Luke Clanton (credit: North and South)

And that's certainly true of world No. 1 and 2024 Mark McCormack Award winner Luke Clanton. Clanton's ascent to the top of the amateur rankings has been steady, until this summer. We're now calling it "The Summer of Clanton" -- Luke went from being one of the top players in the U.S. to winning amateur golf's most prestigious award by finishing runner-up at the PGA Tour John Deere Classic, and adding two top-10 PGA Tour finishes to validate.

Sure, Nick Dunlap won an event as an amateur, and that was huge. But he's a pro now, and Luke is now the top dog, leading both the WAGR and AmateurGolf.com points races over Gordon Sargent. He's just a small number of points from earning his Tour card through PGA Tour University. We hope you'll enjoy our 2022 chat with Luke as much as we did re-listening to it.

Luke Clanton knows Pinehurst well. He played in the 2019 U.S Amateur at the famous No. 2 course as a 15-year-old. He missed out on match play in a 27-for-3 playoff. Three years later, Clanton is winning big amateur tournaments and is set to embark on a collegiate golf career at Florida State in the fall.

Clanton details his memories of winning the U.S. Kids Golf event at age 11 at nearby Talamore Resort and playing in the U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst after coming "this close" to qualifying as a 14-year-old in Florida.

Luke shares the story from that year when he gained valuable experience (and the respect of the Nicklaus family, after playing with 49-year-old Gary Nicklaus, a former PGA Tour player who would eventually beat him in sudden-death for the last qualifying spot. Fast-forwarding to his win at the North & South Amateur the first week in July, Clanton brings us inside the ropes for the final few holes of a dramatic final match against his good friend Tommy Morrison. Speaking to him just hours after the win during his ride home, it's fun hearing it all sink in. We hope you'll enjoy it as much as we enjoyed talking to this respectful young man.