Luke Clanton is in contention for the second week in a row on the PGA Tour – as a rookie.
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Over the past few years the top story lines surrounding men’s golf have revolved around one ethos: profit maximization.
So it was refreshing when, earlier this week, student Luke Clanton offered a different perspective.
Clanton is a rising junior at Florida State. Last month he made an arrow at the US Open, despite Neal Shipley winning the lower medals. He improved on that performance at last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic, where he played sponsor-friendly and finished T10. Because Clanton is still a rookie he’s missing out on the long-term payoff that comes with big results on the PGA Tour, but in a pre-tournament press conference at this week’s John Deere Classic he made it clear he’s fine with that.
Clanton had the “Union Home Mortgage” logo on his shirt and hat, a reminder that we’re in a new era when it comes to college golf, when a reporter asked the question: is there a lot of NIL (name, image and likeness? ) scholarship money for college golf?
“There is a little bit, no doubt,” he said.
But not, surely, the same amount he can make on the PGA Tour?
“I think it’s enough for a college student. I think—I don’t really need a lot of money right now. I am 20 years old, still at Florida State University. It’s enough to manage what we have here and be able to go. I think it’s good.”
Good stuff there, especially that two-word phrase we haven’t seen much of: “Enough is enough.”
That echoes the same sentiments he expressed at Rocket Mortgage:
“I play golf to play golf. I think being able to play golf with your friends every day is something you don’t get very often. I have 12 players in that team that I love the most, so it’s great.”
Perhaps one key to Clanton’s satisfaction is that the 20-year-old feels confident there is plenty of prize money in his playing future. He’s shown that at Pinehurst and Detroit Golf Club and he’s showing it in two rounds at this week’s John Deere, where he opened 63-67 and, as of Friday afternoon, sits T4 in the middle of the tournament. That’s the key to understanding Clanton: he’s really good. DataGolf has him ranked as the best beginner in the world. He doesn’t lack confidence.
Asked if he was surprised to be on these leaderboards, Clanton shrugged.
“Not really,” he said. “I don’t want to sound cocky or bragging, but we’re trained to do what we do here.”
That doesn’t mean you take it lightly. Clanton walked off the course Friday expressing how much fun he had fighting his way to a 4-under 67 that included a double-bogey-birdie-birdie-par finish.
“I knew I was going to make a bird, a bird,” he said of his thought following the double. “I knew. I knew after I got that double, I told myself, we’re not going to finish 10-under; we’re going to finish 12.”
Clanton’s game has him swimming in summer opportunities. This week, for example, he could be at the prestigious Palmer Cup but he’s here instead. He will play ISCO in Kentucky next week, then take a week off, then play the 3M Open. There is plenty of PGA Tour golf in his future even before he becomes a champion. But his goal?
“I think the No. 1 goal is to win a national championship with my team,” he said of his Seminoles teammates. Both the group and the individual can be good, he adds.
He conceded that conditions could change if, say, he wins the John Deere this week — “we’ll see,” noting that we’ve got “two more days of golf” — but he was determined to emphasize the one phrase of the week.
“I’m just having fun,” he said. “I will always say that because it is true. I don’t really try to think too much about everything.”
He has friends in high places, this talented 20-year-old. FSU teammate Brooks Koepka helped him in his thinking, he said, because of the few rounds together.
“He helped me a lot with staying calm during the round and understanding that I can take one shot at a time,” Clanton said of Koepka. “It sounds simple and it is, but when you’re out there and you’re trying to chase the birds away, it gets stuck in your head. So I figured I’d just take it one shot at a time. Understanding that I’m going to hit bad golf shots; it won’t always be right. You just understand that.”
He also borrowed from the mind of World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, with whom he shared a practice round at the US Open.
“The best player in the world I think by a mile now,” Clanton said. “I have talked to him a lot about his faith and my faith and the understanding he said to me, golf is just a game. It doesn’t say who I am. When he said that to me it was like a click, because it is understood that this game of golf does not reveal who I am off the field, on the golf course.
“Also, I’m just having fun.”
It’s easy to have fun, of course, if you play well. But it’s also easier to play well when you’re having fun. Clanton has worked himself into this great cycle, a top-notch rookie playing against top talent on the PGA Tour and acquitted himself admirably, letting fun and confidence feed each other, knowing good things will follow.
For now, that’s enough. More than enough, I say.
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