Part of Luke Clanton's prep? Deep Dark Meditation — and it seems to be working
Part of Luke Clanton's prep? Deep Dark Meditation — and it seems to be working
When Luke Clanton opened his professional debut Thursday at the RBC Canadian Open in Caledon, Ontario, with bogeys on two of the first three holes, it wasn't exactly how he drew it up.
That's because Clanton, 21, practices Deep Dark Meditation for 40 minutes before every round.
Asked if he meditated in the shower before his round with Masters champion and world No. 2 Rory McIlroy and Swedish rising star Ludvig Aberg, ranked No. 8, Clanton responded, 'Yeah, I did, yeah. I can't believe that's getting out, but yeah, I did.'
Clanton rallied from his slow start on Thursday to make an eagle at 18, his ninth hole of the day, and shoot even-par 70 at TPC Toronto's Osprey Valley (North Course).
Clanton, who just completed his junior season at Florida State, secured his 20th point and PGA Tour membership through PGA Tour University Accelerated Program following a made cut at the Cognizant Classic in March. He also earned exempt status through 2026.
Clanton notched four PGA Tour top-10 finishes in 2024, including two runner-up finishes, becoming the first amateur since Jack Nicklaus in 1961 with three or more top-10 finishes on Tour in a year. He capped off his time as a Seminole as the top-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Rankings with seven individual collegiate titles, including four this season, and was named the recipient of the 2025 Ben Hogan Award, one of three player of the year awards in college golf.
How did Clanton become a regular practitioner of Deep Dark Meditation? 'I've kind of struggled with kind of settling into the moment a lot. I guess about seven months ago I was like, you know what, I'm just going to turn off all the lights and kind of get into the zone. It's been working, so I think I'm going to keep doing it.'
'I try to keep my eyes open as much as I can, so my eyes start to hallucinate,' he told The Athletic. 'It's definitely a little bit crazy, but for me, it gets me in such a headspace where I'm blocking everything I need to block out.'
Clanton may not have visualized a slow start on Thursday but he brought the right attitude to his debut. Asked how his first day of work on the job went, he said, "I don't know if you really call this work. I mean, we play golf for a living, and it's amazing."
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