J.T. Poston chased a day-one 62 with a Friday 65 and will enter the weekend in the Quad Cities with a four-shot lead at the 2022 John Deere Classic.
The overnight leader got off to a terrific start with four straight birdies on Nos. 2-5 to reach 13 under. He dropped his only shot of the day (and tournament) on the par-4 6th hole but bounced back with a fifth birdie on No. 9 to turn on 4-under 31. A clean closing nine with a pair of gains on Nos. 10 and 13 have the North Carolina native the pole position at halftime on 15 under.
“Yeah, that was the game plan coming into the day,” said Poston, when asked if his plan was to pad the lead. “Last week the one thing I think I learned after playing well Thursday was to try and keep the pedal down.
“I think this golf course may yield a few more birdies than last week, but at the same time, you got to go out there and hit some golf shots to stay aggressive.
“I was able to do that, which is nice.”
Denny McCarthy also shot 65 and was alone in third on 11-under par.
“Yeah, got to make birdies,” said McCarthy. “Yeah, no other way around it at this place. You can’t just coast around making pars around here.
“Came out with an aggressive mindset trying to shoot something low to mid-60s. Left a few out there; didn’t make as many putts as I did to start yesterday, but I’m playing some solid golf, so like where my game is. Just come out with the same mentality tomorrow.”
Rounding out the top five positions on the leaderboard were Emiliano Grillo (64), Mathias Schwab (65), Chris Naegel (66) and Christopher Gotterup (67), who were T3 on 10-under par.
John Deere Classic 2022
Leaderboard: Top 10
Pos-Player-Score (Rd2)
1. J.T. Poston -15 (-6)
2. Denny McCarthy -11 (-6)
3. Emiliano Grillo -10 (-7)
3. Mathias Schwab -10 (-6)
3. Chris Naegel -10 (-5)
3. Christopher Gotterup -10 (-4)
7. Nine players tied -9