CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA | Luke Clanton made a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th hole, breaking out of a late tie to capture the Azalea Invitational on Sunday afternoon at the Country Club of Charleston.
Clanton, an 18-year-old from Miami Lakes, Florida, who has signed to play for coach Trey Jones at Florida State this fall, shot 4-under 209 to win by two strokes over Jonathan Griz and Kyle De Beer. It’s his first victory since the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational Junior and by far the most meaningful amateur title of his young career.
“It’s been a struggle these past couple of years, being close to winning and not pulling it off,” Clanton said. “To finally do it coming down the stretch, it’s a feeling you can’t really describe.”
Normally one of the rare 72-hole stroke-play events on the amateur calendar, the Azalea was shortened to 54 holes after the first round was rained out on Thursday. As a consolation, architect Seth Raynor’s tilted green complexes were bathed in sunshine, warm temperatures and a significant amount of wind over the weekend as conditions on the classic layout were all the field could handle.
Nobody managed it better than the garnet-clad Clanton, a highly regarded junior player who reached the semifinals of last year’s U.S. Junior Amateur. He started the final day in a tie for first with Ben James at 2-under par, but quickly had to regroup as the complexion of the tournament changed. Clanton and James were sluggish on the front nine, while Griz came out swinging with a 5-under 31 that put him at 5 under for the tournament.
“I don’t want to start crying, but my mom is a special person to me and she’s done a lot for me these last couple of years. She’s worked double shifts so I could do this, so to pull it off is pretty amazing.”
Luke Clanton
Griz, an Alabama commit from Hilton Head Island, seemed to take command of the tournament with a three-stroke cushion over Clanton as he started the back nine. But as quickly as he built that margin, it faded to nothing. Griz bogeyed No. 10 and then made a pair of ugly three-putt bogeys, on Nos. 13 and 14, the last of those coming when he three-putted from 6 feet and misplayed what was virtually a tap-in. All of a sudden, he had fallen to 2 under. De Beer, a South African who has played little golf in the U.S., was playing alongside him and quietly plodded along until he made a birdie on No. 13 to also be at that 2-under mark.
Meanwhile, Clanton had made a charge. The only player in the final two threesomes opting not to use a caddie, Clanton birdied Nos. 9, 10 and 11 before making a bogey on No. 12. He made par on Nos. 13 and 14 while watching Griz, who was playing with De Beer in the penultimate group, cough up the lead.
Griz and De Beer both birdied the easy par-5 15th to reach 3 under, and there was a momentary three-way tie for the lead given that Clanton sat at the same number. The drama would increase over the next 20 minutes as Clanton hit the green on No. 15 and made a stress-free birdie to take the lead, while up ahead Griz made a slippery 4-footer on the difficult 16th to maintain his place one back of the lead. A wayward drive on that hole cost De Beer, who settled for bogey to fall two strokes behind.
Clanton then gave both of them life by dumping his approach shot into the front greenside bunker on No. 16 and failing to get up and down, creating a tie between Clanton and Griz. Standing on the 17th tee, Clanton checked his phone to see the leaderboard – that was a common sight down the stretch – and then hit a 54-degree wedge from 140 yards into the middle of 17th green.
Then came the moment of the tournament. The slender, long-haired Clanton rolled his 20-foot birdie effort up a gradual slope and watched as it curled right the last few feet into the hole. He gave a massive fist pump and yelled ferociously before strutting off to the uphill par-4 18th.
“That was definitely the highlight of the week,” Clanton said. “I knew I had to do something pretty good because I didn’t want to leave it up to chance coming down 18.”
There would be no more drama. Griz made another careless bogey at the last, and De Beer could manage only par on his last two holes. All Clanton needed was a closing bogey to secure the win. He hit the center of the green and comfortably two-putted for par. It was clearly a popular win as a lengthy receiving line of players and other observers came to congratulate him.
In his victory speech, Clanton immediately became emotional as he thanked his mother, Rhonda. The two have been traveling around the country, mainly chasing national junior tournaments in preparation for his college career.
“I don’t want to start crying, but my mom is a special person to me and she’s done a lot for me these last couple of years,” Clanton said. “She’s worked double shifts so I could do this, so to pull it off is pretty amazing.”
Sean Fairholm
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