Weekly PGA Recap: A Historic Lap for Dunlap

This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.

The PGA Tour sent out a comprehensive list of records, historical firsts and incredible feats 20-year-old college sophomore Nick Dunlap registered by becoming the first amateur in more than three decades to win a tournament on the world's biggest golf tour.

But they left one out: Dunlap is probably the first winner in PGA Tour history to have homework due the next day.

Dunlap, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion who plays for the University of Alabama and was in the American Express tournament on a sponsor invitation, stunned the golf world on Sunday by winning the Amex by one stroke over South Africa's Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

Dunlap -- who was a teenager until last month --- withstood a tense final round in which he played in the last group alongside two of the world's best -- two-time major winner and Crimson Tide alum Justin Thomas and five-time Tour champ Sam Burns. He didn't crack. Burns did.

The 2023 second-team PING All-American became the first amateur to win on Tour since Phil Mickelson at Tucson in 1991 and only the eighth since 1940. He's the second youngest winner on Tour since World War II, older only than Jordan Spieth, who was still 19 when he won the 2013 John Deere Classic. He is also the youngest amateur to win on Tour in more than 100 years.

As an amateur, Dunlap did not receive the roughly $1.5 million winner's share. But still, he can immediately become a PGA Tour member, which would give him a two-year exemption, berths into the seven remaining 2024 Signature Events -- beginning in two weeks at Pebble Beach -- the Masters, PGA Championship and U.S. Open. Dunlap was already in the Masters and both Opens as the U.S. Amateur champion, though he would lose his automatic spot in the Open Championship by turning pro.

Asked whether he had decided what to do, Dunlap said: "Oh, boy. … 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 back there and my teammates, and it's a conversation I need to have with a lot of people before I make that decision."

That same measured approach is what helped Dunlap get in the winner's circle at 29-under in the first place, following up a surreal 12-under 60 on Saturday with a just-good-enough 2-under 70 on Sunday.

But it would be ludicrous/insane/criminal if Dunlap did not take what might be a once-in-a-lifetime offer and turn pro fast enough to get into the $20 million no-cut Signature Event at Pebble Beach beginning in 10 days.

Of course, the counter argument might be that this might have been a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence and staying in school, getting better at golf, enjoying college life and perhaps getting a degree would be the prudent life choice. Not every U.S. Amateur champion goes on to professional success. Let's not even start on whether Dunlap is a viable fantasy option (he's probably not right now).

Dunlap had three previous starts on the PGA Tour and, just like on Sunday, he got paid zippo. But that was because at the 2022 and '23 U.S. Opens and 2023 Bermuda Championship he missed all three cuts.

He was ranked 4,129th in the world entering the week for a reason. Incredibly, he's now up to No. 68 in the rankings. (C'mon, let the kid have his moment of glory before you start attacking the OWGR system.)

The counter argument to the counter argument might be that Dunlap is the first reigning U.S. Amateur champ to win on the PGA Tour since a fellow by the name of Tiger Woods did so in 1996.

Even if Dunlap does not turn pro/accept Tour membership, he could still remain an amateur and play a boatload of tournaments as a non-member tournament winner – and till get into three majors. But that seems far less likely than turning pro or staying amateur and returning to Alabama – where he suddenly is the biggest Nick on campus thanks to Nick Saban's recent retirement.

If Dunlap does head back to school, he'll still have to deal some pesky things that get in the way of golf and a good time. You know, schoolwork. 

After winning the Amex late Sunday afternoon, Dunlap was asked if he had any homework to do at night.

"Yes," he said and, laughing, he added: "Probably won't do it, though."

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Christiaan Bezuidenhout
The 29-year-old South African probably has not fulfilled expectations since he arrived on the PGA Tour a few years back having cracked the top-35 in the world rankings. He had fallen outside the top-100 OWGR entering Amex week. With his second career Tour runner-up, Bezuidenhout is back up to No. 56. More importantly, after a terrible 2023, he might be at a bit of a turning point. He finished sixth at the Sanderson Farms in the fall, then ninth, 17th and third in three co-sanctioned DP World Tour/Sunshine Tour events in South Africa. Those weren't big tournaments but maybe, in combination with the Amex result, his play was better than first thought.

