Luke Clanton survives near whiff to earn 15th PGA TOUR University Accelerated point

NAPA, Calif. – Florida State junior Luke Clanton was frustrated after his 4-under 68 in the second round left him 6 under par and seven off the lead at the Procore Championship at Silverado Resort.

He double-bogeyed the par-3 11th hole after his approach bounded over the green, leaving him a tricky pitch. He fluffed the shot, his club cutting the grass as the ball moved all of two inches. He said it was the first time he’d ever hit such a shot.

“I kind of hit it and I looked under and I still saw the ball there,” he said, “and I was like, Oh, well, that's pretty nice, and from there it was a grind coming in.”

On the bright side, he will make the cut to earn his 15th point in PGA TOUR University Accelerated, through which high-achieving juniors, sophomores or freshmen can earn PGA TOUR membership and become eligible for all open, full-field TOUR events at 20 points.

“Yeah, I mean it's cool for sure,” Clanton said. “It's an opportunity we have to be out here to be able to play and earn … points and be able to get a card through that is unbelievable.

“But I'm pretty simple, man,” he added. “I'm just trying to stay as in the zone as (much as) I can. I'm still trying to play two more rounds of good golf and hopefully maybe be up there on the leaderboard and win.”

That goal is not far-fetched. Playing a sponsor exemption, Clanton finished 10th at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and second at the John Deere Classic earlier this summer. The performances marked the first time an amateur has registered back-to-back top-10s on the PGA TOUR since Billy Joe Patton in 1957.

Clanton, though, wasn’t done yet. He played 39 holes on Sunday at the rain-plagued Wyndham Championship last month, shot a third-round 62 to get within a shot of the lead, and finished fifth.

He then got a ride on a private jet provided by his sponsor, Union Home Mortgage, in order to make his tee time at the U.S. Amateur at Minnesota’s Hazeltine National Golf Club the next afternoon.

Indeed, it’s been a whirlwind summer for Clanton. Might his third round at the Procore vault him into contention just as it did at the Wyndham? It seems possible; he allowed that he hasn’t gotten the most of his first two rounds at Silverado.

Another top-10 finish would get him to 16 points in PGA TOUR University Accelerated.

“I don't really want to be too cocky about it because to be 6 under through two rounds out here is good golf,” he said. “It's not an easy golf course, and there's a lot of tough holes out there, so to be able to do what I did today was pretty awesome.”