Luke Clanton arrived at the RBC Canadian Open with 13 PGA Tour starts already under his belt in the past year, two that resulted in runner-ups. But the former Florida State star admitted that teeing it up on Thursday felt different.
Not only was Clanton playing for a paycheck for the first time, but he was playing with Rory McIlroy.
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The 21-year-old handled himself well, however, shooting an opening 70 to begin his pro career. And even nipping the reigning Masters champ by a shot. Still, he acknowledged his marquee pairing—Ludvig Aberg, who shot 68, was the third in the group NBD—kept him up the night before. Here was his humorous exchange with a reporter after the round.
Q. What time did you wake up today?
LUKE CLANTON: Didn’t sleep very much.
Q. Was that because of the anticipation?
LUKE CLANTON: Oh, yeah, I was playing with Rory (laughter).
We don’t blame you, Luke. That’s pretty heady stuff.
“Being paired with Rory is no joke,” said Clanton, who was the World No. 1 amateur when he turned pro and collected the PGA Tour card he earned in February through the PGA Tour University Accelerated program. “The crowds are amazing. Watching him hit drivers and iron shots, it’s cool. I watched him growing up my whole life, so I guess you could say he’s like the Tiger Woods of my life, and it’s really cool.”
The normally cool and collected rising star even felt nerves on that first tee.
“I said to my caddie, I said the range session, putting, chipping, everything felt fine, even walking up to the first tee, shaking his hand, everything felt fine. Once I took that club back, I couldn’t feel it,” Clanton said. “So it was a new experience for sure. It’s cool to be thrown in the fire right away, so it’s awesome.”
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Former top-ranked amateur Gordon Sargent also made his pro debut. The long-hitting Vanderbilt product shot a one-over-par 71.
Clanton’s Day 1 highlights included an eagle on the 18th hole at TPC Toronto’s North Course (his ninth hole of the day) and a head-turning driver-off-the-deck (off the tee) on his penultimate hole.
Clanton with driver-off-the-deck…. off the tee?!
178 mph ball speed. Launched at 2-degrees. pic.twitter.com/T102YwNErO
— Jamie Kennedy (@jamierkennedy) June 5, 2025
But both he and Rory have their work cut out for them to make the cut on Friday after a Thursday of low scores in Canada. Not that Clanton, whose special first week included a pep talk from fellow FSU product Jameis Winston, is thinking about any of this as work.
“I don’t know if you really call this work,” Clanton said. “I mean, we play golf for a living, and it’s amazing. Yeah, what a group we had and what an experience we had. Me and my caddie were having a blast out there. So it was a lot of fun.”
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
