Max Greyserman

These four PGA Tour players have been nominated for the 2024 Arnold Palmer Award (Rookie of the Year)

The nominees were announced this week by the Tour’s Player Directors and members of the PAC.

Nick Dunlap had a year unlike any other for a player on the PGA Tour.

The University of Alabama product scored 19 points in the final round of the Barracuda Championship, the fifth and final opposite-field event and also the only one that uses the Modified Stableford scoring system, to capture his first Tour victory as a pro.

But Dunlap had already won the American Express in January to become the first amateur since Phil Mickelson in 1991 to win on Tour as an amateur. His amateur status, though, kept him from collecting the top prize of $1.512 million. Dunlap turned pro shortly after that and now has a second Tour win on his resume. His win this time the second around was good for $720,000.

Dunlap is a likely candidate to ride those credentials to the 2024 Arnold Palmer Award, which honors the Tour’s rookie of the year, but Max Greyserman, Jake Knapp and Matthieu Pavon also have impressive credentials.

The nominees were announced this week by the Tour’s Player Directors and members of the Player Advisory Council (PAC). Voting is currently open for the award, and all Tour players with at least 15 starts in 2024 are eligible to weigh in. Voting closes on Dec. 4 and the winner will be announced just before the year’s end.

Here’s a look at each of the nominees and their accomplishments this season, per the PGA Tour:

Nick Dunlap

. Leave empty if the image is purely decorative. — Nick Dunlap of the United States reacts to his hole-in-one on the seventh green during the second round of The Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches at PGA National Resort And Spa on March 01, 2024, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)

Entered 23 events with wins (2) at The American Express (as an amateur) and Barracuda Championship
First player in Tour history to win as an amateur and a professional in the same season
Recorded top-10s at the Rocket Mortgage Classic (T10) and FedEx St. Jude Championship (T5)
Qualified for the BMW Championship and finished No. 49 in the FedExCup
Made 15 cuts in 23 starts
Earned 2024 PGA Tour membership by winning The American Express on a sponsor exemption

Entered 26 events with (3) runner-ups: 3M Open (2nd), Wyndham Championship (2nd), ZOZO Championship(T2)
Recorded additional top-10s at the Texas Children’s Houston Open (T7), Zurich Classic of New Orleans (T4) and World Wide Technology Championship (4th)
Qualified for the BMW Championship and finished No. 48 in the FedExCup
Made 19 cuts in 26 starts
Earned 2024 PGA Tour membership through the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour

Jake Knapp

Entered 23 events with a win (1) at the Mexico Open at Vidanta
Recorded top-10s at the Farmers Insurance Open (T3), Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches (T4) and THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson (8th)
Qualified for the FedExCup Playoffs and finished No. 59 through the FedExCup Playoffs (No. 64 through the FedExCup Fall)
Made 17 cuts in 23 starts
Earned 2024 PGA TOUR membership through the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour

Matthieu Pavon

Matthieu Pavon plays a shot on the first hole during the first round of the 2024 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Entered 19 events with a win (1) at the Farmers Insurance Open
Recorded top-10s at the Sony Open in Hawaii (T7), AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (3rd) and U.S. Open (5th)
Only rookie to qualify for the TOUR Championship; finished No. 17 in the FedExCup
Made 15 cuts in 19 starts
Earned 2024 PGA TOUR membership through the inaugural DP World Tour Top 10

Nico Echavarria birdies the last and stares down Justin Thomas to win the 2024 Zozo Championship

“This is my second victory, so I just need 80 more victories to catch (Tiger). I’m on my way, though.”

Shortly after upsetting one of the best players in the world to win the Zozo Championship, Colombia’s Nico Echavarria phoned his mother at home and tried to fight back tears but it was a losing proposition.

“My parents are at home in Medellin and it’s pretty late there. They stayed up all night watching the golf and I’m glad they did,” Echavarria said. “Yeah, very happy and emotional just being able to talk to them because my parents are the reason I play this beautiful sport.”

And he played it beautifully on Sunday in Inzai City in the Japanese prefecture of Chiba, 25 miles northeast of Tokyo, making birdies at two of the final three holes to shoot 3-under 67 at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club to secure his second PGA Tour title.

When he won for the first time last year at the Puerto Rico Open, Echavarria said the victory proved to himself that he was better than he even thought. Asked what this second win means, he smiled and said, “Proving it a little more now.”

He added: “I don’t think I would’ve gotten this win without the victory in Puerto Rico. I took a lot from that and kept myself calm,” he said.

With just one top 10 this season and three missed cuts in his last four starts, Echavarria was a surprise contender, racing into the lead with a pair of 64s and a 65 to set the 54-hole tournament scoring mark and grab a two-stroke lead.

