I bet it was in the hundreds,” he said.
On Thursday, after playing in the opening round of a PGA Championship just over an hour from his hometown, Poston seemed to be in the most enviable position. He was 3-under, tied for 9th. He had all these loved ones at the golf course, plenty more who were going to come later in the week, and he rose to the occasion.
That, for many, is winning the week.
But Poston refused to acknowledge the opening round as any sort of victory. Why should there be any satisfaction before the week’s over?
“I mean, it’s very early,” he said on Thursday. “Again, I’m not getting ahead of myself.”
Then he began talking like someone giving advice, almost laying out the road map to how a golfer should carry himself in order to win a major: “You can’t win the golf tournament on Thursdays.” … “One shot at-time.” … “(Don’t) get too ahead of yourself.”
Then he caught himself and explained.
“I’d say I don’t really have the results in majors to prove that,” Poston said, “but I feel like I’ve played enough of them now to learn that, and hopefully I can apply it a little better this week.”
There was underlying confidence in how he approached the week — like a man who always knew the tools to success but finally learned their application. And his recent starts explain the confidence.
Coming into Quail Hollow, he had a Top-25 finish in each of his last three starts, including a T-11 in the RBC Heritage at Harbor Town. He rose to No. 35 in the Official World Golf Ranking and this PGA Championship will surely result in a bump.
Great follow-up performances in the US Open and Open Championship and, who knows, American captain Keegan Bradley might have to take a hard look at Poston to join his Ryder Cup team.
“It was on my radar at the start of the year,” Poston said. “But I think I have a lot of work to do to even get on Keegan’s radar. ... It’s gonna take something pretty special, I think, to make that team.”
Special, though, is not impossible.
