View photos of multiple-time PGA winner J.T. Poston throughout his entire career.
Currently a two-time PGA Tour winner, J.T. Poston is beginning to fully come into his own.
After his time at Western Carolina, Poston turned professional in 2015. With zero status on the now-Korn Ferry Tour, the Postman Monday qualified into the United Leasing Championship where he finished T23 and earned a spot into the Rex Hospital Open. A third place finish there granted Poston special temporary member status for the remainder of the ’16 season.
He closed out the 2016 season with six top 15 finishes which included two runner up finishes en route to earning his PGA Tour card for the 2017 season.
Poston quietly navigated his first two years on the PGA Tour before taking home his first professional win at the 2019 Wyndham Championship, closing the tournament with a bogey-free eight-under 62.
In 2022, Poston picked up his second career win, this time at the John Deere Classic.
So far in 2023, Poston has played well and continues to become more and more comfortable near the top of the leaderboards, showing he may have what it takes to break through in premiere events.
J.T. Poston earned $1,278,000 for his wire-to-wire win at the 2022 John Deere Classic.
J.T. Poston is now a two-time winner on the PGA Tour.
Poston went wire-to-wire to claim the 2022 John Deere Classic in Silvis, Illinois. His reward: a $1,278,000 first-place check.
Poston opened his week with a 62, closed with a 2-under 69 at TPC Deere Run, and joined Scott Hoch (1980) and David Frost (1992) as just the third player in tournament history to lead from start to finish.
The win also locked up a spot in the 150th British Open at St. Andrews. Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Emiliano Grillo, who tied for second, locked up the other two available spots. For tying for second, they each earned $631,900.
Stallings has posted six consecutive rounds in the 60s.
With his bread-and-butter iron play a tad off, Scott Stallings dipped into his wallet and had some old friends sent his way.
It was money well spent.
Before last week’s Travelers Championship, Stallings had a friend go to his house and hunt down an old set of irons he hoped would cure his ailing game. His friend wanted to make sure he shipped the right set, so he overnighted three sets of irons to Stallings at a cost of $400.
One of the sets is what Stallings was looking for. After one so-so round, Stallings became comfortable again with his old faithfuls, a set of Titleist T100s that replaced a newer set of the same brand. His 7-under 64 in Saturday’s third round of the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois, was his sixth consecutive round in the 60s.
More importantly, the round moved him up the leaderboard and into a prime position to win his first PGA Tour title since 2014.
“I think all golfers are certifiably insane to an extent because we know something is good, and there is always kind of the double-edged sword of always trying to get a little bit better. I tried this other set for about a year and went back to it last week and ended up third in approach to the green and I have no idea what I am this week. Feel like I’m doing something right,” said Stallings, who has shot 67-66-64. “Definitely have seen significant improvement in my iron play.
“I had some nice weeks, but just kind of inconsistent through the middle of the bag for me. Nothing is wrong with the way the club is made. It’s just as far as the way I deliver it in there. I think I match up a little bit better with the older ones.
“It’s nice to see that we were correct.”
Stallings’ 64 moved him to 16 under through 54 holes and into second place, three shots behind pace-setter J.T. Poston, who is trying to go wire-to-wire for his second PGA Tour title.
Joining Stallings at 16 under were Emiliano Grillo (65) and Denny McCarthy (66). At 15 under was Callum Tarren (65). At 14 under was Bo Hoag (day-low 63) and Monday qualifier Chris Naegel.
All those atop the leaderboard know Sunday will not be a day of rest. TPC Deere Run has yielded the most birdies on the PGA Tour since 2000, so red numbers and plenty of them will be needed to win the championship hardware.
J.T. Poston hits his tee shot on the 6th hole during the third round of the John Deere Classic golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports
Poston, who opened his week with a 62 (he also shot 62 in the first round of last week’s Travelers Championship), held a four-shot lead before he faltered a bit on the back nine with two three-putts. But he eagled 17 to go up by three.
