LA QUINTA – Roll Tide, indeed.
And after Nick Dunlap, a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Alabama, made history of sorts Sunday afternoon on the Pete Dye Stadium Course at PGA West, this was the logical question: How soon does he turn pro?
Dunlap became the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event in 32 years, and the eighth overall, when he completed a 27-under-par round with a final day 70 to win the American Express (or, as we prefer to call it, the Tournament Once Named After Bob Hope). He is, at 20 years and 29 days, the youngest golfer to win this tournament in its 65-year history. And while his final round wasn’t always pretty – let’s just say he took the scenic route en route to parring 18 and locking this triumph down – it was impressive in another way.
He began the day with a 3-shot lead after Saturday’s 60, and he watched as other contenders surged in and faded out, and surged and faded himself during the course of the day. He finally had the championship within his grasp after Sam Burns, who shared the lead at the time at 29-under, put his tee shot in the water on 17, the par-3 with the island green known as Alcatraz. Burns double-bogeyed, Dunlap two-putted for par, and the trophy was there for the taking.
So, naturally, Dunlap hit his first shot on 18 way right on the par-4, 435-yard 18th, into a network of hills and gullies. His second shot stayed right, ultimately bouncing onto green grass as opposed to the browned turf that passes for rough on these desert courses.
And yes, he was nervous, understandably so. He told Golf Channel interviewers immediately afterward that his prevailing thought was, “Just don’t put this in the water,” and maybe he was a little gunshy after putting his tee shot in the drink off the 7th tee, which had led to his first bogey in three days.
But he fought the nerves, and he beat them, testament to a control atypical of a 20-year-old playing on the big stage. I asked him if there were methods he used to control his emotions.
“No,” he said. “I was so nervous that I don’t know if I could have done anything. Most nervous I’ve ever been, by far. Just tried to breathe, but also look up and enjoy it a little bit.
“I’ve said it numerous times today and yesterday and the past couple days, it’s a really cool spot to be in as an amateur and just to be here and be given the opportunity to play, and I don’t ever want to forget today.”
He won’t.
“I would say I have had a little bit of experience leading golf tournaments, but nothing to this extent,” said Dunlap, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion. “Obviously, the PGA Tour’s extremely different. So that whole process was different for me, and whether it had turned out the way I was looking or not, I was just going to try to learn from it.”
The last amateur to win a Tour event was Phil Mickelson, an Arizona State student when he won the 1991 Northern Telecom Open in Tucson. Among the other amateurs who have won Tour events were players like Gene Littler, Cary Middlecoff, Scott Verplank and Doug Sanders, who turned out to have pretty decent professional careers.
That, too, will be there for Dunlap. When? Obviously, he wasn’t prepared to make that decision yet.
“Oh, boy,” he said with a smile when the subject was broached. “I have no idea. I really don’t. It’s really cool to have that opportunity in the first place, and starting the week, if you would have said, hey, in five days you’re going to have a PGA Tour card or an opportunity for two years, I would have looked at you sideways.
“But, no, that’s something that it doesn’t just affect me, it affects a lot of people, Coach (Jay Seawell) back there and my (Alabama) teammates, and it’s a conversation I need to have with a lot of people before I make that decision.”
He was looking directly at Seawell as he answered that question, and you can imagine that this will not be a spur of the moment decision.
As a tournament winner Dunlap qualifies for a PGA Tour card through 2026, and it is up to him when to accept it. He already has exemptions for the Masters, the U.S. Open and British Open as the reigning U.S. Amateur champ, but if/when he turns pro he would be exempt for the Masters, U.S. Open and PGA Championship as a Tour winner, as well as all of the tour’s Signature Events. If he doesn’t turn pro during 2024, he will have 30 days following the completion of this season to turn pro and take up membership for the 2025 season.
He can’t cash in on this triumph, however. The $1.512 million winner’s purse went to runner-up Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa, and the 500 FedExCup points that normally would go to the winner will not be awarded.
But you’ve got to think there will be plenty of other opportunities.
“Obviously, a massive talent,” said Adam Hadwin, who tied for sixth at 25-under. “It seems like guys coming out of college now aren’t afraid anymore. This is my 10th year now, and I feel like it took a few years to kind of get comfortable out here. Now, with this PGA Tour U (a bridge program for college players) and guys playing events before getting a tour card and stuff, they’re comfortable, and there’s no adjustment needed, they come out firing. They all hit it so far now, too.”
While Dunlap may have been incredibly nervous coming down the stretch, he responded with … well, a professional’s demeanor. He’s learned well.
“I think, honestly, playing with people older than me, and playing with professionals and seeing how they carry themselves” has helped, he said. “I was a little brat when I was younger and, you know, they kind of punked me into shape. I still have my moments, but I think they did a really good job of pointing me in the right direction and to where I am today.”
And this experience isn’t over yet. The next stop on the Tour is the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Wednesday. Dunlap will tee it up there, too.
jalexander@scng.com
