Poston enjoys Wyndham Championship victory, looks ahead to FedExCup Playoffs

Shortly after the trophy presentation on Sunday, as he posed for pictures on the 18th green at Sedgefield Country Club, J.T. Poston noticed a familiar figure walking toward him.

Jim Nantz, the voice of CBS golf for so many years, had come down out of the tower and made it a point to walk over to congratulate Poston. That final-round 62 and a stunning 72-hole performance completely devoid of bogeys had made quite an impression on the veteran broadcaster.

In fact, Nantz told Poston he’d remember how well the 26-year-old had played on Sunday at the Wyndham Championship for the rest of his life.

“I thought that was pretty unreal for him to say something like that because I know he's obviously seen a lot of good golf and has a lot of memories and stuff to choose from to remember for the rest of his life,” Poston said. “For him to be able to say that about me was pretty cool.”

The encounter was just one of many neat moments in the aftermath of Poston’s first PGA TOUR victory.

His parents were there to see it, as was his 85-year-old grandfather, an avid golfer who gave Poston a cut-down 5-wood with a persimmon head to get him started in the game. Three coaches and a dozen or so former teammates from his days at Western Carolina University were in the gallery. So were friends from his hometown of Hickory, North Carolina, which is about 90 miles away from Greensboro.

Patton Kizzire and Denny McCarthy were among the players and caddies waiting at the 18th green to congratulate the popular winner, too. His roommate, Keith Mitchell, who won The Honda Classic earlier this year, was back in Sea Island, Georgia, tweeting up a storm as he watched the final holes unfold.

After all the post-round interviews were done, Poston headed to the volunteer party, where he finally got an adult beverage in his hands. The Coors Light, his favorite brew, was “probably the best one I’ve ever had,” he says. When all the toasts were done, Poston grabbed a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich from the locker room and went back to his hotel to shower and change for the next celebration.

His friends, probably 40 of them, as well as his caddie Aaron Flener and some of his buddies, gathered at Natty Greene’s, a craft brewery, in downtown Greensboro. The group basically took over the upstairs loft area and the bar stayed open several hours after its normal 11 p.m. closing time on Sunday nights.

At least Poston didn’t have to worry about rushing to get to the airport on Monday to catch a flight for New York City, where he will play in THE NORTHERN TRUST this week. The Wyndham Championship staff had arranged for a HondaJet to take him to the first FedExCup Playoffs event.

“Somebody from Wyndham came and asked me about flying there pretty much as I was walking to the 18th green for the trophy ceremony,” Poston recalls. “So, it was all kind of hitting me pretty fast.”

Poston had flown on a private jet a couple of times before while going to charity events and admits that it “never gets old.” He was particularly impressed by how much luggage – and the several sets of golf clubs -- they were able to get into the four-passenger plane.

It was on the plane ride that Poston first learned that he would likely be playing with Tiger Woods in the first two rounds at Liberty National this week. His win at the Wyndham Championship had vaulted him from No. 75 to No. 27 in the FedExCup, and the pairings are based on those positions.

Woods clocks in at No. 28, but moved into the group with Poston and Scott Piercy after No. 8 Paul Casey opted to sit the first Playoffs event out after playing four straight weeks.

“We had a feeling that it could happen, but didn't find out for sure until the pairings came out yesterday, which is pretty cool,” Poston says.

He remembers watching Woods win the Masters in 1997 and thinking “I want to be that guy.” He’s met Woods before, but the two have never played together.

“I've shaken his hand and said, hey, but that's about it,” Poston says. “So, it'll be a little bit more of a formal meeting, I guess. But it'll be cool. It'll be awesome.”

Poston’s caddie had a slightly different reaction. Flener tweeted out a photo of the official tee times on Monday with the words “I’m having a little trouble breathing right now.”

Poston and Flener got to New York around noon on Monday. Poston picked up his courtesy car and headed for his hotel in Jersey City, where he finally had a chance to go through his text messages. He had well over 300 when he turned his phone on Sunday night after the round. The final count was somewhere in the neighborhood of 460.

“I didn't do anything golf-wise (on Monday), so I spent a lot of time kind of going through (the phone), reading a lot of them and trying to respond to most of them,” Poston said. “It was pretty awesome. Lots of support, which was cool.”

A photo of Poston holding the Sam Snead Trophy was even posted on the homepage of the website for Western Carolina University, where he played collegiately and won two Southern Conference titles. The school had already planned to announce its golf schedule this week – which, in a serendipitous turn, will include the J.T. Poston Invitational.

Poston eventually was able to get in nine holes at Liberty National on Tuesday. That is, when he wasn’t stopped by a player or a caddie or a fan telling him congratulations.

“It’s unbelievable,” he says. “Everybody out here is pulling for everybody, I’d say. I know everybody out here has worked hard to be in the position that they're in and when it pays off and you win tournaments, guys can appreciate that. …

“My caddie and I are just kind of soaking it all in.”

Come Thursday, though, Poston needs to focus. He’ll need to play well over the next two weeks to stay inside the top 30 and make it to the TOUR Championship at East Lake, where everyone has a chance at the $15 million bonus that goes to the FedExCup winner.

“It definitely feels a little weird with all this going on and how everything has happened in the last 48 hours,” Poston says. “But I think, I think once Thursday rolls around, we're starting another tournament.

“It's a Playoff event. The next two weeks are big weeks for me as far as seeing if I can get to the TOUR championship. So, I think that adrenaline kick back in and that competitive side will kick back in and I'll be ready to go.”