J.T. Poston
School: Western Carolina (SoCon member 1976-present)
Sport: Men's Golf
Years Competed: 2011-15
Major/Degree: Finance
Relevant Statistics
A four-year starter, Poston finished atop Western Carolina’s career scoring average list at 71.71 … Holds two of the top individual single-season scoring averages at WCU, including a school-record 70.27 in 2013-14 and 71.13 averaged as a senior in 2014-15 … From 2011 through 2015, Poston won six college men’s golf tournaments during his WCU career, four coming during his banner Player of the Year season as a junior … Finished his career with 30 top 10 individual finishes and 21 career top five showings … Over 49 career tournaments and 139 career rounds, posted 40 rounds in the 60s with 89 rounds of even-par or better.
Team Record(s)/Finishes
Led the 2013-14 Catamounts to a fourth-place team finish at the 2014 SoCon Men’s Golf Championship, the best for a Western Carolina team since a third-place showing in 2009.
Conference Honors/Awards
Southern Conference Men’s Golfer of the Year in 2013-14, just the third of now four Catamount men’s golfers to earn the league’s top honor all-time … Two-time Southern Conference Men’s Golf Individual Medalist in 2013-14 and 2014-15 … Three-time All-Southern Conference selection in 2013, 2014, and 2015 … Named to the SoCon All-Freshman team in 2011-12 … Four-time SoCon Men’s Golfer of the Week and a two-time SoCon Men’s Golfer of the Month … Finished inside the Top 10 at the SoCon Championship in all four years, twice winning the event … Selected to the Southern Conference 100th Anniversary Team for men’s golf in 2021.
National Honors/Awards
Three-time PING All-East Region selection by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) in 2013, 2014, and 2015 … Two-time PING All-America selection, earning honorable mention in 2013-14 and third-team selection in 2014-15 … Was a third-team All-America honoree from Golfweek as a junior in 2013-14 and an honorable mention in 2015 … Twice made the watch list for the United States team for the prestigious Palmer Cup … Was also listed on the watch lists for the Ben Hogan Award and the 2014 Haskins Award in 2013-14 … Advanced to three NCAA Men’s Golf Regionals – Tallahassee in 2013, Raleigh in 2014, and Chapel Hill in 2015 … Finished tied for second at the Chapel Hill Regional in 2015, becoming the first and only Catamount men’s golfer to advance advancing to the NCAA Men’s Golf National Championship as an individual – rallied on the 54th hole of the regional to force a playoff to determine who would advance, winning on the second hole of the playoff to advance … Just the second Catamount men’s golfer all-time to earn a GolfStat No. 1 ranking during a season, doing so on Oct. 29, 2013 … Finished the 2013-14 season ranked No. 3 in the nation, according to GolfStat.
Other Notable Information
Named to the Spring Academic All-Southern Conference team three times (2013, 2014, 2015) … Selected to the Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll four times (2011-12; 2012-13; 2013-14; 2014-15) … Was on the WCU Dean’s List four times (Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Fall, 2013, Spring 2014) and was on the Chancellor’s List twice (Fall 2014, Spring 2015).
Poston turned professional in 2015 and earned his initial PGA TOUR card through the Web.com Tour money list in 2016 … At the time of nomination, the active player on the PGA TOUR has won four career events … Secured his first PGA TOUR victory at the 2019 Wyndham Championship, finishing victorious with a completely blemish-free, bogey-free scorecard, the first PGA player to achieve the feat in a tour event since 1974 … Led wire-to-wire to win his second career event by three strokes at the 2022 John Deere Classic … Won his third career medalist honors at the 2024 Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas … Claimed perhaps his biggest career event, winning in a playoff Jack Nicklaus’s tournament, the Memorial Tournament in 2026 hosted at Muirfield Village Golf Club.