Scottie Scheffler praises Luke Clanton as the kind of player to target for the "PGA Tour U thing"

Scottie Scheffler recently praised Luke Clanton on his stellar career path. The World No. 1 golfer highlighted the amateur golfer as the ideal example of a player benefitting from the PGA Tour University program.

Scheffler and Clanton played the practice round of the 2025 WM Phoenix Open together. During play, the PGA Tour sensation asked Clanton about the details of his career path.

The 28-year-old was impressed by Luke Clanton's need to make the cut at this week's tournament to earn his PGA Tour card. Here's what Scottie Scheffler had to say about the collegiate golfer (via Instagram @pgatour and @pgatouru):

"I saw Luke yesterday, and I was going to ask him what his status was in terms of getting his card. Because I feel like I've been seeing him so much playing tournaments that I didn't know if he was still in college or not... He's a guy that obviously has a lot of talent and those are the types of guys that we aimed to get a direct path to the PGA Tour when we came up with the PGA Tour U thing."

Clanton, who is a rising junior at Florida State University, needs to earn 20 points to secure his PGA Tour card via the PGA Tour University Accelerated program. The 21-year-old has 19 points to his name heading into the 2025 WM Phoenix Open.

He earned his 19th point on Wednesday by maintaining his position as No. 1 amateur in the world in the World Golf Amateur Rankings (WAGR) and making the cut this week at TPC Scottsdale would seal the deal.

During the pre-tournament press conference with the PGA Tour, Scottie Scheffler stressed that Luke Clanton is a hard-working collegiate golfer who is deserving of a card on the PGA Tour.

Scheffler continued:

"Luke Clanton is a guy that's played good enough golf in college and on Tour to do plenty to earn his card out here. I mean, he has a bunch of runner-up finishes already. He's played great golf and definitely deserves to get his card."

Here's a look at Scottie Scheffler's interview (via Instagram @pgatour and @pgatouru):

Luke Clanton has played 10 events on the PGA Tour so far and made the cut in 8 tournaments. He has recorded two runner-up finishes at the 2024 John Deere Classic and the 2024 RSM Classic.

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Scottie Scheffler and Luke Clanton's 2025 WM Phoenix Open Tee Times

The first round of the 2025 WM Phoenix Open will be played on Thursday (Feb. 6). Scottie Scheffler will tee off at 2:44 PM EST from TPC Scottsdale's first hole. Scheffler is paired with Tom Kim and Max Homa.

Luke Clanton will tee off the opening round of the 2025 WM Phoenix Open at 9:53 AM EST. The amateur golfer will start from the 10th hole along with PGA Tour stars Nick Dunlap and Justin Thomas.

The 2025 WM Phoenix Open will see a full field of world-class golfers compete for a slice of the whopping $9.2 million purse prize and 500 FedEx Cup points.