CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WLOS) — North Carolina is showing off in the first round of the 107th PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte.

Raleigh native and UNC Chapel Hill alum Ryan Gerard is T2 after shooting a first round 66, Wake Forest High School and Duke University grad Alex Smalley, this week’s first alternate, is T4 after shooting four under on Thursday, and Hickory’s J.T. Poston shot three under and sits at T9.

Poston, a Western Carolina University grad, said he loved playing in front of a home crowd just an hour from Hickory.

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On Wednesday, Poston spoke with News 13 and explained what he needed to do well in competition.

“It’s just hitting the ball well and just trying to be consistent,” Poston said Wednesday. “I think that’s my goal this week is my strength is the putter and around the greens and this place asks a lot more off the tee and tee to green. So, for me, I really need to have a good week tee to green, and that is just something where I need to be a little more consistent. That’s kind of what I’m looking for to start the week; I’m not going to go out there and try and shoot eight under and be leading the first day, but these majors I’ve learned that you have to be really patient and pars are great, so that’s kind of the game plan.”

On Thursday, he hit nearly 80% of Quail Hollow’s fairways and had five birdies. Two bogeys put him back, including one on the final hole.

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“I hit it really good,” Poston said. “I drove it pretty well. I don’t know really what my stats were, but I felt like I hit a lot of fairways and greens. I just felt like I had good control of my golf ball. You’ve got to do that around here. I know it’s a big golf course, and a lot of people are talking about you have to hit it far, which you do, but I think you definitely have to hit it in the fairway, as well, just because the rough can still be penal. These greens are great. I feel like if I can just give myself a lot of chances, I can make some birdies for sure.”

Poston matched his best score ever at Quail Hollow Club (68) and secured his career best first round finish in a major championship (T9). His previous top performance was T12 at the 2020 PGA Championship at Harding Park; he would go on to finish T75.

“I think Harding Park was one of my first majors, maybe,” Poston said. “It wasn’t my first one, but it still felt very early in my major career. Again, like I’ve learned over the years, you’ve got to stay patient in these weeks. They are hard weeks. The golf course tends to get harder and harder as the week goes on, and you know, there’s a lot of golf left. So, I think for me, I’m just going to go out there and try and do exactly what I did today, tomorrow. And we’ll see where we end up after tomorrow and do same thing on Saturday and same thing on Sunday. I know it’s cliché, but it’s the approach that I’ve got to take, and I’ve learned that I’ve got to take over the years, and hopefully, again, I can execute that a little bit better this year.”

Poston tees off his second round at 12:58 PM on Friday.