Hometown favorite meets his Waterloo in first round of PGA Barbasol Championship
The 18th hole at Champions at Keene Trace is called “Waterloo.” As he played his final hole of Thursday’s first round of the PGA Barbasol Championship, Lexington native Josh Teater could have identified with the crushing defeat Napoleon suffered at Waterloo.
Teater hit not one, but two shots in the water en route to a double bogey on the 18th hole. That dropped him to 3-under par 69.
“Dinner’s not going to taste as good tonight,” he said.
No. 18 is a 429-yard par-4. In trying to avoid a fairway bunker on the left, Teater hit a 3-wood tee shot into the water on the right. Although there was 30 yards between the pin and the water on his next shot, the ball went too far right and again splashed in the water.
“You just can’t make that many mistakes and have a chance,” he said.
Teater also made double bogey on the par-4 No. 10. Those two holes nullified his fast start and made a happy homecoming storyline seem unlikely. Teater, 42, has not won a PGA Tour event. After eight holes, he was 5 under and leading.
Then came the back nine that began and ended with double bogeys.
Late in the day, “Waterloo” defeated another golfer. Luke List, a 2007 Vanderbilt graduate, was tied for the first-round lead before he hit a shot in the water and bogeyed No. 18.
A graduate and golf player for Henry Clay High School and then Morehead State, Teater acknowledged that the recent rain — plus two rain delays Thursday and forecast for more rain this weekend — would probably make the winning score 20 or more under par.
“You need to shoot 5 under or better every day, I think,” he said. After noting that the winning scores in the last two Barbasol Championships were 26- and 23-under par, he added, “It’s not going to be much different than that.
“As low as it’s going to take to win this tournament, making double (bogey) is hard to come back from. Hopefully, those (double bogeys) are the last two — (he paused before adding) — “of the season.”
UK-UNC partnership
PGA golfer J.T. Poston is from Hickory, N.C. He is a fan of the North Carolina Tar Heels.
His caddie, Aaron Flener, is from Glasgow, Ky. He is a fan of the Kentucky Wildcats.
When watching Luke Maye make the game-winning shot that beat Kentucky in the 2017 NCAA basketball tournament Elite Eight game, Poston had an immediate impulse.
“I texted Aaron right away,” Poston said after shooting a 7-under 65 in the first round.
When asked what message he texted, Poston said, “I don’t remember. But it was probably some sort of trash talk.”
Of course, Flener has had chances to counter punch. One such chance came courtesy of this week’s Barbasol Championship.
“I told him if he wants to see what eight banners look like in one place, we could go downtown,” Flener said.
When asked about how golfer and caddie will react to the next Kentucky-North Carolina game, Poston said, “Oh, I’ll be pulling for those Tar Heels. We might have some sort of wager. I’ll be pulling against (Kentucky) then. But that’s about the only time.”
Poston and Flener have enjoyed a golfer-caddie partnership on the course and a friendship off it for three years.
Poston credited Flener’s counsel about staying patient for keeping him from over-reacting when he had pars on the first four holes, and six of the first seven.
“It’s just nice having a buddy or a friend that you’ve got a lot in common with on the bag,” Poston said. “It just keeps it pretty laid back. We have a lot of fun, especially this week. This is like his home event. You’ll probably hear a little more Aaron Flener cheers than cheers for me.”
Flener is the nephew of former Lexington Catholic basketball coach Bart Flener, whose career included coaching future UK player Brandon Stockton for Glasgow High School. Aaron played golf for Glasgow High School (1998-2001). The team was runner-up in the state tournament his senior year, he said.
Flener then played for Lipscomb.
Three years ago, Flener and Poston helped raised in excess of $10,000 for a charity in the name of the late UK quarterback Jared Lorenzen, the caddie said. With each score under par translating into donations, Poston made about 10 birdies the first day, Flener said.
When asked to name his favorite UK players, Flener mentioned Anthony Epps, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe and Devin Booker.
“Looking forward to learning a new team this year,” he said. “Should be fun. I’m glad (Davion) Mintz came back.”
Omen?
A broad smile crossed the face of first-round leader Brian Stuard when asked if Thursday’s play could be interpreted as an omen.
Stuard’s only PGA victory came in the rain-shortened Zurich Classic of New Orleans in 2016. Thursday’s first round saw rain delays of 80 and 75 minutes.
After two rain delays in Thursday’s first round, play was suspended because of darkness. The first round was to be completed Friday morning. Thirty of the 132 players were unable to finish Thursday.
With a forecast calling for a 50-percent chance of rain Friday, a 70-percent chance of rain Saturday and 30-percent chance on Sunday, Stuard was asked about the wet first round being an omen.
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“You know, I hope so,” he said. “We’ll see. Yeah, I Iike it when the greens are soft. I’m not one of the longer (hitting) guys, so I need the greens to be kind of soft so I can hit my irons and stop them close to the hole.”
For those looking for an omen, there’s this: Stuard shot a 64 Thursday. In his only PGA Tour victory, he shot a 64 in the first round.
Given the expectation of low scoring at Champions at Keene Trace this week, Stuard put this first-round 64 in perspective.
“It was a good start, but in all honesty, it really didn’t mean much,” he said. “I need three more good rounds to put myself in contention, I guess.
“But it was nice to start off well.”
Stuard, 38, is from Jackson, Mich. He played collegiately for Oakland University.
This story was originally published July 15, 2021 at 10:09 PM.