Nico Echavarria of Colombia kisses his girlfriend, Claudia, after winning the tournament on the 18th green during the final round of the Zozo Championship 2024 at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club on October 27, 2024 in Inzai, Chiba, Japan. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images)

Tied for the lead at the 72nd hole, Echavarria reached the par-5 18^th in two, leaving himself a 40-foot eagle putt. He lagged to 3 feet and converted the clinching stroke for a 72-hole total of 20-under 260, to edge former world No. 1 Justin Thomas and rookie Max Greyserman by one shot.

Echavarria, 30, started the final round with birdies at Nos. 2 and 7 before a bogey at No. 8 dropped him back into a tie. He reclaimed sole possession of the lead at No. 13, planting his tee shot to 13 feet and canning the downhill, right-to-left breaking birdie putt. He pumped his right fist, one of two times he’d do so on the back nine as his putting prowess shined.

“New grip this week, that was the difference,” explained Echavarria, who swapped out the grip on Tuesday. “Just needed one week for the putter to get hot and this week was it.”

One hole later, however, his lead was gone thanks to a two-shot swing when he made a sloppy bogey at the par 5 and Greyserman canned a 29-foot birdie putt. That proved to be Greyserman’s final birdie. Echavarria wasn’t done yet and answered with another 13-foot birdie, this time at the par-3 16^th and clenched his fist. Echavarria and Geyserman, who had been partners this season at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and finished T-4, remained tied until the 72^nd hole.

Greyserman missed the fairway at 18 and had to lay up and his 25-foot birdie putt burned the right edge. He closed in 65 and unlike at the Wyndham Championship where he blew a four-stroke lead with five holes to go, he had no reason to hang his head after earning his third runner-up finish in his last five starts. He topped the field in Strokes Gained: Putting, and made over 100 feet of putts in each round.

“It wasn’t like Wyndham where I gave it away, I felt good out there the whole time. I mean, super comfortable. It was like I was playing at home,” Greyserman said. “Didn’t quite execute down the stretch when I needed to. I mean, Nico stepped up there and he hit a great second shot. He earned it.”

Thomas, who was seeking his first victory in 29 months, closed with a bogey-free 66 but after sinking three birdies in his first six holes, his putter went cold. Before the tournament began, he switched back to a trusty mallet that he’d used in many of his 15 previous Tour titles but it let him down when it mattered most in the final round. He burned edges and lipped out putts, making 11 consecutive pars before a birdie at the last. He ranked 66^th in SG: Putting in the 78-man field on Sunday and lost strokes with the short stick for the week.

“It’s a mixture of obviously bummed and disappointed, but I played so well,” said Thomas, who made just one bogey all week and led the field in multiple statistical categories, including scrambling. “I played plenty well enough to win the tournament.”

Rickie Fowler shot a bogey-free 6-under 64 and finished fourth. It marked his first top-10 finish in 23 starts this season and best result dating to his last win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic last July.

Echavarria, who had missed the cut in three of the four previous FedEx Cup Fall events and hadn’t recorded a top-10 finish in a stroke-play tournament all season, sensed his game was close, results be damned. Victory, which includes a spot in his first Masters, made the hard times worth it.

“Moments like this are the ones that make everything better,” he said.

When told that his 72-hole total broke the previous mark set by Tiger Woods in 2019, Echavarria marveled that he had won the same tournament as Tiger.

“This is my second victory, so I just need 80 more victories to catch him,” he said. “I’m on my way, though.”

Vegas, baby! Jhonattan Vegas wins 2024 3M Open for first PGA Tour win in seven years

The last time Vegas won on the PGA Tour, the 3M Open didn’t exist.

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The last time Jhonattan Vegas won on the PGA Tour, the 3M Open didn’t exist.

Also in the span between then and now were myriad injuries and wondering whether he would return to the pinnacle. Those questions were answered Sunday.

Vegas captured his fourth Tour victory Sunday, claiming the 2024 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota, after a 72nd-hole birdie helped him beat Max Greyserman by a shot. Greyserman shot a back-nine 6-under 30 to get to 16 under, but Vegas birdied No. 16 and 18 to add another trophy to his case.

“These are the moments that you get up every day and you work hard, you do all the right things because nothing feels better than this,” Vegas said.

The last time Vegas won was in 2017, claiming the RBC Canadian Open for the second straight year. His 3M win came in his 299th Tour start, and it happened in the midst of a so-so year that saw him make as many cuts (seven) as he missed coming into the week in Minnesota.

Jhonattan Vegas celebrates after winning the 3M Open golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

After an iffy approach into 18 on the front of the green, Vegas faced a lengthy 96-foot eagle look, but, needing a birdie to secure the win, he nestled the lag putt close and then knocked in the birdie putt.

3M Open: Leaderboard | Photos | Merchandise

The win meant even more for Vegas for getting to celebrate with his family on the 18th green.

