U.S JUNIOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

July 23, 2021

Luke Clanton

The Country Club of North Carolina

Quick Quotes

Q. Almost a perfect trip this morning?

LUKE CLANTON: Yeah. I mean, I hit every fairway and hit every green today, so it was just kind of like a go-to day today. With Ben on the bag I was very comfortable out there, and to kind of get off to a hot start and keep it going and win 8, 9, 10, 11 was a big stretch for me. I'm pretty happy with the performance today, but I still have another match in the afternoon, so I'm ready.

Q. Tell me about that stretch, the one with birdies on 8, 9, 10.

LUKE CLANTON: 222 into the wind, 4-iron to like five feet, so that was pretty good.

Then on 9, made a good up-and-down and made birdie.

And then 10, hit it to a foot.

It was kind of a good stretch, and then on 11 made a good par to win the hole. Again, I'm pretty happy with the performance, but I still have another match.

Q. Tell me the yardage into 10 and what you hit.

LUKE CLANTON: 106 and a little 58-degree.

Q. So you've still got some length going off the tee?

LUKE CLANTON: No, I hit 3-wood off that tee, and Gordon hit driver and he was like 30, 40 past me, so I knew I had to hit it close to kind of put some pressure on him, so it was good.

Q. Tell me about your relationship with Ben James because it's a little bit unusual for a competitor in the field to caddie, although we had it in '17 because Austin Eckroat caddied for Matthew Wolff.

LUKE CLANTON: Well, Ben is one of my closest friends. We've known each other for a while now, and we're both rooting for each other every week. If I don't win, I want him to win, and if he doesn't win, he wants me to win.

He texted me if he wants to caddie, and I was like, hell yeah, let's go out there, and it's been good so far. He's been keeping me calm and he knows my game really well because we've known each other for so long, so I'm pretty happy.