These past few years the top storylines around men’s professional golf have swirled around one ethos: profit maximization.
So it was more than a little refreshing when, earlier this week, amateur Luke Clanton offered a different perspective.
Clanton is a rising junior at Florida State. Last month, he made the cut at the U.S. Open, though Neal Shipley edged him for low am honors. He improved on that performance at last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic, where he played on a sponsor exemption and finished T10. Because Clanton has remained an amateur, he’s forfeiting the big-time paychecks that come with big-time results on the PGA Tour, but in a pre-tournament press conference at this week’s John Deere Classic, he made it clear that he’s OK with that.
Clanton was sporting a “Union Home Mortgage” logo on his shirt and hat, a reminder that we’re in a new era when it comes to amateur golf, when a reporter asked: Is there much NIL (name, image and likeness) sponsorship money in college golf?
“There’s a little bit, no doubt,” he said.
But not, surely, the same amount he could make on the PGA Tour?
“I think it’s enough for a college student, for sure. I think it’s — I don’t really need a lot of money right now. I’m 20 years old, still at Florida State University. It’s enough to handle what we have here and to be able to travel. I think it’s good.”
Good stuff there, especially that two-word phrase we haven’t seen much of: “It’s enough.”
That echoed a similar sentiment he expressed at the Rocket Mortgage:
“I play golf to play golf. I think being able to play golf with your buddies every single day, it’s something you don’t get very much. I’ve got 12 dudes on that team that I absolutely love, so it’s awesome.”
Perhaps one key to Clanton’s contentedness is that the 20-year-old feels confident that there is plenty of prize money in his playing future. He showed that at Pinehurst and at Detroit Golf Club, and he’s showing that through two rounds at this week’s John Deere, too, where he opened 63-67 and, as of Friday afternoon, sits T4 at the tournament’s halfway point. That’s a key to understanding Clanton: He’s really good. DataGolf has him ranked as the best amateur in the world. He’s not short on self-assuredness.
Asked if he’s surprised to be on these leaderboards, Clanton basically shrugged.
“Not really,” he said. “I don’t want to sound cocky or boastful at all, but we’ve trained to do what we’re doing here.”
That doesn’t mean he’s taking it for granted. Clanton came off the course on Friday expressing just how much fun he’d had battling his way to a four-under 67 that included a double bogey-birdie-birdie-par finish.
“I knew I was going to make birdie, birdie,” he said of his mindset following the double. “I knew it. I knew after I got that double, I said to myself, we ain’t finishing at 10-under; we’re going to finish at 12.”
Clanton’s game has him swimming in summer opportunity. This week, for instance, he could be at the prestigious Palmer Cup, but he’s here instead. He’ll play the ISCO in Kentucky next week, then take a week off, then play the 3M Open. There’s plenty of PGA Tour golf in his future even before he turns pro. But his goal?
“I think goal No. 1 is to win a national championship with my team,” he said of his fellow Seminoles. Both team and individual would be great, he adds.
He allowed that circumstances could change if, say, he won the John Deere this week — “we’ll see,” he said, appropriately adding that “we have two more days of golf” — but he was keen on emphasizing one phrase for the week.
“I’m just having fun,” he said. “I’m going to say that over and over because it’s the truth. I’m not really trying to think too much about it all.”
He has friends in high places, this talented 20-year-old. Fellow FSU golfer Brooks Koepka has helped him with his mindset, he said, thanks to a couple rounds together.
“He helped me a lot with just staying calmer through rounds and understanding to take it one shot at a time,” Clanton said of Koepka. “Sounds simple and it is, but when you’re out there and trying to chase birdies, it gets caught up in your head. So I realized just take it one shot at a time. Understanding that I’m going to hit bad golf shots; it’s not going to be perfect all the time. Just understanding that.”
He’s also borrowed from the mindset of World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, with whom he shared a practice round at the U.S. Open.
“Best player in the world I think by a mile right now,” Clanton said. “I talked to him a bunch about his faith and my faith and understanding that he said to me, golf is just a game. It doesn’t identify who I am. When he said that to me, it kind of clicked, because it’s understanding that this game of golf doesn’t identify who I am off the golf course, on the golf course.
“Again, I’m just having fun.”
It’s easier to have fun, of course, when you’re playing well. But it’s also easier to play well when you’re having fun. Clanton has worked himself into this virtuous cycle, a top-tier amateur playing against the top-tier talent on the PGA Tour and acquitting himself admirably, letting fun and confidence each feed off each other, knowing good things will follow.
For now, it’s enough. More than enough, even.
