Luke Clanton is in the midst of the best stretch of golf of his life. On Sunday at the John Deere Classic, he did something not done since the 1950s on the PGA Tour.
Clanton, a rising junior at Florida State, finished tied for second at TPC Deere Run. With the finish, he became the first amateur with top-10 finishes in back-to-back starts on the PGA Tour since Billy Joe Patton in the 1957 U.S. Open and 1958 Masters.
Last week, Clanton placed T-10 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club.
“We came into the week with pretty high expectations,” Clanton said. “I think I kind of reached that expectation for sure. Of course you want to win. But again, to do what I did out there today was awesome. It’s just a blessing to be here, man.
“It’s unreal to make a birdie on the last hole and do all that.”
Clanton made the cut at the U.S. Open and now has in consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour. He’s up to nine points in PGA Tour University Accelerated, a program that awards Tour status for college golfers who earn 20 points for achievements in the professional and amateur game.
He gets a point for every made cut on Tour in addition to another point for top-10 finishes. That’s four in two weeks.
Clanton is third in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and finished the college season as the highest-ranked player in the NCAA Golf rankings. He helped Florida State to a national runner-up finish.
