The hottest player in amateur golf, Luke Clanton, isn’t slowing down yet

CHASKA, Minn. — It’s become so routine, the man with the cigar was not even impressed.

Luke Clanton, already with a stranglehold in the opening round of U.S. Amateur match play, had just wedged to 5 feet on the par-5 11th hole at Hazeltine National Golf Club, which followed two perfectly flighted shots that pierced through the suddenly blustery Minnesota wind.

“Clanton hits a perfect wedge,” the man said, dryly. “Weird.”

Now, Clanton didn’t make the putt on 11 — it leaked out on the low side — but it did little to slow the match’s momentum or the charge of a pre-tournament favorite in this 2024 U.S. Amateur. He stayed 4 up through 11 holes and eventually beat Dylan McDermott 4 and 3 to advance to Thursday’s round of 32.

Sometimes it’s difficult to live up to lofty expectations, but so far it’s been no issue for the top-ranked amateur in the world, who claimed that position when the rankings updated on Wednesday. Clanton showed up here later than everyone, electing to play the weekend of the weather-delayed Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour instead. It was a good decision, as he closed with 62-69 and finished 5th before he jumped on a private plane for the Twin Cities and arrived late Sunday night.

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“Honestly I don’t really remember getting tired,” Clanton said. “I’m just going day by day and week by week. You don’t really get tired cause your adrenaline is just going. This morning I woke up and thought I’d be exhausted, but I was just wide awake and ready to go. It’s the U.S. Am, man — you want to win. It’s just awesome to be out here.”

His top 10 at the Wyndham was not an outlier for the 20-year-old rising junior at Florida State. Last month, he top-10’d in back-to-back PGA Tour starts — the first amateur to do so since 1958 — and also became the first amateur in U.S. Open history to record consecutive rounds in the 60s.

Clanton was able to sneak in a practice round at Hazeltine when he missed the cut at the 3M Open last month, but the stroke-play co-host, Chaska Town Course, was more of an unknown. With a late tee time on Monday, Clanton shot 69 in the first round and then a two-under 70 on Tuesday at Hazeltine.

“The first couple of days was a little bit of a grind,” Clanton said. “I was kind of hitting it OK, and then today was a lot better.”

The round of 32 and 16 get underway on Thursday. Clanton made it to match play last year but lost in the first round. As for Wednesday night, before what he hopes is 36 holes of golf and even more on Friday? He plans to play EA Sports’ College Football 25 with his buddies.

“I spend too much time on that game,” he said.