Josh Teater shoots 64 with TOUR card on the line at Wyndham Championship

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Josh Teater started the week off by throwing out the first pitch on Monday at the Greensboro Grasshoppers game.

He has skills, too. The ball caught the right corner of home plate for a strike.

“They let me go out to the rubber, which you usually don’t see,” Teater said. “Brought back some old memories from the baseball days.”

“He definitely threw some heat,” the Grasshoppers posted with the video of the pitch on Facebook.

On Thursday, Teater was still wearing the cap he got at the game when he shot 64 in the first round of the Wyndham Championship. The round of 6 under left him just two strokes off the lead.

There’s a lot at stake at Sedgefield Country Club this week, to be sure. Teater, who came into the week ranked 165th in the FedExCup, likely needs a finish of solo third or better to make the Playoffs and secure his PGA TOUR card for the 2019-20 season.

He’s been playing better of late, though, with a tie for sixth at the Barbasol Championship in his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, two weeks ago, where he shot 21 under on a course not unlike Sedgefield where you have to go low. He also shared 13th at last week’s Barracuda Championship.

In fact, Teater has made the cut on seven of his last eight starts – after missing 10 of his first 15 starts through the AT&T Byron Nelson. The upswing started when he parlayed a sponsor’s exemption into a tie for 17th at the Charles Schwab Challenge that was his best of the year until the last two weeks.

“Just trying to keep being patient,” Teater said. “I think after Byron Nelson I was kind of at a low point, like what am I going to do, and since then I've turned it around in a considerable way. Colonial was a huge tournament for me getting an exemption and playing well.

“Yeah, just trying to not make too much of it, you know. These hot summer days, not staying out here practicing for two and three hours, going and getting off my feet and relaxing and trying to be fresh.”

Teater, a big Kentucky fan who played collegiately at Morehead State, opened with three straight birdies on Thursday and ended up with a 30 on the front nine. He was resilient on the back nine, following a double bogey on the 14th with a 13-foot eagle putt at the next.

“That's probably the hardest hole, 14,” Teater said. “I mean, no reason for me not to make a bogey there, I just three-putted from the front fringe.

“But we had a nice little break there, got to sit in one of the nice comfortable Wyndham chairs and kind of get it out of my mind. Obviously, a little bounce back.”

Teater finished his round off with a flourish when he holed a bunker shot at No. 18 for a final birdie.

Teater, who was a fully-exempt TOUR member from 2010-14, got his card back through the Korn Ferry Tour for this season. He needs to finish 150th or better in the FedExCup to be conditionally exempt and inside the top 125 to secure full playing privileges.

This week, the 40-year-old Teater isn’t worrying about the numbers. He’s just trying to play his best golf and stay patient.

“It's the hardest part of the game,” Teater said. “We're all capable of winning every week and rarely do we do it. I've been out here almost 10 years and haven't done it, so it would be a good time for it.”