“Obviously the first two days I had everything working great. Hitting it great off the tee, irons, and making a lot of putts,” said Poston, who has posted scores of 62-65-67. “And today wasn’t as sharp tee to green and didn’t putt it as well. To be able to still shoot 4-under, which is still very solid today, that gives me some confidence going into tomorrow. Hopefully hit it better, but if I don’t, I still got the ability to shoot a decent number.”
Stallings didn’t give all the credit to his old irons.
“It’s definitely the player. I mean, as much as I want to think it has to do with the equipment, it’s definitely me and the comfortability being over the top of the ball and being able to go and execute under pressure,” Stallings said. “I have no idea what tomorrow holds. I know that I have some things that I can control and kind of manage expectations, understand, but I showed up here Tuesday morning and told my caddie, if we’re here for anything other than to have a chance to win on Sunday then we don’t need to be here.
“That was kind of my mindset going in. I’ve played a ton of golf going into this week and obviously had a great Sunday last week to kind of build some momentum going in here. Look forward to the opportunity. Today was a big step in the right direction to tomorrow.”
Poston kept posting resounding numbers on his scorecard in Thursday’s first round of the John Deere Classic.
You won’t see or hear J.T. Poston coming.
He prefers to reside in the shadows, his walk deliberate, his voice soft, his demeanor definitely in the category of low-key. Flash isn’t his style as his attire would be classified as conservative. He’s a bit vanilla if you will.
But from time to time the 29-year-old gets loud.
Coming off a tie for second behind Xander Schauffele in last week’s Travelers Championship, Poston kept posting resounding numbers on his scorecard in Thursday’s first round of the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill.
Looking for his second PGA Tour title – he won the 2019 Wyndham Championship – Poston road some big moments on a sun-splashed day to a bogey-free, 9-under-par 62 to grab a sizable early clubhouse lead.
The 62 matched his career low, which he set last week in the first round.
In what is an annual birdie festival in the Quad Cities, Poston put plenty of red numbers on his card, the final one from 30 feet for birdie on his final hole of the day. Starting on the 10th, he made four birdies before the turn, then added a birdie on the first and an eagle on the second after he rifled his approach from 260 yards to 20 feet. Two holes later, he holed out from 25 yards from a greenside bunker for another birdie.
“The bunker shot on 4 is just kind of when you, you kind of turn around and I looked at (caddie Aaron) Flener like, did that really happen?” Poston said. “I think it was the first green that I missed, and to hole it out and make birdie, you’re not really thinking you’re going to make it, but when you do, you just realize it could be one of those days.”
It was one of those days. And Poston needed it to get to the top of the leaderboard. Vaughn Taylor shot 65, Ricky Barnes, Denny McCarthy and Monday qualifier Chris Naegel each posted 66. Scott Stallings led a group at 67, and Emiliano Grillo a group at 68.
Poston, as is his nature, gave some of the credit to his coach, John McNeeley.
“I worked really hard on the golf swing. (McNeeley) and I have worked on the golf swing a little bit from a technical standpoint in the last year,” Poston said. “I would say for the last few months it’s been in a good spot. Just hadn’t quite seen the results. Then Hilton Head I had a good week, Wells Fargo, good week, last week playing well.
“So I think it’s starting to kind of come together and see the results and see the shots and kind of building that confidence back into my ball striking. Soon as you do it a few times a can have a few good rounds, good tournaments, then your confidence starts building and you can get on a nice run.”
Poston knows he has to keep running in birdie putts to have a chance come Sunday; the highest winning score since 2009 was 18 under.
“I think tomorrow, regardless of where I stand starting the day, I am going to try and go out there and shoot another number like that or shoot another solid 5-, 6-under,” he said. “Just stay aggressive and not just kind of coast.”
Day, who won the 2015 PGA Championship among his 12 Tour titles, is winless for more than three years.
Former World No. 1 Jason Day withdrew from the John Deere Classic on Thursday before the start of the first round, citing a back injury.
