J.T. Poston holds on to win Shriners Children's Open | The Sunday Swing

The Sunday Swing 
October 20th, 2024 

Welcome back to another edition of the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. This week in the world of professional golf, the PGA Tour was in Las Vegas for the Shriners Children’s Open.

Shriners Children’s Open - Tournament History 

For how insignificant the Shriners Children’s Open may seem in relation to the rest of the Tour’s schedule, it actually contains a lot of history. Established in 1983, the Shriners was originally played as a 90-hole competition and it remained this way until 2004 when it was changed to the typical 72. In its inaugural season, the Shriners had a record setting purse on the PGA Tour of $750,000 and Fuzzy Zoeller took home the $135,000 winners check. Just one year later, the event became the first tour event to eclipse $1 million in total prize money. 

Fast forward to 1996, where a 21-year-old kid named Tiger Woods took down Davis Love in a playoff for his first ever PGA Tour title. In 2010, Jonathan Byrd made a hole-in-one on the 4th hole of a three man playoff to win the event. Before finding its home at TPC Summerlin, the Shriners was played at eleven other venues in the Las Vegas area. TPC Summerlin is a Bobby Weed design that opened in 1991. The par 71 features a variety of different aspects, including rocky desert areas, tree-lined holes, driveable par-4s, and big water hazards. Measuring 7,255 yards, the course has given up a lot of low scores over the years. Four players currently hold the tournament scoring record at 24-under par (260). The previous five winners of the Shriners Children’s Open are as follows: 

2024 - J.T. Poston (-22)
2023 - Tom Kim (-20)
2022 - Tom Kim (-24)
2021 - Sungjae Im (-24)
2020 - Martin Laird (-23) 

The Big Swing 

This week the big swing belongs to J.T. Poston. After a tough 2024 season where Poston only posted four top-10s, J.T. looked like he had things figured out this week. After opening with rounds of 64 and 65, Poston put himself in prime position heading into the weekend. Matching his 64 and 65 was 26-year-old Matti Schmid from Germany. Schmid had his best season of his young career in 2024, posting seven top-25 finishes and appears to have carried the momentum into the fall season. 

On Saturday the trend continued for Poston as he carded a third round 67. Schmid went on to card a Saturday 70 and lost ground to Poston, but was still in contention with one round to play. Sitting at 18-under through round three, Poston would have the overnight lead as he prepared to fend off a field of chasers. 

One of the players chasing on Sunday was Michael Kim, who is a great example of one of those “bubble players” positioned near the 125th mark in the standings (Kim entered the week 129th). The top 125 earn a higher level of status during the 2025 PGA Tour season, so plenty was on the line for Kim. He entered the final round nine shots back, but Kim carded a final round 61, making 10 birdies, and vaulting up the leaderboard to finish inside the top-5 and move to 112th in the standings.

For Poston on Sunday, the key would be patience and consistency. Knowing he had the lead when he teed off didn’t mean he could let off the gas by any means, as players like Kim were already going low. Poston wasted no time picking up another shot as he made a statement birdie on the opening hole. He picked up just one more birdie on the front nine, but his lead was still intact. 

After two more birdies at Nos. 12 and 13, Poston’s lead began to grow. Another birdie on the 15th extended it to four shots momentarily, but a bogey on the 17th after a short miss made things interesting. Doug Ghim had a nice round going and was 4-under on his round when he made two birdies on the final three holes to post 21-under in the clubhouse. Poston’s lead was now just one as he stood on the 18th tee, setting up a much more tense finish than he maybe thought a few holes prior. However, one last confident putting stroke on a four-foot par putt gave Poston his third career win on the PGA Tour, and a confidence boost ahead of the 2025 regular season. Rounding out the top-5 were Ghim, Matti Schmid, Rico Hoey, Kim, Davis Thompson, and K.H. Lee.

Winner’s Bag - J.T. Poston 

Titleist staffer J.T. Poston picked up his third PGA Tour title in Las Vegas on Sunday afternoon at the Shriners Children’s Open. Poston plays Titleist throughout the bag, but he has a variety of generations in play. Starting off the tee, Poston plays the all new Titleist GT3 Driver (9 degrees). He carries just one fairway wood, a Titleist TS2 3-wood (15 degrees). Going along with that is a TS2 3-hybrid (19 degrees), and a Titleist U500 4-iron. The rest of the iron set consists of Titleist T100s (5-9 iron). Around the greens, Poston carries four wedges – three SM10s (46, 50, and 56 degrees), and a Vokey WedgeWorks lob wedge (60 degrees). Poston is most known for being an elite putter, and the one that he employs is a Scotty Cameron GoLo 5 Black Tour Prototype.

Key Stats: 
Strokes Gained: Off the Tee- 15th
Strokes Gained: Approach to Green- 20th
Strokes Gained: Around the Green- 6th
Strokes Gained: Putting- 8th
Strokes Gained: Total- 1st