Playing in his first Tour Championship, J.T. Poston allowed neither the elements nor the inexperience to trouble him Thursday, posting a 5-under 65.
Tough to find any disappointment in this week so far. But, then there was this: “Bummed the Braves weren’t in town,” Poston said after the round. “I was talking to (former Bulldog player) Sepp Straka. We’re both big Braves fans; we were looking forward to seeing the stadium. Little bummed we can’t see a game this week. But I’ll try to get back later in the year.”
Raised in Hickory, N.C., as a boyhood fan of Chipper Jones and currently living in St. Simons Island, Poston is one of the more noted Braves fans on the PGA Tour. He and buddy Max Homa, a Dodgers man, have had running bets the past two seasons when their teams met in the postseason.
The Braves lost in 2020, and Homa took over Poston’s Twitter account for a day. On it, he was sure to point out that Poston was only the second most-noted J.T. on Tour (behind Justin Thomas).
The Braves of course beat L.A. in ‘21, and as a result Homa had to don a Braves jersey when he played the raucous 16th hole in Phoenix this year.
“We were talking about it earlier this week that he pretty much got the short end of the stick having to wear the Braves jersey in Phoenix,” Poston said. “He got a lot of grief for it from the fans – which I loved. As far as the next bet (it’s very possible they’ll meet again this October), we don’t know what it will be. We’ll try to think of something different, try not to do the same thing twice, think of something fun.”
A winner this year at the John Deere Classic, Poston came here ranked No. 27 in FedEx Cup points. As a result, he began Thursday at even par, 10 back of points leader Scottie Scheffler in the Tour Championship’s staggered scoring system.
Being so far behind before the first shot can have its advantages, Poston said. “Starting at even par, I had nothing to lose this week, and it almost freed me up a little today to just go out there and try to fire away.
“That’s the game plan, to try to move up the leaderboard each day and see what happens.”
It’s uncertain how the schedule for the Braves and the Tour Championship will match up for next year. But already Poston plots, hoping there’s a well-timed homestand on the horizon. “It’s good motivation to get back here,” he laughed.
Wise makes a move while playing solo
Aaron Wise had to play by himself in the first round when Will Zalatoris withdrew because of a bad back and left the field with only 29 players. Wise didn’t mind the solitude and required a little more than three hours to complete his round, a 5-under 67. He jumped all the way to a tie for 14th place.
“It’s chipping away, right?” Wise said. “Even if you don’t get there, you can probably get pretty close if you do play well. You just go try to shoot the best score you can.”
Wise, who had never gone solo in a tournament, said he wasn’t trying to set a speed record, at least not in the first round, and played at his own speed.
“I just didn’t want the guys behind me waiting on me. Once that wasn’t the case, I was good,” Wise said. “It was different. I felt a little weird starting off the round, but once I settled in there walking to the third tee or so, it felt pretty normal. Luckily, I was having a good day and just kind of stayed in my groove and stayed to myself and it worked out well.”
Wisse won’t be alone for Friday’s round That honor goes to Corey Conners, who shot a 74 in the first round and dropped to 29th.
Par 5s all give, no take
There are but two par-5s on the par-70 East Lake track. Maybe there should none.
The 29-man Tour Championship field treated both the 526-yard No. 6 and the 592-yard No. 18 as glorified par-4s Thursday. Both were taken unseemly advantage of, with a scoring average nearly a stroke under par – 4.069.
Par almost was an embarrassment. No one shot worse than 5 on either hole in this first round. The total for the day for the two holes: 7 eagles; 40 birdies; 11 pars.
Hope First Tee kids get tournament started
Four years ago, Ethan Quitman barely knew which end of a golf club to hold. On Thursday morning he was one of the honorary starters at the Tour Championship.
Quitman, a junior at Southwest DeKalb, and Haven Ward, a senior at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School, were ushered to the first tee at East Lake Golf Club to get the tournament started. They each received a $5,000 Hope First Tee Scholarship to help with college. The first-shot honor was based on grades, an essay and a tournament against other hopefuls.
Quitman, who was a martial-arts champion, only started to play golf three years ago after he attended the Top Golf Academy. Primarily self-taught – he also taught himself how to play piano – he managed to accelerate his learning curve after receiving encouragement and a handful of lessons from former DeKalb County champion Darius Davis, who had been a Hope First Tee participant in 2013.
Quitman began to watch YouTube videos of some of his favorite players – Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy – and applied those techniques. He also works with at The First Tee Metro Atlanta and practices at the Charlie Yates Golf Course.
As his practice intensified, his scores began to drop. At the 2022 DeKalb County Championship he shot 81 – 20 shots better than the previous year.
Before stepping to the first tee Thursday, Quitman was handed his driver by honorary caddie Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner. Without a ball in his pocket, Quitman send his caddie back to the bag to retrieve one.
