Great Bobby Jones has simply simplified competitive golf despite the once famous mantra.
Every week on the PGA tour you can see how your mind takes over a man's swing. He was already looking for a tee almost to be shot from the boundary as he was looking for a very nervous Brian Campbell in the second playoff hole at the Mexico Open. Luckily he took a lifelong break – his balls bouncing back from the bamboo tree trunks to play. He then won for the first time, earning a nine-year emotional victory.
Those who thrive under pressure will win majors in bundles. Perhaps no one has a stronger mental fortitude than Tiger Woods, who lives for a moment of pressure.
And then there's Luke Clanton, 21. Luke Clanton will be cut at Cognizant Classic in Palm Beach this week to secure his PGA Tour membership this year and next year. If Clanton does that, it would be an amazing result, especially since he is still a junior. Florida. However, Clanton began before he became a teenager thanks to an incredible amateur career.
Clanton remembers shaking all day at the 2015 US Kids World Championship at Tullamore Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina. He was only 11 years old at the time.
“I know it sounds a bit ridiculous, but we've grown a lot of local events.
“My dad was in his bag and I remember when he was 18 years old and shaking.”
He won four tournaments and proved that he could still calm the butterflies in his stomach even from a young age. On the first day he posted a 7-under 65, silenced his suspicions of preconceived notions about himself.
“Pressure is a kind of word I don't want to use,” Clanton added.
“I like to use excitement because it's exciting. You're trying to do everything you can and try to accomplish what people are training. Again, I think it's the overall pressure and excitement. It's an honor to even feel that in general.”
This approach helped Clanton become a star. But that doesn't mean he's immune from feeling pressure.
At the WM Phoenix Open in early February, Clanton was once again exempted from another sponsor to play among the pros. Clanton had already built up a lot of playing experiences before that, as he marked his 10th start on the PGA Tour since last summer. He opened the cut in the US.
However, Clanton never played in front of the crowd that surrounds the 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale. Thousands of screaming fans wreaked havoc, often turning players' minds into pretzels. It could have happened to Clanton on the first day. He signed a featureless 74. The next day, Clanton made two birdies and two bosies on his first 10 holes, but by the time he reached the difficult par-4 11th place, he was in the championship three overs.
He also sat five shots under the cut line, but needed a Jack Nicklaus 1986 type rally to close it. Throw the fact that making a cut gives him a PGA Tour membership and from there the tension surges. But it didn't slow Clanton down. Instead, he accepted it. He birded hole 11th and drilled another par break at par 5 13th.
“We basically thought of cutting from the 14th,” Clanton later says.
As he arrived at par 5 15th place and the famous Coliseum for the 16th time was hiding in the background, Clanton sat in the championship one over, three shots from the cut. He had to finish 3 under on the final four holes. This is a feasible yet challenging task with the closure and enthusiastic stretching of TPC Scottsdale. He birded hole 15, putt twice on the famous 16th, then made three driveable par 4s on the 17th. This set the stage for the 18th do-or-die, all-for-for-nothing situation.
Clanton pounded the drive into the middle of the fairway and mixed the darts over the flagstick. His adrenaline led to that extra carry as his balls settled the cup 18 feet away. He had a putt to win a PGA Tour card now, but unfortunately that was not intended.
“Today was a great day. It exploded. I had a great fight,” Clanton said.
“I had to make five birdies on the last eight holes and raise four, and the 18 had a huge opportunity. It's difficult. It's difficult to take. But again, I'm going to walk through my faith and continue to realize that it's not my time.”
Despite that almost mistake, Clanton proved something bigger. He showed how he knows how to handle pressure, even among all the chaotic TPC offerings Scottsdale offers.
“Pressure is a privilege. It's a big thing that everyone says, and it's true. I saw it as almost nervous at the beginning of the week, and when I arrived on Thursday it was amazing to play with Justin Thomas and then play again with my good buddy Nick Dunlap,” Clanton said of his experience in Phoenix on Wednesday.
“It wasn't going my way that week, and you can see it as a failure, but I see it as learning, as we always say. Everyone says it to make a cut, but I want to play well. I want to go out and try to play as much as I can. I'm trying to flip that mindset from making a cut, from actually trying to compete in this event.”
That mindset will continue to pay dividends in the future – perhaps this week in South Florida.
Jack Mirco is a golf staff writer who plays SB Nation. Follow him with x @jack_milko.
