Luke Clanton has been one of the standout players in professional events over the past year, despite still being an amateur and yet to earn his PGA Tour card.
The Florida State University player came to prominence at the US Open last June - his first appearance in a professional tournament - after he made it through final qualifying at The Bear's Club to reach the Major.
He took full advantage of his opportunity, finishing tied for 41st at Pinehurst No.2 in a group of players including World No.1 Scottie Scheffler.
That inevitably opened the door for further opportunities to prove himself in professional events, starting with the Rocket Mortgage Classic two weeks later, where he finished T10.
Since then, several more PGA Tour appearances have come Clanton's way, and he has largely continued to impress, including finishes of T2 at the John Deere Classic and RSM Classic. However, while those brilliant performances would typically result in significant prize money, as an amateur, Clanton, whose latest PGA Tour appearance comes in the Cognizant Classic, hasn’t seen a penny of it. So, how much has he missed out on so far?
The 2024 US Open offered more prize money than any other Major in history, with Bryson DeChambeau winning the $4.3m first prize from its $21.5m purse, but there was still plenty to go around further down the leaderboard.
Clanton finished in a nine-way tie for 41st at Pinehurst No.2, but because amateurs are not eligible for prize money, those finishing in the same position split the earnings allocated for an eight-way tie - $68,149 each. Had Clanton been eligible for a payout, he and the others would have claimed a still eye-catching $66,348.
Any thoughts that Clanton’s heroics in one of the most difficult tests in golf would be a one-off were dispelled two weeks later in the Rocket Mortgage Classic, where he finished T10, which would have earned him $199,442.86.
It got even better for Clanton at the John Deere Classic in July, where he threatened to become the second amateur to win a PGA Tour event that year after Nick Dunlap’s heroics in The American Express, before finishing T2 behind Davis Thompson. Once again, Clanton didn’t receive payment for his finish, but if he had, it would have boosted his bank balance by a further $605,333.33.
His good form continued with a T37 at the ISCO Championship, before he a missed cut at the 3M Open. However, he bounced back with fifth at the Wyndham Championship, where he again gained plaudits but not the $323,900 that would have pushed his earnings past $1m.
Clanton followed that with a T50 finish at the Procore Championship, which would have earned him $14,475, before another brilliant display, this time at the RSM Classic, saw him finish runner-up only to miss out on the $575,066.99 prize money.
Into 2025, and, following a missed cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii, he bounced back with T15 at Torrey Pines in the Farmers Insurance Open, albeit without collecting a check for $128,433, before the World No.1 amateur agonizingly missed out on his PGA Tour card by just one shot with another missed cut in the WM Phoenix Open.
Overall, had Clanton been a professional, those performances would have warranted total prize money of $1,929,999.18, but despite not yet reaping the direct financial rewards of his performances, the future still looks incredibly bright for the 21-year-old.
Another strong display at the Cognizant Classic will finally earn him the PGA Tour card he came so close to at TPC Scottsdale, while he heads into the tournament fresh from signing a deal with Nike Golf as the door to a glittering professional career – and the huge sums of money he can expect to earn – opens wider by the day.
