What rust?
J.T. Poston hadn’t played since the BMW Championship in August but the break helped his game hit a new peak.
Poston shot a final-round 4-under 67 at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas on Sunday to win the 2024 Shriners Children’s Open by one stroke over Doug Ghim.
“I know I had a comfortable lead for most of the day but it never felt safe,” Poston said.
The 31-year-old Poston from Hickory, North Carolina, dreamed of becoming a Tarheel at the University of North Carolina but never got an offer and ended up playing at Western Carolina, where he was two-time Player of the Year in the Southern Conference. Not being considered one of the highly-touted players has given him a chip on his shoulder, but thanks to a strong wedge game and a putting stroke to die for, Poston needed just one season on the Korn Ferry Tour and has blossomed into a consistent top-50 player and a now a three-time winner on the PGA Tour.
A putt to win on the 72nd hole 🏆@JT_ThePostman is back in the winner's circle @ShrinersOpen! pic.twitter.com/OOTr6GeSIs
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 21, 2024
Poston finished 41st in the FedEx Cup this season and it gave him a chance to put the clubs aways for several weeks and reset and recharge his battery with a long family vacation to the North Carolina mountains, though with a six-month-old daughter running around it’s questionable how much rest he really enjoyed.
“She changes every day, every week, and so just get to go see that and be there for her and my wife has been incredible,” Poston said.
Poston always had this event circled as one he wanted to play this fall at a course with bentgrass greens like the ones he grew up playing as a kid. He also had some unfinished business after tying for third last season in Las Vegas.
Shriners Children’s Open: Leaderboard | Photos
This time, Poston opened with a bogey-free 64 and tacked on rounds of 65 and 66. The third round was suspended Saturday evening with 30 players still on the course, including Poston, who returned Sunday morning and made three birdies in his final five holes to build a three-stroke lead.
In the final round, Poston made birdies at the first and fourth holes and then skated along with seven straight pars to give his competitors a sense that trophy still was up for grabs. Ghim, a Las Vegas resident and competing on his home course, sank an 11-foot eagle putt at the ninth hole to reach 19 under and cut Poston’s lead to one. He wasted a great chance to tie for the lead at No. 11, leaving an 8-foot birdie putt short in the jaws and despite a birdie at 18 settled for shooting 65 and second place, his best career finish on Tour.
“Haven’t had the best history so far in final rounds and final groups, so it’s definitely going to be a little badge on my chest I guess in a sense that the next time I get in position I’ll have that in my memory bank of knowing I’ve done it before,” said Ghim, who played his final 37 holes without a bogey.
Matti Schmid played the final six holes in 5 under to shoot 66 and tied for third with Rico Hoey (66). Michael Kim, who entered the week at No. 129 in the FedEx Cup Fall and had missed the cut or withdrawn from his last five starts, was among a trio of players who finished T-5. After a bogey at No. 11, Kim reeled off five birdies in a row and carded 10 on the day. He closed in 62, tying his career low, and recorded his best result in 27 starts this season.
Poston took control of the tournament with a convincing closing nine. He rang the birdie bell, not once but twice in a row, draining a 21-foot birdie at the par-3 12th, a 3-footer at the par-5 13th, and adding a 12-footer at 15 to extend his cushion to as many as four strokes. But he missed a 6-foot birdie putt at 16 that could’ve sealed the deal and a 3-foot par putt at 17 to give Ghim a glimmer of hope. After Ghim closed with a birdie, the hole had to look as small as a thimble as Poston sweated out one more 4-foot par putt to clinch the title. He took care of business and signed for a 72-hole total of 22-under 262.
“I just told myself this is what you dream of, you’ve got a putt to win on the PGA Tour and just try to forget about the last two (strokes),” Poston said. “I told myself I’ve made a million of these and just do one more.”
