Luke Clanton, You Have Our Attention at the John Deere Classic

On July 7 of last year, Luke Clanton had his “Hello, world” moment about three hours down the road from where Tiger Woods uttered those words in 1996. The Cat was making his professional debut at the Greater Milwaukee Open, while Clanton wasn’t eligible for his part of the purse quite yet.

The then-amateur out of Florida State opened the 2024 John Deere Classic with a 63, and closed with another one three days later to finish in a tie for second, four shots behind champion Davis Thompson. “To get tied second place as an amateur was pretty cool,” Clanton told the media on Tuesday. “I think the golf course out here suits me pretty well and it's in great condition again, so it's exciting.”

He made five more TOUR starts before the calendar flipped to 2025, and was in the mix at both the Wyndham Championship (fifth) and RSM Classic (T-2).

Those few months out playing with the big boys felt more like a warning than they did a “I’m glad to be here!”

This kid was coming for the best players in the world.

Fast forward a year, and Clanton is now a professional, endorsed by both TaylorMade and Nike—if I had a chance to go down the Scottie Scheffler-Rory McIlroy-Nelly Korda route, I’d do the same—just getting his feet wet as a card-holding member on the game’s biggest stage.

But now he’s back in Silvis, Illinois, for a second time, one of the few stops on the calendar he can say that. He’s been seeing most of the TOUR’s courses for the first time, but now we’re getting to the part of the schedule where Clanton has played before.

I don’t know about you, but that feels like a recipe for the 21-year-old’s first W.

He made his second Rocket Classic appearance last week and opened with 66-67, and entered the weekend just a few shots off the pace. But a 77 on Saturday killed his chances and sent him tumbling down the leaderboard. After a Sunday 69, he settled for a share of 60th.

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On paper, yeah, that’s not great. But I saw enough from his game on Thursday and Friday to know that great golf isn’t too far away. Now he’s back at TPC Deere Run, a course he knows he can take it low at, competing against a field that’s missing most of the circuit’s superstars. With guys like Scheffler, McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, and Justin Thomas at home, this feels like the perfect spot for another two-word statement:

I’m here.