Luke Clanton had an incredible performance last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, finishing tied for 10th. The Florida golfer will return to the PGA Tour for the second consecutive event when he competes in the John Deere Classic.
Clanton was two strokes behind the leader going into the final day and many expected him to become just the second amateur golfer to win on the PGA Tour in six months, joining Nick Dunlap, but he shot a par-72 on Sunday.
Despite all this success against PGA Tour competitors, the junior isn’t worried about professional golf just yet.
“I want to win a national championship with my team,” Clanton said ahead of the John Deere Classic.
“That was my No. 1 goal in college and I got pretty close this year. Everyone here is really motivated to achieve that this year. Again, I think whatever happens, happens. I’m only 20 years old. I’m still learning everything I can. I’m going to do what I have to do.”
Clanton finished second in the amateur rankings to Neil Shipley at Pinehurst in the U.S. Open and continued his momentum at Detroit, finishing at 14 under par. His driver His best clubHe finished second in tee shots won at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Clanton was a junior at Florida State and helped the Seminoles advance to the national title game against Auburn, where they lost 2-1 to J.M. Butler in the final game.
But the 20-year-old’s most impressive spring season came when he won three straight tournaments, finished as runner-up in the NCAA individual tournament, recorded 10 top-1 records in 14 starts and posted the lowest season average in FSU history of 69.33.
He prefers to keep it simple on the golf course, and regardless of what he’s won in his young career, it’s all about the golf.
“I’m here to do my best and that’s it,” he said. “If I can put together four days and play and get some more points, that’s great. My main goal is to do my best.”
He may have won six figures last week, but the young man is determined to finish school. Clanton knows that professional golf is there if he achieves the goals he sets for himself in college.
“I think I’m pretty close to where I want to be,” Clanton said. “I guess I had pretty lofty goals growing up and a lot of expectations of what I wanted to do. There’s one thing I want, obviously, I think that’s pretty obvious. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens over the next few weeks.”
The goal is not to win on the PGA Tour, but to win individual and team national championships with Florida State University.
For the first two rounds of the John Deere Classic, Clanton will be paired with Pierceson Coody and Joe Highsmith, who will tee off at 2:44pm ET on Thursday and 9:24am ET on Friday.
Next up for the youngster is the ISCO Championship, taking place in Nicholasville, Kentucky from July 11-14. Clanton received a sponsor’s exemption, which is an opposite-field event from the Genesis Scottish Open. He’ll also be playing on an exemption into the 3M Open at the end of July.
Savannah Lee Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow us for more golf articles. Follow You can follow us on all major social platforms. You can also follow us on Twitter Follow Instagram: @savannah_leigh_sports
