Lefty was one of the first of many to congratulate the rising star on his victory.
What do Nick Dunlap and Phil Mickelson have in common? They’ve both won on the PGA Tour as amateurs.
Lefty accomplished the feat back in 1991 at the Northern Telecom Open in Tucson, Arizona, while at Arizona State, while Dunlap, a sophomore at Alabama, did so on Sunday at the 2024 The American Express at PGA West in La Quinta, California.
Mickelson was one of the first of many to congratulate the rising star on his victory, and his LIV Golf colleague Jon Rahm wasn’t far behind, but it was Dunlap’s Alabama teammates who had the best reaction by far. Check out how fans and players celebrated Dunlap’s incredible win.
Phil Mickelson was the last amateur to win on the PGA Tour in 1991.
LA QUINTA, Calif. — From Arnold Palmer’s five tournament wins to David Duval’s iconic final-round 59 to come from behind and win the 1999 event, the American Express has seen history time and time again.
Now, next to Palmer and Duval comes 20-year-old amateur Nick Dunlap.
Looking for most of the day like the magic that had vaulted him to a three-shot lead entering the final round had evaporated, the University of Alabama sophomore Dunlap grinded down the stretch for a one-shot victory.
As Dunlap played his final 10 holes in 2 under, Tour veteran Sam Burns faltered with tee shots into the water on the final two holes Sunday at the PGA West Stadium Course. Burns lost the lead with had consecutive double-bogeys and finished four shots back.
Dunlap’s par and Burns’ double bogey on the rock-ringed par-3 17th were enough to give Dunlap the lead after Burns had played steady, consistent golf throughout the day. But Dunlap still needed to scramble for a par on the final hole to stay one shot ahead of Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who played the final four holes in 3-under for a 65. That put Bezuidenhout at 28 under, one shot behind Dunlap, who managed an up-and-down on the 18th hole including a five-foot par putt.
WOW! 🏆
20-year-old amateur Nick Dunlap is a PGA TOUR champion.
Dunlap’s 29-under 259 total is the tournament record since the event switched to a 72-hole format in 2012.
Dunlap’s win will resonate at the American Express and across the PGA Tour. Dunlap matches Mickelson’s 1991 win in the Northern Telecom Open in Tucson, when Mickelson was 20. Dunlap, also 20 and the reigning U.S. Amateur champion just as Mickelson was 33 years ago, becomes the youngest winner on the PGA Tour since 19-year-old Jordan Spieth won the 2013 John Deere Classic.
While Dunlap walks away with no prize money because of his amateur status – Bezuidenhout takes home the $1,512,000 first-place check – it is Dunlap who creates history that won’t soon be forgotten in the desert or on the PGA Tour.
Dunlap is the first player to win as a sponsor exemption since Martin Laird at the 2021 Shriners Hospital event in Las Vegas. In only his fourth professional start, Dunlap made the cut for the first time. He remains only the second player to win the U.S. Junior Amateur and the U.S. Amateur, along with Tiger Woods.
“It’s amazing. Actually, I heard his name last year when he won the U.S. Amateur,” Bezuidenhout said. “Yeah, he’s obviously a hell of a player and congrats to him and hopefully he can be out on the PGA Tour soon, and we all can get to play with him.”
Nick Dunlap reacts to winning the 2024 American Express at Pete Dye Stadium Course in La Quinta, California. (Photo: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Dunlap’s play Sunday was not as stellar as it had been the first three days. Having made only one bogey in the first 54 holes, Dunlap double bogeyed the par-4 seventh with a tee shot in a lake and watched Burns make birdie to tie for the lead.
Burns took the lead alone with a birdie on the par-5 11th just as Dunlap was starting to miss a series of short putts for birdies. Dunlap finally caught Burns with a birdie on the par-5 16th, setting up Burns’ collapse in the final two holes.
“Hitting my ball in the water on 7, it tested everything I had. I missed a couple putts that I thought I was going to make,” Dunlap said. “And just kind of like my sports psychologist, Bhrett McCabe, I went over a scenario for today probably a million times and it’s never going to go how you plan, and it didn’t. I’m so happy to be standing here.”
A flurry of players were still chasing Dunlap and Burns, including Kevin Yu, who tied for the lead at 28 under but bogeyed the 18th hole to finish at 27 under with a final-round 63. Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas also finished at 27 under to tie for third, with Thomas struggling at times on the way to a 68 and Schauffele just running out of holes in his 65.
