Luke Clanton’s approach to pressure has him on PGA Tour’s doorstep

The great Bobby Jones once simplified competitive golf to a simple albeit famous mantra, “It’s a game played on a five-inch course, the one inside of your head.”

Every week on the PGA Tour, you see how one’s mind takes over a man’s swing. Look no further than Brian Campbell, who felt so nervous on the second playoff hole at the Mexico Open that he almost toed his tee shot out of bounds. Luckily for him, he caught the break of a lifetime — his ball bounced back in play off the trunk of a bamboo tree. He then won for the first time moments later, an emotional victory nine years in the making.

Those who thrive under pressure win majors in bunches. Perhaps nobody has a stronger mental fortitude than Tiger Woods, who lives for pressure-packed moments.

And then there is 21-year-old Luke Clanton, who, with a made cut this week at the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, will secure PGA Tour membership for this year and next. It would be a remarkable accomplishment if Clanton did so, especially since he is still a junior at Florida State. But Clanton put himself in this position thanks to a phenomenal amateur career, which started before he was a teenager.

At the 2015 U.S. Kids World Championships, held at Talamore Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina, Clanton remembers shaking with jitters all day. He was just 11 years old then.

“I know it sounds kind of ridiculous, but we played a bunch of local events growing up and whatever, and that was our biggest event of the year,” Clanton recalled Wednesday.

“My dad was on the bag, and I remember I was shaking on 18.”

He won the tournament by four, proving he could quiet the butterflies in his stomach even at a young age. On day one, he posted a 7-under 65, silencing any preconceived doubts he had about himself.

“Pressure is kind of a word I don’t like to use,” Clanton added.

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

“I like to use excitement because it’s exciting. You’re out there trying to do the best you can and accomplish things that people are training for. Again, I think the whole pressure and excitement, it’s an honor to be even feeling that in general.”

This approach has helped springboard Clanton into a star. But that does not mean he is immune from feeling pressure.

At the WM Phoenix Open in early February, Clanton received another sponsor exemption to play among the pros again. It marked his 10th start on the PGA Tour since last summer, so Clanton had already racked up plenty of playing experience before then. He even made the cut at the U.S. Open.

But Clanton had never played in front of a crowd like the one that surrounds the 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale. Thousands of screaming fans wreak havoc, often turning a player’s mind into a pretzel. That may have happened to Clanton on day one, as he signed for an uncharacteristic 74 — three shots over par and well beyond the cut line. The next day, Clanton made two birdies and two bogies over his first 10 holes and was still 3-over for the championship by the time he reached the difficult par-4 11th.

He also sat five shots below the cut line and needed a Jack Nicklaus 1986-type rally to make it close. Throw in the fact that making the cut would grant him PGA Tour membership, and the tension only skyrocketed from there. But that did not slow down Clanton. Instead, he embraced it. He birdied the 11th hole and then holed another par-breaker on the par-5 13th.

“We thought about the cut from 14 on, basically,” Clanton would later say.

When he arrived at the par-5 15th, with the famous Coliseum on the 16th lurking in the background, Clanton sat at 1-over for the championship, three shots off the cut. He needed to finish 3-under over his last four holes, a doable yet daunting task on TPC Scottsdale’s closing and frenetic stretch. He birdied the 15th hole, two-putted for par on the famous 16th, and then made a three on the drivable par-4 17th. That set the stage for a do-or-die, all-for-nothing situation on the 18th.

Clanton hammered his drive down the middle of the fairway and then laced a dart over the flagstick. His adrenaline led to that extra carry, as his ball settled 18 feet beyond the cup. He now had a putt to earn a PGA Tour card, but unfortunately, it was not meant to be.

“It was a great day today. I had a blast. I put up a great fight,” Clanton said after.

“I had to make five birdies in my last eight holes and put four up and had a great chance on 18. It’s tough. It’s hard to take. But again, I’m going to walk in my faith and keep understanding that it’s not my time.”

Despite that near-miss, Clanton proved something greater. He showed how he knows how to handle pressure, even amid all the chaos TPC Scottsdale offers.

“Pressure is a privilege. That’s a big thing that everyone says, and it’s true. I looked at it as almost a little bit nerve-racking at the beginning of the week, and then once we got to Thursday, it was amazing to play with Justin Thomas and then again with my good buddy Nick Dunlap,” Clanton said of his experience in Phoenix on Wednesday.

“It didn’t go my way that week, and you can look at it as a failure, but I look at it as learning, as we always say, and again, I’m just going to try to stay in the moment as much as I can. Everyone is trying to say to make the cut, but I want to play well. I want to try to go out and play the best I can. I’m trying to kind of flip that mindset from just making the cut to actually trying to compete in this event.”

That mindset will continue to pay dividends in the future — perhaps even this week in South Florida.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.