Before everyone dispersed for the holidays, Florida State redshirt senior Gray Albright and some teammates took on one final challenge from Seminole alumni who play professional golf but still call in Tallahassee, Florida. In these matches around the Seminole Legacy Club, pros such as John Pak, Vincent Norrman and Frederik Kjettrup frequently face the college guys, a group that always includes junior Luke Clanton, who has already proven himself at the next level with four top – 10 last season on the PGA Tour, including two finalists.
Right now, it’s Clanton, not any of the current pros, who poses the biggest litmus test.
“To see him do what he did was incredible,” Albright said of Clanton. “He’ll go to these Tour tournaments and then come back, and we’ll play a bunch of matches, and then you can compare your game to him…
“And I’m not going to lie, he’s been kicking my butt lately.”
If anything, Albright adds, those kicks made him better. When he showed up at Ocean Forest Golf Club in Sea Island, Ga., for last week’s Jones Cup Invitational, he was well conditioned for the punishing layout, frigid temperatures and wind, and field star-studded, which included five of the top 12 amateurs in the world and plenty of depth.
Of course, he didn’t have to face Clanton, who was competing at the Sony Open in Hawaii, but Albright drew another teammate, junior Jack Bigham, into a playoff after the two finished 54 holes at 4 under, two clear shots. of Vanderbilt’s Jackson Van Paris, Duke’s Luke Sample and 16-year-old Miles Russell.
Albright won with par on the first extra hole, but it was his performance on the back nine in regulation that allowed him to join former Jones Cup champions such as Justin Thomas, Ludvig Aberg and Patrick Reed. Albright played Nos. 10-18 Sunday in a bogey-free 3-under, sticking a 192-yard 7-iron to one foot at the par-4 12throlling a 15-footer for birdie at the next, then delivering the moment of the tournament at the par-3 17th.
With his back foot in a bunker, Albright, a left-hander, stood over a 50-foot birdie putt. With Bigham looking about 15 feet for birdie, Albright knew he had to put a good shot on the ball. But the historically skilled putter did better than that; he shook it – and that’s a good thing because Bigham was pouring his putt into it.
“I kind of blacked out and went crazy from there,” Albright said. “It was one of the coolest holes I’ve ever played.”
The victory, however, was by far the most important.
Florida State head coach Trey Jones said, “You could have never seen him win on this golf course two years ago.”
Albright would agree.
“I’m a completely different golfer than I was when I came here as a freshman,” Albright said. “I didn’t know as much about golf as I thought I did.”
Albright had some great credentials coming from Forest High in Ocala, Fla., including a strong golfing lineage – his father, Steve, played golf in North Carolina and his brother, Miles, competed at Gardner-Webb. But buried on a roster headlined by first-team All-Americans John Pak and Vincent Norrman, Albright didn’t make a single tournament shot in his first season.
In fact, Albright only logged six total starts in his first three seasons, as his high golf IQ and deadly putter weren’t enough to overcome a loose golf swing.
“It was tough mentally because everyone has doubts about whether they can do it or not,” Albright said. “But my teammates and my coaches have been great to me, they kept telling me to keep going, to keep working, and I’m really grateful for that. It’s not always easy when things aren’t going well for you.
Albright’s breakthrough came in the spring of his redshirt sophomore season, when he won the Seminole Intercollegiate. He added another victory last spring, at the Watersound Invitational, while finishing the season with four top-10s and a scoring average nearly two shots better than his previous low.
Before winning at Ocean Forest, Albright had risen to No. 61 in the world amateur golf rankings, a true testament to the work he has done on campus and with instructor Sean Hogan, who teaches at the David Leadbetter Academy from ChampionsGate in Orlando. , Florida. Albright is a more consistent ball striker these days, especially off the tee. He hits shots with less curve and misses tighter shots.
His career prospects are also better than ever. Albright sits in 18th place on PGA Tour University, which will award Korn Ferry Tour status to the top 10 players after this spring’s NCAA Championship.
Albright is well aware of what’s at stake this semester, but he also knows he’s now on the radar for this fall’s Walker Cup, which obviously, if Albright were on that 10-man squad, would mean a delay in Albright’s professional career.
“If he thought he made this team, I would expect him to,” Jones said. “He sees the big picture. That’s why he came back for a fifth year, to improve. He has the ability to be patient.
Albright said it.
He knows, especially after Sunday’s triumph, that he will soon be part of the Seminole Legacy pros who will take on the college kids.