Day, who won the 2015 PGA Championship among his 12 Tour titles, is winless for more than three years. He’s plummeted to No. 137 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Day, 34, missed the cut last week at the Travelers Championship. He has just one top-10 finish this season, a tie for third at the Farmers Insurance Open in January. The Aussie finished T-55 at the PGA Championship in May, the only major he qualified for this season. He isn’t in the field for next week’s British Open at St. Andrews, where he finished T-4 in 2015, and a top finish at the John Deere was his last chance to earn a spot in the 150th Open.
Jason Day WD before R1 of the John Deere Classic (back injury) and is replaced in the field by Ted Potter.
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) June 30, 2022
Day’s most recent withdrawal from a PGA Tour event was at the 2021 Memorial when he said he tweaked his balky back. Prior to that, he pulled out of the 2020 CJ Cup in Las Vegas, where he was in contention, during the final round with a neck injury.
Day has battled an assortment of injuries primarily to his back and has dealt with spasms that flare up periodically.
Last year, he started working with instructor Chris Como and made changes to his swing designed to take stress off his back. Earlier this year, he claimed to be “injury-free.”
Day was replaced in the field at the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Illinois, by Ted Potter III.
“You try to do your homework and identify guys in this case that were going to be successful as athletes.”
The corn fields adjacent to John Deere headquarters in Silvis, Illinois, typically are knee-high by the 4th of July. That’s how Webb Simpson remembers them as he returns to this northwestern corner of the Land of Lincoln for the first time in a dozen years to play at TPC Deere Run in the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic, which is celebrating its 50th edition.
Simpson, winner of the 2012 U.S. Open among his seven Tour titles, is back in America’s Heartland to pay a debt of gratitude to longtime tournament director Clair Peterson, who is retiring this year, and gave him a sponsor’s exemption in 2008.
“I was elated because there’s so many uncertainties when you turn pro as a young player,” said Simpson, who graduate from Wake Forest that summer. “You don’t know which tour you’re going to be playing on, if any tour.”
The John Deere Classic grew in meaning to Simpson when he returned to the Quad Cities to compete a year later as a rookie and proposed to his wife, Dowd, the mother of his five children, the night before the final round.
“She knew the question was coming in the next few months, so I thought I’m going to get her when she least expects it,” he said. “Decided right by the river’s a beautiful area, I can take her to dinner, I can surprise her.”
Simpson’s caddie secured the ring and he dropped to one knee on a dock along the Mississippi River, which divides Bettencourt and Davenport, Iowa, and Moline and Rock Island, Illinois.
“I was more nervous about dropping it than her saying yes,” said Simpson, who claimed to be 99 percent sure she would say yes.
Fast forward to March at the Valspar Championship and Simpson told Peterson to count him in for his farewell tournament. With the pre-tournament withdrawal of Daniel Berger due to injury, Simpson, at No. 58 in the Official World Golf Ranking, represents the highest-ranked player in the field, but he downplayed any talk that he should be the favorite.
“A hundred guys could win this week,” Simpson said. “Just because the field isn’t as strong as other weeks it’s still going to take a really low number(to win).”
With the tournament going up against the second event of LIV Golf, the upstart league that has wooed the likes of Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and former JDC champion Bryson DeChambeau, and scheduled between the U.S. Open and British Open, Peterson knew his event would be a tough draw.
“How many major winners do you have here compared to John Deere? It’s not even close,” said Pat Perez, a defector to the renegade LIV Golf. “The Tour wants to keep talking about strength of field and all that kind of stuff, the strength of field is here.”
To make matters worse for Peterson and the John Deere, several of the biggest stars in the game are heading next week to the Genesis Scottish Open, an event co-sanctioned between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour for the first time, which certainly had a detrimental effect, too. But none of this is new for an event that has rolled with the punches.
“I like to say we hit for the cycle,” Peterson said. “We’ve been opposite the British Open, we’ve been opposite the Olympics, we’ve been opposite the Ryder Cup and we’ve been opposite the Presidents Cup. So, our history is not always to have the top-10 players in the world here.”
What Peterson has excelled at is finding the stars of tomorrow and offering them sponsor exemptions into the field.
