Amateur wins on PGA tour
TWENTY-YEAR-OLD Nick Dunlap became the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event since Phil Mickelson in 1991 by capturing The American Express title on Sunday in La Quinta, Calif.
Dunlap got up and down for par at the 72nd hole at the PGA West Pete Dye Stadium Course to shoot 2-under 70 for the round and 29-under 259 for the week, one ahead of South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
The reigning US Amateur champion and sophomore at Alabama is just the third amateur to win on tour since 1957, joining Mickelson (1991 Northern Telecom Open) and Scott Verplank (1985 Western Open). Dunlap is also the second-youngest tour winner in 90 years, behind Jordan Spieth’s win at the 2013 John Deere Classic as a 19-year-old.
“Honestly, I felt the script today was already written,” Dunlap said after his round. “I was going to go give it everything I had. Whether that’s I shoot 75 or 65 or 70, I just was going to give it everything I had.”
He called the emotions he experienced down the stretch “nothing like I had ever felt.”
The win gives Dunlap a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and qualifies him for The Players Championship, the Masters and the PGA Championship. He does not take home any winnings, but he has a suddenly difficult decision about whether to leave Alabama early and turn pro.
“I don’t know,” Dunlap told PGA Tour Radio. “I have to take a second to let what just happened sink in a little bit. That’s a decision that’s not just about me. It affects a lot of people, and obviously I’m going to try to enjoy this.”