Amateur Luke Clanton can secure his PGA tour by laying off staff at this week’s Cognitive Classic.
But if the 21-year-old Florida junior felt any butterflies, he would keep himself.
“Stress is a word I don’t like to use,” Cranton told reporters Wednesday in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
Cranton has proven that he can handle his nerves while playing with professionals.
Last year, he tied for 41st at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst in June before finishing the top ten in back-to-back events for Rocket Mortgage Classic (T10) and John Deere Classic (T2). He was the first amateur competition since 1958, finishing ten consecutively on the PGA Tour. Clanton didn’t finish there, ranking fifth in the Wyndham Championship and fifth in the RSM Classic.
So far, in 2025, Clanton has sandwiched a pair of missed cuts (Sony Open and Wm Phoenix Open) around the T15 at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Clanton, a man near Hialeah, Florida, is excited about the chance to win his travel card in Florida.
“Yes, that certainly means the world. It can be done here, too.” But again, I think I’ll be bored with this answer again, but just focus on one shot at a time. ”
Clanton admitted he was “a little ahead of myself” in the first round of the WM Phoenix Open earlier this month and hit a 74-rate percentage. He rebounded with a 67 rebound in the second round, including four birdies in four of the last eight holes, but missed the cut at 1 stroke.
He said: “That week didn’t go my way, you can see it as a failure, but I see it as learning, like we always say, again, I’m going to stay in that moment as much as I can.”
“Everyone is trying to keep up, but I want to play well. I want to try to go out and play the best I can do. I’m trying to tilt that mentality from just cutting to actually trying to compete in this event.”
He may be an amateur, but he is no stranger to this week’s PGA national championship course, and he probably played “probably 40 times” there.
“I’m so happy to play the best golf,” he said. “Like we said, if it’s my time, it’s my time, but we’ll see it.”
