“Conversations with Champions, presented by Sentry” is a weekly series from Golfweek in collaboration with The Caddie Network, where we take you behind the scenes for a chat with the winning caddie from the most recent PGA Tour event. This week: Aaron Flener, caddie for J.T. Poston at the 2022 John Deere Classic.
J.T. Poston is dialed in.
Poston, a wire-to-wire winner at the 2022 John Deere Classic, came into the tournament with a tie for second the week before at the Travelers Championship. So things are definitely looking up.
Way up, in fact, from the start of the 2021-22 season, when Poston opened the campaign with six straight missed cuts. He’s missed 14 of 24 cuts in all this season, but that’s all in the rearview mirror now.
“He got off to a slow start in the fall, missed every cut and just had a couple top 25s here and there at the start of the year, but nothing great,” Flener told John Rathouz from The Caddie Network.
Consistent work with his swing coach though has paid off.
“Finally his golf swing has just clicked in and he doesn’t have to think about that anymore, he can just go play golf,” Flener said.
An even-keel mindset is one of Poston’s best attributes.
“He never gets too high, never gets too low so it’s so it’s nice to work for a guy like that,” Flener said. “I’m kinda like, too, so we kinda have similar personalities, similar, you know, just the way we operate.”
It’s not just his caddie though, that sees the cool, calm demeanor.
“I think the beauty of J.T. is never gets too high with the highs or too low with the lows. He just kind of stays pretty steady,” two-time major champion Zach Johnson said.
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Poston’s second PGA Tour win earned him one of the last remaining spots in the 150th Open Championship next week. It also got him into a couple of other important events.
“When we were playing on Sunday, I wasn’t thinking about any of that stuff,” Flener said. “I thought about the Open during the week because I know there were three spots, so I was thinking about that. And once we got done Sunday I was like ‘We’re in the Masters. And oh year, the Tournament of Champions’, which is awesome.”
Poston is not in the field at the Genesis Scottish Open this week, nor is he playing the opposite-field event in Kentucky, the Barbasol Championship. That has freed up Flener to take care of some chores before hitting the road.
Sad to miss the @BarbasolChamp this week but we gotta get some rest and wash our underwear before we head to St. Andrews. Lexington friends, we will properly celebrate sometime soon!
Best of luck to everyone playing in Kentucky this week! pic.twitter.com/06YNwErKYy
— Aaron Flener (@AaronFlener) July 4, 2022
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