Luke Clanton has one goal left in amateur golf: ‘I want to win a national championship’

Luke Clanton has three months remaining in his amateur career.

Barring a change of heart, Clanton will turn professional after the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship at Omni La Costa in Carlsbad, California, in late May. On Friday, the world’s top-ranked amateur made the cut at the PGA Tour’s Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, earning the 20th point in PGA Tour University Accelerated, which gives Clanton a PGA Tour card following the end of his junior season at Florida State.

He went on to collect another top-20 finish on Tour, placing T-18 at the course Clanton played roughly 40 times growing up, he estimated. He has one more PGA Tour start coming later this month in the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor, Florida, but the majority of his schedule the next three months will be repping the Seminoles.

With his PGA Tour card locked up, Clanton said he has one goal moving forward.

“I want to win a national championship, plain and simple,” Clanton said. “Again, it’s awesome to earn my card, but those guys have fought so hard for me and I’ve fought hard for that team. We have one goal in mind, and that’s to win.”

Clanton is missing a college event this week, as Florida State is competing in the Cabo Collegiate. Two weeks ago at the Watersound Invitational, Clanton won for the first time this season and fifth time in his college career.

With one of his biggest weeks behind him, Clanton said he’s ready to get back with his teammates and make a push to go one step further than the Seminoles did last year, when they fell in the NCAA Championship match play final against Auburn.

“Hopefully they win at Cabo,” Clanton said. “That’s the goal. I talked to them a couple days ago, and they’re just my brothers, man. It’s awesome to see.

“The support from them, they weren’t just texting me congratulations, they were texting me a few other things. But they’re amazing, and I’m excited to go back and hang out with them and spend some time.”

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: What Luke Clanton says is his last goal for amateur golf career