Tour Life
Luke Clanton may be more excited about this Jameis Winston video message than his PGA Tour debut
Luke Clanton will make his highly anticipated pro debut this week at the RBC Canadian Open. What makes this such a big moment is that it's far from his PGA Tour debut.
The Florida State standout has had his name all over leaderboards for the past year, playing in 13 events starting with the 2024 U.S. Open. In those 13 starts, Clanton has four top-10 finishes and three top fives, including runner-ups at last year's John Deere and RSM Classics. All while having that little (a) by his name as an amateur. Pretty darn impressive.
But after his collegiate career ended last week, Clanton turned pro and picked up the PGA Tour card he earned back in February through the PGA Tour University Accelerated program. And he'll begin playing for cash on Thursday at TPC Toronto. The young man was already fired up to begin his pro career—and then he received a video message from Jameis Winston.
A fellow former FSU standout, Winston, who signed with the New York Giants this offseason, has had an up-and-down NFL career since being the No. 1 pick of the NFL Draft a decade ago. But when it comes to spreading positivity, nobody is better.
The guy is to pre-game pep talks what Beethoven was to symphonies. So, understandably, Clanton was geeking out while watching this at the end of his Tuesday pre-tournament press conference. Have a look:
"Luke, first off, congratulations my brother and go Noles! So excited to see you set it off right with your first PGA Tour event," Winston begins. "Man, go out there and do your very best. One stroke at a time, you got this. Have the mental capacity of one stroke at a time. Always believe in yourself. I believe in you. Blessings and prosperity to you and your career, bro."
Short and sweet. That's actually (very) tame for Jameis, but it still got the job done.
"Wow, that's unbelievable," Clanton said after watching. "Man, I don't even know what to say. I've watched him—I've watched all his highlights through his whole FSU career and watched him in the NFL. That's unbelievable, wow. Thank you. I don't even know what to say.
"Hopefully I get to meet him in the future. That's a big goal of mine. He is one of the funnier dudes and also a big believer in Christ, which is unbelievable. It's really cool to see that kind of support."
None of Golf Digest's experts predicted a win for Clanton this week. However, they made those picks before he got that nice boost from Jameis. Just saying.