“I knew I had to shoot a low weekend, and I was able to,” Schauffele said. “I was too far behind after that round of 3 under at Nicklaus Tournament. In a shootout like this, you can’t afford to shoot 3 under in any round.”
Here’s a look at the eight amateurs who have won PGA Tour events.
Nick Dunlap had a chance to do something special at the 2024 American Express and he came through in the clutch.
The 20-year-old sophomore at Alabama made a critical up-and-down on the 18th hole and won the tournament by a shot, becoming the eighth amateur, and the first since Phil Mickelson in 1991, to pull of that feat.
Last summer, Dunlap won the U.S. Amateur, becoming the second player ever to win a U.S. Junior and U.S. Amateur. The other? Tiger Woods.
Here’s a look at the eight amateurs who have won PGA Tour events.
He’s played in the last two U.S. Opens and the 2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
The American Express golf tournament rarely gives one of its coveted sponsor exemptions to an amateur, but Nick Dunlap is a rare amateur.
Dunlap, a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Alabama, won the U.S. Amateur last year in Denver and two years after he won the U.S. Junior Amateur at Pinehurst in 2021. Only one other golfer has pulled off the U.S. Junior Amateur-U.S. Amateur double: A guy named Tiger Woods.
This week’s PGA event, which begins Thursday in La Quinta, California, will be the fourth professional event Dunlap has played in. He’s played in the last two U.S. Opens and the 2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship. So even though he’s performed on the sport’s biggest stage, he’s still thrilled to get the invite to The American Express.
“It’s really cool, and not just because I was able to get out of some unfortunate weather back home,” Dunlap said Wednesday after playing in the pro-am. “The American Express has given me a great opportunity. I get to play three really good golf courses. The weather’s beautiful and you get to play against the best players. It’s always cool to see how you stack up against the best.”
Nick Dunlap practices on the driving range at PGA West during practice day of The American Express in La Quinta, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024.
Tournament executive director Pat McCabe said giving Dunlap one of the event’s eight sponsor’s exemptions was a pretty easy call.
“I just think it’s important to give these decorated young players opportunities like this,” McCabe said. “It will be fun to see him out there playing with the pros at a PGA event. We’re excited to have him here.”
Dunlap did not make the cut in his other three pro tournaments, so that’s a streak he’d like to see end this week. He feels like his game suits the three courses used in the event, and his secret weapon on the bag is former assistant coach Hunter Hamrick.
“Hunter knows my game really well and I think we have a good gameplan, so we have to just go do us,” Dunlap said. “I think my game stacks up well out here. I feel like I’m a solid putter and as good as these greens are … I mean everybody hits it good at this level, so it might come down to a putting contest. Just kind of looking forward to it. Feeling good.”
If there was any ounce of intimidation playing with a pro, it went away once he saw his pairing. Dunlap is paired with Wilson Furr, a fellow Alabama alum who just got his PGA Tour card this year after a successful season on the Korn Ferry Tour. In fact, Furr has also only played in three PGA events.
Dunlap and Furr are part of a large contingent of players in the Alabama fraternity at the event this year, a group that also includes major winner Justin Thomas as well as Davis Riley, Robby Shelton and Lee Hodges. For the record, no University of Alabama player has ever won this event.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of us, and when I saw I was playing with Wilson Furr, I’ve played a lot of golf with him so it should be a comfortable matchup for us. Should be fun,” Dunlap said.
While Dunlap is excited to be in the desert this week, it won’t be his last pro event of 2024. His U.S. Amateur win qualifies him for the Masters. He’s never played Augusta National, and said it’s something he’s been thinking about a lot since he qualified.
“It’s pretty dang cool, I’m not gonna lie, and I know I’ll be playing with Jon Rahm the first two days, so that’s big, too,” Dunlap said. “All I’ve heard is that Augusta is a different beast, so I’m looking forward to experiencing that.”
Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.
The 2023 Golfweek Award winner for Male Amateur of the Year goes to …
What a year it was for men’s amateur golfers.
Players dominated the college game and others took over the scene during the summer. An amateur legend further cemented his legacy while one of the up-and-comers continued to make a name for himself.
