North & South Amateur: Clanton, Morrison to meet in Sunday final

July 2, 2022 | by Sean Melia of AmateurGolf.com

Clanton and Morrison (Credit: North and South)

Junior golfers Luke Clanton (Hialeah, FL) and Tommy Morrison (Dallas, Texas) will play for the famed Putterboy trophy

Youth is served in the North & South.

The quarterfinal matches in the North and South resumed on Saturday morning after lighting made it too dangerous to play on Friday evening.

Luke Clanton found himself 2 down after nine holes to David Ford. The Hialeah, Fla. native and future Florida State Seminole didn't lose a hole the rest of the match. Clanton won hole 13 with a birdie and extended the match with a birdie on the 18th hole.

Clanton rode the wave of the exciting quarterfinal match and booked a spot in the final after beating Nick Lyerly 4 and 3. Lyerly had defeated Ben Woodruff 2 and 1 in their quarterfinal match. Lyerly finished that match very strong, winning holes 7, 10, and 12 with birdies on his way to victory.

However, in the semi-final Clanton played exceptional golf, shooting 32 on the opening nine. He didn't lose a hole until he bogeyed the 14th hole, but by then his 4-up lead was safe and Lyerly couldn't close the gap.

The other junior golfer in the field was Ben James from Milford, Conn. While James and his opponent, Tommy Morrison, shot the exact same score of 64 through 17 holes, but match play is a different animal. Morrison jumped out to a fast 3-up lead with two birdies on the opening three holes. James could never recover and lost 2 and 1.

The longest match of the quarterfinals was between Maxwell Moldovan and Bryant Davis. The biggest lead the entire match was 1 up, and that was only held by Moldovan. Davis, from Aurora, Co., battled back each of the four times that Moldovan took a 1-up lead. Davis, like Clanton, birdied the 18th hole to force extra holes.

Moldovan was able to grab one more 1-up lead on the 23rd hole of the match to secure the final spot in the semi-finals.

After a long month of June, Moldovan's 23-hole match might have caught up to him in his semi-final match against Morrison. Morrison raced off to a 3-up lead after nine holes, but Moldovan dug deep and won holes 10, 12, and 16 to tie the match heading into the final two holes. For the second time on Saturday, Moldovan's opponent birdied the 18th. This time, it didn't force extra holes but instead dispatched Moldovan.

Morrison, a Texas commit from Dallas will face Clanton on Sunday morning.

Results: North & South Amateur

Place	Player	Location	Pts
Win	Luke Clanton	Miami Lakes, FL	1000
Runner-up	Tommy Morrison	Dallas, TX	700
Semifinals	Nick Lyerly	Salisbury, NC	500
Semifinals	Maxwell Moldovan	Uniontown, OH	500
Quarterfinals	David Ford	Peachtree Corners, GA	400

View full results for North & South Amateur

About the North & South Amateur

North & South Amateur: Clanton, Morrison to meet in Sunday final

The North & South Amateur Championship is the longest consecutively run amateur tournament in the United States. Its past winners list includes names like Walter Travis, Francis Ouimet, Billy Joe Patton, Jack Nicklaus and Curtis Strange. The field is...