Top amateur Luke Clanton continues PGA Tour card chase at fall opener in Napa

Luke Clanton’s chase for a PGA Tour card will continue next week in Napa, California.

The rising Florida State junior will miss the Seminoles’ fall opener as a result.

Clanton, the world’s top-ranked amateur who has dazzled this summer in professional tournaments, is among the sponsor exemptions for the Procore Championship, the first event of the Tour’s fall series, which begins a week from Thursday at Silverado Resort. The Folds of Honor Collegiate, which kicks off Florida State’s season, is scheduled for Monday-Wednesday.

Since making his Tour debut at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, where he tied for 41st and nearly captured low-amateur honors, Clanton has competed in five PGA Tour events in the past couple months, posting three top-10s and missing just one cut. He tied for second at the John Deere Classic and most recently finished solo fifth at the Wyndham Championship.

That stellar summer has launched Clanton up the standings in PGA Tour University’s Accelerated program, which awards Tour cards to college underclassmen who achieve a certain number of elite benchmarks. Clanton has earned 14 of the 20 points required to satisfy Accelerated, meaning if he earns six more points before the end of next spring’s NCAA Championship, he can accept Tour membership beginning next summer.

Among the avenues that Clanton can take to 20 points: making a Tour cut (1), finishing top 10 in a Tour event (1), winning the NCAA individual title (3), capturing an individual player of the year award (3 apiece for Haskins, Hogan, Nicklaus).

Of course, Clanton could also do what Nick Dunlap did last spring and win a Tour event as an amateur. Dunlap turned pro just days after his American Express victory and has since added a second Tour win, this summer at the Barracuda Championship.

As for Florida State, the Seminoles are used to fall absences. They didn’t field their best lineup until the spring last year, letting players either compete in events outside of college golf or rest. It worked out, as Florida State finished as the national runner-up to Auburn at La Costa last May. With Clanton out, sophomore Carson Brewer will start alongside four players who qualified for the U.S. Amateur this summer – Gray Albright, Tyler Weaver, Jack Bigham and Michael Mays.

The Seminoles begin the season ranked No. 2 in Golf Channel’s preseason rankings.

Clanton is joined in the Napa field by fellow sponsor invites Neal Shipley, who edged him for low amateur at Pinehurst, and Wenyi Ding, who left Arizona State this summer after just one semester and is set to received a full DP World Tour card next month via the Global Amateur Pathway rankings.