When it came to selecting Golfweek‘s Male Amateur of the Year, there were plenty of candidates to choose from, but one stood out among the rest. This player did something this summer that had only ever been done once by a guy named Tiger Woods. I wonder what he’s up to these days.
The 2023 Golfweek Award winner for Male Amateur of the Year goes to …
A busy fall has set the stage for an exciting spring in men’s college golf.
It seems as if national champions were crowned just yesterday, but instead we’re at the end of the fall college golf season in one of the craziest starts to the year in the sport’s history.
Sure, the top teams have claimed tournament titles and new stars have burst onto the scene, but that doesn’t mean the season has been short on drama and storylines and events that have altered the sport.
College golf is entering a quiet time until February, when it will quickly ramp back up as teams begin the pursuit to make it to Omni La Costa in Carlsbad, California, site of the 2024 NCAA Championships.
Here are some of the biggest stories from men’s college golf this fall.
The U.S. played its best round Saturday to clinch the championship.
No team at the Men’s World Amateur Team Championship had more depth than the United States. And that depth showed all week in Abu Dhabi.
The Americans ran away with the WATC title, shooting 36 under over four days of stroke play at Abu Dhabi Golf Club, beating Norway and Australia by 11 to win the Eisenhower Trophy. The U.S. played its best round Saturday to clinch the championship, going 12 under thanks to an impressive 8-under 64 from North Carolina junior David Ford and a 4-under 68 from Alabama sophomore and reigning U.S. Amateur champion Nick Dunlap.
In the individual competition, Dunlap finished solo second at 15-under 273, one stroke behind New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori, who also won the Elite Amateur Series title this summer.
South African Christo Lamprecht, the senior at Georgia Tech who’s ranked No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, finished T-8 at 11 under.
France finished fourth in the team competition at 24 under while Italy and New Zealand tied for fifth at 23 under.
This is the 16th time the Americans have captured the trophy.
The WATC is a biennial competition comprised of two or three golfers from 36 countries playing four days of stroke play with the two lowest scores every day being counted.
Here’s everything you need to know about the 2023 Men’s World Amateur Team Championship.
It’s time for the 33rd Men’s World Amateur Team Championship.
The Emirates Golf Federation will host the 2023 World Amateur Team Championships. The men’s and women’s championships were originally set to be held in Dubai but moved to Abu Dhabi, where they’ll be contested at the National Course at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
In another recent change, the order of play for the men’s and women’s championships will be reversed to avoid a conflict in dates with other prestigious tournaments, meaning the men will play first while the women will battle it out next week.
This marks the first time the event, which dates to 1958, will be held in the Middle East. It also will be the first with a reduced scope of one golf course and 36 teams to lessen the cost and complexity of hosting the event, as approved at the IGF’s 2018 biennial meeting.
Here’s everything you need to know about the 2023 Men’s World Amateur Team Championship.
A sub-60 round has never happened in college golf.
A sub-60 round has never happened in college golf.
Nick Dunlap was a lip-out birdie putt from being the first.
Playing with his Alabama Crimson Tide teammates in the Hamptons Intercollegiate at Maidstone Golf Club in East Hampton, New York, Dunlap was on his 36th hole of the day.
He had already posted a 69 and he was 12 under through 17 on his second 18 when he faced a putt of about eight feet for a closing birdie. Had it dropped, he would’ve notched a 59 and become the first to reach that hallowed ground in the college game.
But – if we haven’t spoiled the video yet – it wasn’t meant to be.
Dunlap opened par-eagle-birdie to get things going and made the turn in 5-under 30. He then birdied the 10th, parred the 11th and then ripped off six straight birdies. He had 10 birdies in all but couldn’t quite get that last one to drop.
It’s going to be an exciting season in men’s college golf.
The summer has come and gone, which means the 2023-24 college golf season is here.
Last season, there was no shortage of excitement. Florida got hot at the end of the year, won the SEC Championship, then went on a run to capture the NCAA Championship for the fifth title in school history.
Now, there’s no shortage of storylines to follow as we head into the 2023-24 season, including the national championship moving to Omni La Costa in Carlsbad, California, next May. There’s also Florida reloading, the chasers and the early Player of the Year favorite looking to build off a big summer.
Here’s a look at some of the top storylines for the 2023-24 men’s college golf season.
