THE AMERICAN EXPRESS

January 20, 2023

J.T. Poston

PGA WEST Pete Dye Stadium Course

Quick Quotes

Q. 6-under 66 today. 13-under through the first 36 holes. Kind of a tale of two nines here. A brilliant front nine, five birdies in a row. Had a little struggle on the back side. But let's talk about that front nine. You were really rolling the rock.

J.T. POSTON: That's exactly it. I was hitting a lot of good quality shots, but just making a lot of good putts. These greens here are so good and roll so true it's just a matter of matching up your speed with your read. First two days I've been able to do a good job of that.

Q. Back nine, I'm going to take you to 17. You mishit the shot. You have to take a drop. But that bogey you made and then the birdie at 18, that shifted a lot of momentum back in your favor.

J.T. POSTON: Yeah, obviously I would like to have that tee ball on 17 back. It was probably the worst swing I've made the last two days. Just trying to do too much with a 9-iron than I probably should have been trying to do. Just obviously be able to save bogey and make that putt is nice to save some momentum.

Birdieing 18, hitting two good shots in there is great.

Q. You know coming in if the weather is good it's going to be a birdiefest, which it's turned into. Do you shy away from looking at the board? At one point you were the leader at 13-under. Now 18-under leads.

J.T. POSTON: You know there's going to be a lot of birdies. You got three different courses that are all yielding a lot of birdies. So I know La Quinta tomorrow there's been a lot of low scores out there and I've yet to play it. Which I think is a good thing.

The goal tomorrow is to go out there and try and shoot 7-, 8-, 9-, 10-under par, kind of like Davis did and see where we stack up at the end of the day.

Q. What is your history there at La Quinta? You comfortable there?

J.T. POSTON: Yeah. Again, it yields a lot of birdies. If you hit the ball in the fairways you're going to have a lot of short clubs. You're going to be able to get to the par-5s in two. I don't know off the top of my head what I've shot there in years past, but I would say it's, if you hit it in the right spots you should pretty easily be able to shoot, 4-, 5-, 6-under at least.

Q. You made five birdies in a row on the front nine yesterday. You did it again today at the Stadium Course. Do you recall ever doing that before in the same tournament?

J.T. POSTON: Not off the top of my head. I feel like it's pretty rare to get five in a row as it is. But to do it back-to-back rounds is probably something that -- I don't know if I've ever done it before. But if I have it's probably been awhile.

Q. Something you would like to make a habit of?

J.T. POSTON: I would like to make that a habit, for sure. Starting my nines off with front nine 30s is a good thing.

Q. You mentioned Davis at 18-under. How well do you know him? Have you played much golf with him?

J.T. POSTON: We live in the same area in Sea Island. I think he's from there originally. But I've spent some time with him. Played some. He's a really good player, really good ball-striker. Just overall has a really sharp game as a whole. I think he's got sort of the calmer mentality and demeanor and work ethic to go with it. So I'm not surprised to see him playing well. I saw him practicing and working a bunch in the off-season at home. It's no surprise to see him playing well and he'll keep playing well, I'm sure.

Q. You're a very calm guy. You have a calm demeanor on the golf course. This is the first of a stretch of three events where we use multiple courses. Obviously Sea Island is a multiple-course event too. Do you find that the chaos of that is different for you compared to maybe some other players on TOUR? Do you like it?

J.T. POSTON: I think I'm sort of indifferent with it. I think there is a little bit -- it is a little different with it being foursomes and playing with two ams this week and different golf courses.

But the benefit of here is the weather's pretty predictable. I've played it in years past, so I know the courses pretty well. I don't have to feel like I got to go out there and play a bunch of practice rounds and kind of wear myself out. I might play nine holes here and there. One of the days we just sort of skipped around and hit a tee ball here or there and a putt here or there on different greens. So having played it in years past is an advantage or is nice. Other than that, it's just like any other tournament.