Luke Clanton and Florida State men’s golf are regional champions after a dominant three-round performance in the NCAA Tallahassee Regional at Seminole Legacy Golf Club.
The Seminoles left little doubt with a wire-to-wire lead in the team competition, shooting -29 collectively, finishing nine strokes ahead of second-place Ole Miss to claim the program’s second regional title, both of which have been won at Seminole Legacy.
“How they started to how they finished, we were focused all week. It’s not easy coming here and playing at home and having a little bit of extra pressure on themselves. They just went about their business, that’s truly a team win,” FSU head coach Trey Jones said.
“Obviously incredible for Luke. He once again stepped up, brought a lot of energy and a lot of good golf.”
Three of the Seminoles’ five golfers finished in the top 10, with Clanton’s first place followed by a sixth place from Gray Albright, who shot -7, and Tyler Weaver in seventh at -6. Jack Bigham took home a 23rd-place finish at even par and Carson Brewer finished his first regional with a score of +1 to finish 27th and round out the five.
Albright carded three straight rounds under par with a 70 in the first round, 69 in the second round, and a 70 in his final round to propel himself up the leaderboard in his final tournament at Seminole Legacy.
For Clanton, he posted a 69 (-3) to end his final competitive round in Tallahassee with an individual regional title, shooting -15, a program record for lowest score in a regional. It’s Clanton’s second individual regional title of his FSU career.
He is the only player in Seminoles history to win two individual regional titles with the program.
Even with his success, Clanton was focused on the Seminoles’ team victory and return to the national championship tournament.
“It’s an amazing accomplishment. Of course, we want to win all the time, but we won as a team,” Clanton said. “I think our number one goal was to get through and show a kind of statement of who we are. I think we are kind of underlooked for national champions, to come out here and pretty much dominate was pretty cool.”
He led the first two days of the tournament after posting consecutive 66’s (-6), and he recorded just one bogey in the 54 holes he played over three rounds in the tournament to win the title by four strokes. Ole Miss’s Michael La Sasso and Georgia’s Buck Burlow finished tied second at 11 under.
In his final round, Clanton birdied the first and fourth holes, before a pair of birdies on the back nine, and one bogey, to close out the win. He finished with 12 birdies and two eagles over the three rounds of play.
FSU advances to the NCAA championships in Carlsbad, California, at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa. The tournament begins on May 23 and runs until May 28.
The Seminoles were national runners-up last season, falling to Auburn in the program’s first national title appearance. Clanton said the group has been motivated to get back to the championship, and while they will celebrate the regional, there is a collective focus on a bigger goal.
“It was really hard last year for all of us… We played really well last year, it wasn’t really our mistake or anything,” Clanton said. “This year, we have a new mentality going into it. We know it’s going to be a long, long week if we play well and we are just excited to get out there.”
Jones said that he’s seen the determination from his team to get back to the national championship tournament all season. With a regional title in hand, Jones and the Seminoles head to California with eyes on a bigger prize.
FSU’s first national title in men’s golf.
“The main thing was, we want everybody feeling good leaving here. And building on it, what can we do to get better, because this is a step, this wasn’t the ultimate goal starting the year,” Jones said. “We didn’t take it for granted by any means. But we do know there is something out there that we didn’t get last year, and you have to have a tee time to get there.”
“We have one.”
Liam Rooney covers Florida State athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at LRooney@gannett.com or on Twitter @__liamrooney
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU men’s golf, Luke Clanton book NCAA championship spot with Tallahassee regional wins
Reporting by Liam Rooney, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
