PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 15, 2025

J.T. Poston

Quail Hollow Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: J.T. Poston is with us now at the 107th PGA Championship.

J.T., 3-under 68 for you today. How would you summarize your performance?

J.T. POSTON: It was good. Might be my lowest round at this golf course over the years. I'll definitely take it. I haven't had a ton of success here with the Wells Fargo or Truist Championship now, but you know, I'm obviously from North Carolina, so I like being back in my home state.

It was one of those days I hit it really good and didn't make too many mistakes and made a few putts as well.

Q. You mentioned the North Carolina part. Being from Hickory, how cool is it to have an event that's an hour from where you grew up?

J.T. POSTON: Yeah, it's great. Last year I got a little taste of it with the U.S. Open being in Pinehurst and playing a major in your home state. There's a lot of familiar faces, a lot of family, a lot of friends. You get a lot of "Hickory" shouts and "Western Carolina" shouts. It's fun. I love playing in front of a home crowd. Today was no different, and hopefully I can keep it going and have something to root for on Sunday.

Q. You told me yesterday you were going to not go out and try to shoot 8-under in the first round and be in the lead. You got close. What went right today?

J.T. POSTON: I hit it really good. I drove it pretty well. I don't know really what my stats were, but I felt like I hit a lot of fairways and greens. I just felt like I had good control of my golf ball.

You've got to do that around here. I know it's a big golf course, and a lot of people are talking about you have to hit it far, which you do, but I think you definitely have to hit it in the fairway as well just because the rough can still be penal. These greens are great. I feel like if I can just give myself a lot of chances, I can make some birdies for sure.

Q. So you would think that regular conditions, the conditions of a PGA TOUR event, would be more favorable, but it looks like you're playing better in the PGA Championship.

J.T. POSTON: Honestly, I was impressed with how much it had dried out this morning. We obviously played it down and I thought it was going to be very wet. But the course is drying out fast. So I'm sure it will get to those conditions pretty quick.

But you know, it's a long golf course. It plays long during the Truist and it plays long this week. So you've got to be good off the tee and you've got to be good with those long irons for me, mid-irons maybe for some other guys.

But still, it's fair. You can still give yourself looks and there's plenty of birdie holes. If you hit it solid, you can shoot a good score.

Q. Any recent memories of being in this position the first day of a major?

J.T. POSTON: Not really. Kind of unfamiliar territory. I think what I have learned over the years is you can't win the golf tournament on Thursday, and you know, I think I'm just going to go out there and try and stay in my own lane. You know, see where we stack up on Sunday. But not try and get too caught up in watching the leaderboard and where I stand.

Q. When you were growing up in Hickory, did you play here at all?

J.T. POSTON: I never did. First time I played it was the TOUR event.

Q. Can you remember as a kid, maybe in high school during state championship runs, what was the coolest course that you played that you wanted to play for the first time?

J.T. POSTON: Sorry, say that again?

Q. The course that you wanted to play, that was like a championship course, and you got to play it growing up in this area, what was it?

J.T. POSTON: This was definitely one of them. I didn't really grow up coming to this tournament and watching it live, even though we were so close. But I obviously know from watching it over the years. I remember watching Rory win his first TOUR event here and making that long putt on 18.

You know, just watching the guys win over the years. This is definitely up there.

Pinehurst No. 2 is obviously another one. Got to check that off the list last year. I had played No. 2 a few times in some big junior and amateur events.

Quail is a little different. I never got a taste of it or got to play it until maybe my second year on TOUR.

I love it. I mean, again, you're playing in front of a home crowd. So a lot of familiar faces, and it's a fun week. I'd love to keep this going and finish this week off.

Q. Do you have to get a bigger rental house this week for all the people, or are they just driving in every day?

J.T. POSTON: No. Most of them are driving in. We have a house for just my wife and our daughter, and it gives us our own little space to kind of unwind a little bit. But we've got plenty of family here, and we'll do some dinners.

My sister and brother-in-law live five minutes down the road. We'll hang out over there and get our mind off the golf, which is probably a good thing.

Q. I imagine it's a double-edged sword with playing with that many people because if the round goes bad, the night could sour a little bit. How satisfying is tonight going to be for you?

J.T. POSTON: I mean, it's very early. Again, I'm not getting ahead of myself. It's a great start. I'm happy with it. You can't win the golf tournament on Thursdays. There's a lot of golf left, a lot of -- you know, it's a hard golf course. You've got to kind of stay, it's cliché, but one shot at-time and not get too ahead of yourself.

I'd say I don't really have the results in majors to prove that, but I feel like I've played enough of them now that learn that, and hopefully I can apply it a little better this week.

Q. So you had the chance to have your best first-round finish at a major, T-12 in 2020 at Harding Park. You ended up finishing T-75 there. What has to go differently this time around to have a productive weekend?

J.T. POSTON: I think just leaning on the experience. I think Harding Park was one of my first majors, maybe. It wasn't my first one but it still felt very early in my major career.

Again, like I've learned over the years, you've got to stay patient in these weeks. They are hard weeks. The golf course tends to get harder and harder as the week goes on, and you know, there's a lot of golf left.

So I think for me, I'm just going to go out there and try and do exactly what I did today, tomorrow. And we'll see where we end up after tomorrow and do same thing on Saturday and same thing on Sunday. I know it's cliché, but it's the approach that I've got to take and I've learned that I've got to take over the years, and hopefully, again, I can execute that a little bit better this year.