“I’ve kind of compared it, I guess, to an IPO, where there’s an initial public offering of this new product and there’s no promise that there’s going to be success,” Peterson said, “but you try to do your homework and identify guys in this case that were going to be successful as athletes, but quite honestly we also were really focused on young men that we liked and respected and had a lot of regard for.”
Jordan Spieth holds the winner’s check after winning a three-way, five-hole sudden death playoff at the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run on July 14, 2013 in Silvis, Illinois. (Photo: Michael Cohen-Getty Images)
Among those who benefited from a JDC invite include defending champion Lucas Glover, Jon Rahm and DeChambeau, who all later won U.S. Opens; past champ Jordan Spieth (three majors in all), Zach Johnson (two majors) and Patrick Reed, who all won green jackets; Justin Thomas, who just won his second PGA Championship, and Jason Day, who also won the Wanamaker, and is in the field this week.
“We gave him a spot as a 17-year old. He made his first check here,” Peterson said of Day, who returned five times. “Then he becomes No. 1 in the world. And it’s tough, once you’re getting into all the majors and the World Golf Championships, you can play all over the world, it’s tough to build a schedule and include our event…But here he is this year to come back and recognize that we gave him a spot, it’s exciting to have him here and that’s the value of the relationships, I think. There’s no expiration date on ’em.”
Peterson pointed out that for all his success with sponsor invites, his record isn’t perfect.
“I’m going to give you a true confession right now, because people have said, ‘Oh, wow, you know, you do a great job picking exemptions.’ I said no to Scottie Scheffler, OK? So don’t give me too much credit. That’s one that really kind of was a whiff. But I think he’s going to do OK.”
This year the list of those Peterson awarded golden tickets to includes Chris Gotterup, the Haskins Award winner as men’s college golfer of the year, Quinn Riley, a Black golfer who played at Duke, and Patrick Flavin, an Illinois native who grew up attending the tournament.
“It’s a dream come true,” Flavin said. “The John Deere Classic to me was always a major. It was a really big deal. Watching guys like Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker win, guys from the Midwest who aren’t overpowering people and I’m kind of a small guy, it was really inspiring to me.”
So is the local support for the tournament and the charity dollars it has raised – $145 million.
“To me that’s a success,” Peterson said. “You can’t judge the success of the tournament just by the strength of the field.”
Berger was the top-ranked player in the world at No. 25 in the field at this week’s PGA Tour stop.
Daniel Berger withdrew from this week’s PGA Tour stop at the John Deere Classic on Monday.
Berger, a four-time Tour winner and member of the victorious U.S. Ryder Cup team last year, didn’t specify his injury, but Tweeted that he is “working on getting back to 100% but do not feel prepared to tee it up on Thursday.”
Berger previously withdrew from the Vidanta Mexico Open in May prior to the start of the event and also had to pull out of his title defense in February at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. At the time, he said he was dealing with a joint sprain in his lower back. He told PGA Tour.com that he suffered a sacroiliac joint sprain, the part of the body that links the lower spine to the pelvis, earlier this year and played through it at Torrey Pines during the Farmers Insurance Open.
“You have a long season ahead of you and you have to think about events in the future and I didn’t want to do something that was going to make it harder for me to come back in the weeks going ahead,” Berger said in February.
Gutted to have to withdrawal from the @JDCLASSIC this week. I am working on getting back to 100% but do not feel prepared to tee it up on Thursday. I want to wish all the players luck and thank @JohnDeere for their continued support.
Berger hasn’t been “straight vibin’,” as he likes to say for most of the year, and has been limited to 12 starts this season, most recently at the U.S. Open. It marked his second straight missed cut at a major. The 29-year-old enters the week ranked 25th in the Official World Golf Ranking and was the highest-ranked player in the field at the John Deere Classic, held at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois.
Berger signed a deal with tournament sponsor John Deere in April to serve as a charitable ambassador and began using a branded John Deere bag at the Masters.
He was tentatively scheduled to meet with the media Wednesday ahead of the tournament as one of its top attractions. Berger was replaced in the tournament by Matt Every.
Berger is exempt for the 150th British Open at St. Andrews in two weeks.
