By John Brasier
Less than three years ago, Nick Dunlap failed to close out a victory at the Wyndham Junior Championship at Sedgefield Country Club (pictured above), eventually finishing in a tie for second place.
But Sunday, at age 20, the University of Alabama sophomore was good enough to win the American Express tournament at PGA West with a gutsy up-and-down par on the 72nd hole.
Wow! But such is golf. Even Tiger Woods, the most dominating player in Tour history over a long stretch, has won fewer than 23% of PGA Tour events he’s entered. The most consistently good golfers don’t win every week. The best golfer that weekend wins.
How good are some college golfers? Well, playing on a big stage, Dunlap shot 29-under-par for 72 holes on a PGA Tour setup.
Given the current NIL policy in college sports, shouldn’t the PGA Tour have found a way to pay Dunlap the $1.51 million first prize? There’s really no such animals as amateurs in most sports.
Granted, Dunlap isn’t your average college golfer. He was the AJGA 2021 male player of the year, winning three times that year, including the U.S. Junior Amateur. He added a victory in the 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills, joining Woods as one of only two golfers to win the U.S. Junior and U.S. Amateur titles.
In 2021 at Sedgefield, Dunlap shot 2-under 278 to finish five shots behind Maxwell Ford of Peachtree Corners, Georgia, who played two seasons at the University of Georgia before transferring to join his brother David Ford on UNC’s No. 1 ranked men’s team.
