Josh Teater's lessons learned from runner-up at 2020 Puerto Rico Open

“I’m good enough.”

That was the key quote from Josh Teater at the 2020 Puerto Rico Open – an event he returns to this week on a sponsor exemption – after he fell one stroke shy of Viktor Hovland’s winning total.

At the time, he was 40. Two kids. Earned millions of dollars playing the game he fell in love with as a teenager after realizing his basketball dreams weren’t going to come true. But he just couldn’t quite do it that week.

Still, Teater, who has returned to the Korn Ferry Tour after falling short of the magical top-125 mark on the 2020-21 FedExCup, isn’t giving up. A return to the Puerto Rico Open this week isn’t wrapped in what-could-have-been, but instead in what-am-I-going-to-do.

He thinks back to that week often, he says.

He was four shots clear of the field at one point, but Viktor Hovland went on to birdie the 72nd hole and win by one. He got beat, he says.

“I played a great tournament, and it just wasn’t good enough that week and that’s the way the game is,” reflected Teater this week from Puerto Rico. “Sometimes you can have everything you’ve got and you lose, and sometimes you don’t have your best and you can win. We know what Viktor has gone on to do and continues to do. I gained a lot of confidence from that tournament.

“Obviously I wanted to win. For sure.”

With a break in the Korn Ferry Tour schedule, Teater was thrilled to receive an invite to this week’s event in Puerto Rico at a course he likes and feels comfortable on.

He and his wife, Ashley, celebrated their ninth wedding anniversary on Wednesday of tournament week (March 2) and along with their sons, Brooks and Bain (who are 4 and 8, respectively), he has built up a strong support system. The family recently moved back to Teater’s native Kentucky after six years in St. Simons Island, Georgia.

Teater says Ashley’s support has been there “100 percent.” He laughs, not knowing if his young sons love golf yet, but they’re into sports already and when their dad comes home, there’s nothing like it.

“I’m gone a lot, but when I get home, it’s a breath of fresh air to be with them,” he said.

As a TOUR veteran, Teater says the golfing culture in St. Simons Island – the area is, of course, home to countless professional golfers – was good for both the younger guys trying to make a big-time splash and him.

“I think it’s going both ways,” he said, “they probably learned from me, and I learned from them.”

One thing Teater learned over the last two years is that he wasn’t going to be giving up or transitioning out of pro golf’s grind anytime soon. He has always been a competitor, he said, and that has kept him motivated through the times when results weren’t coming.

He continues to improve, he says, even into his early 40s. The competition is there, and he loves being involved with it.

Returning to the Korn Ferry Tour for 2022 was not in his plans, but everyone knows it’s part of the TOUR’s ladder. If you don’t earn one of the 125 fully-exempt spots via the FedExCup, you must work your way back.

“I’ve done it before and in times when you fall short and don’t accomplish what you want, it’s a learning opportunity,” said Teater. “There’s a reason why I’m here where I’m at today and … I’m going to do my best. I feel like I can win and earn my spot back and be stronger when I do get back to the PGA TOUR.”

Teater feels like this week in Puerto Rico is a free one for him. It’s laid-back, he says. A bonus to come back to a place where he has had success with a little bump in his step.

He’s good enough.

“Finished second here a few years ago,” he said with a knowing tone, “and hopefully I can do one better this week."