“I mean, that was the cherry on top of the cake,” Vegas said. “In my house we’ve had a lot of talks, my boy’s 5, hadn’t had a win since he was born. Lots of pictures of my daughter with trophies around the house, so my boy was asking me when am I going to have a picture with a trophy.

“Like I said earlier, there was a big cloud on top of my head because I need to have a win for him. It’s even more special that they were here because a lot of times they’re not. It just means the world.”

Jhonattan Vegas celebrates with his kids after winning the 2024 3M Open. (Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports)

The win vaults Vegas 83 spots in the FedEx Cup Playoffs points race, from 149 to 66, and most importantly, inside the top 70. Only the top 70 make the post-season.

For Greyserman, a Tour rookie, it was the best finish of his career. He shot 8-under 63 on Sunday to zoom up the leaderboard, and the finish will move him into the top 70 to 63rd.

“I think I just locked up my spot in the first playoff event, so that’s big because that’s another huge point opportunity and hopefully continue to play my way up,” Greyserman said.

The PGA Tour takes a brief hiatus next week for the Olympics before returning for the regular-season finale at the Wyndham Championship.

The younger brother of a PGA Tour rookie is following in his footsteps, winning a prestigious state amateur title

The New Jersey Amateur Golf Championship has its first pair of title-winning brothers.

BLOOMFIELD, N.J. – Reed Greyserman has given the New Jersey Amateur Golf Championship its first pair of title-winning brothers.

Greyserman, 19, won the 123rd Amateur on Wednesday with a record-setting performance to join his older brother, Max, who won it in 2015 and is in his first year on the PGA Tour.

“I was there when Max won, and he’s doing awesome,” Greyserman said. “Obviously, the goal is to be where he is.”

Greyserman, an incoming freshman at Princeton, was a wire-to-wire winner and finished at 14-under 270 at the renovated Forest Hill Field Club. The Short Hills resident shot 3-under 68 during Wednesday morning’s third round and 72 in the afternoon finale for the record-setting 270 and three-shot victory.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Greyserman, who plays out of Hamilton Farm and previously had two top-five finishes. “To finally get it done here is everything.”

Greyserman grabs the 123rd New Jersey Amateur Championship presented by Provident Bank in impressive wire-to-wire fashion!

The 19-year-old recorded rounds of 64-66-68-72 over 72 holes to hoist the Edwin M. Wild Trophy at Forest Hill Field Club. With the victory, Greyserman… pic.twitter.com/oo7F8fTsKy

— NJSGA (@NJSGA1900) July 11, 2024

Liam Pasternak, 17, of Essex Fells, bidding to become the first high schooler to capture the title, was runner-up at 11-under 273. Pasternak was in Wednesday’s final pairing with Greyserman and shot 68 and 70.

“I thought it went really well,” said Pasternak, who in May won the New Jersey high school Tournament of Champions as a junior at Morristown. “I felt really confident.”

This should be remembered as the “New Jersey Brothers Amateur,” because Jeremy Wall, 29, of Manasquan River also was vying to join his younger brother, Jack – the defending champion – and deliver back-to-back sibling titles. Jeremy closed with 69 and 70 to tie for third at 10-under.

Mark Costanza, 35, of Baltusrol, bidding to become just the seventh player to win the State Open and State Amateur, also tied for third at 10-under. Costanza, State Open titlist in 2020, rallied with 67 and 69 to reach 10-under.

The New Jersey State Golf Association switched the Amateur from match play to stroke play in 1971. The previous record for lowest 72-hole score was set by two-time champion Dawson Jones in 2019 with a 15-under 273 at Neshanic Valley. Jones’ 15-under remains the lowest score relative to par, and Greyserman’s 14-under is tied for second with Jones’ 14-under in 2017 at Tavistock.

The five former champions made a collective stellar showing this week, all finishing among the top 12. Jack Wall of Manasquan River was eighth at 5-under after carding 68 and 70. Will Celiberti of Arcola, the 2022 titlist, was ninth at 4-under after shooting 66 and 70.

Two-time champion Mike Stamberger of Spring Lake tied for 10th at 1-under after a 71 and 70. Corey Brigham of NJSGA E-Club, the 2002 titlist, and Austin Devereux of Manasquan River, the 2020 titlist, tied for 12th at even par. Brigham shot 68 and 70 and Devereux had 70 and 74.

Greyserman once again fought off a challenge with a strong finish in the final round. Leading Costanza by two shots, he birdied the 15th and 16th holes. On the 16th, a 160-yard par-3, he hit an 8-iron to within two feet and sank the birdie putt.

“I knew where the scores were at,” Greyserman said of the leaderboard, adding, “After the birdie on 16, it was smooth sailing coming in.”