Clanton and James are the first two amateurs ever to make the cut at the Rocket. There was one in the field each of the past two years, and both missed the cut.

Clanton's round featured a 4-under 32 on the front nine. He birdied the par-3 11th, then bogeyed the par-4 12th. He got that back and more on the par-5 14th. He had about 220 yards, with a left to right wind, and flushed the 5-iron to just a few feet. He made that for eagle.

"It was pretty sweet," Clanton said with a smile.

Said his athletic director at Florida State, Michael Alford: "No one else I would want … in a clutch moment."

He made birdie at the par-5 17th (he was 4 under on the four par 5s), and finished with a tidy par at the 18th, setting himself up for a late tee time Sunday.

It's been an up-and-down stretch for Clanton, at least emotionally. His team lost to Auburn in the NCAA golf championships. Clanton was the last man on the course, and lost his match.

This week may help him get over that, but he's not going to get over it.

"Still hurts, no doubt," he said. "It's hard to lose to those guys, especially how hard we trained and everything we did. It's hard, no matter what. I don't think I can get over it in two weeks or three weeks or even five months.

"I think it kind of just pushes us and the whole team together to get better and win a national championship."

That, by the way, is music to Florida State's ears. A win this week and you'd think Clanton would have some thinking to do about whether to stay in school or join the PGA Tour, like Dunlap did.

...continued

©2024 The Detroit News. Visit detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.