Justin Thomas
Thomas shot 61 on Saturday to vault into the final grouping. But with a round as low as 62 on the course on Sunday, he could muster only a 68 to finish two strokes back. Importantly, the tie for third moved Thomas to No. 23 in the world, which will be good enough to get him into the Signature Event at Pebble Beach in two weeks. As such, on Sunday evening Thomas pulled out of this week's tournament at Torrey Pines, no longer needing to move up. Since missing the playoffs last summer, Thomas' game has certainly looked a lot more Thomas-like. But he'll still need a win or two to climb back into the top-10 OWGR.

Xander Schauffele
Schauffele followed up a T10 at the season-opening Sentry (59-man field) with a tie for third at the Amex. It's January, but he seems in midseason form.

Kevin Yu
The 25-year-old from Taiwan who played at Arizona State tied for third to notch easily the best result of his brief PGA Tour career. Yu kept his card last year with a non-descript 99th-place finish in the FedEx Cup standings. If nothing else, this result should lead to a higher finish this year.

Sam Burns
Burns was the one who cracked late on Sunday, not a 20-year-old college kid. After shooting a Friday 61, Burns led most of the rest of the way, including on Sunday. Until disaster struck. His tee balls found water on both the par-3 17th and par-4 18th, resulting in a pair of double bogeys that dropped him into a tie for sixth. Despite Burns being a five-time winner, we've always been a bit wary because he is wildly inconsistent. Those last two holes didn't exactly change our viewpoint.

Adam Hadwin
Hadwin used to be Mr. Amex, a Canadian snowbird racking up great finish after great finish in the California desert – two runners-up and a tie for third from 2017 to '19. So even after recording only top-25s the past two years, this tie for sixth is far from a surprise.

Michael Kim
Kim, a big favorite of Golf Twitter with his honest and open posts, tied for sixth to move back into the top-100 OWGR. The 30-year-old Korean can come up with a handful of these results in a year, most likely on shorter courses in non-loaded fields. Kim had four top-10s and eight top-25s last year, so he is very much fantasy-relevant.

Ryo Hisatsune
We advised of the 21-year-old Japanese player in the DraftKings picks, and he showed why. Hisatsune tied for 11th in his second start as a PGA Tour member, after graduating from the DP World Tour. He's up to 72nd in the world and will be a worthy option often in 2024.

J.T. Poston
Already with a pair of top-6s early in the season, Poston tied for 11th to keep the good times rolling.

Scottie Scheffler
We're going to watch Scheffler's putting every week. He tied for 17th at the Amex with a Sunday 65. He was his normal self off the tee and from the fairway, and he wasn't bad at all on the greens. Scheffler ranked 32nd in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting, just on the plus side. His short game was a little off (40th in Around-the-Green). All things considered, that T17 seems a little short of what his stats say.

Will Zalatoris
After a missed cut at the Sony, Zalatoris played far better in tying for 34th at the Amex. It was just his third tournament back since missing most of last year following back surgery.

Daniel Berger
Berger, having recovered from a back injury, played for the first time in 19 months and a made cut would've been a great result. He did that and more, tying for 39th.

Patrick Cantlay
Cantlay has come close to winning this tournament before. He was never really in it this year. But after imploding with an improbable Sunday 76, he really wasn't in it, tying for 52nd.

MISSED CUTS

Justin Suh, Akshay Bhatia, Shane Lowry, Adam Schenk, Billy Horschel, Tom Kim, Cam Davis, Maverick McNealy, Michael Block, Grayson Murray, Rickie Fowler, Kevin Kisner. There's nothing overly shocking here, though we thought this setup was perfect for Kim, especially after he tied for sixth last year. … Horschel had a terrible year last year and is off to a bad start in 2024. … It will be important to keep an eye on Fowler to see whether there is any negative regression after such a bounce-back 2023.

DP WORLD TOUR

A week after kicking away the season-opener on the European circuit, Rory McIlroy did no such thing, defending his title and winning his fourth career Hero Dubai Desert Classic. He got himself into the final group with a 9-under 63 on Saturday, then overcame a two-shot deficit to Cameron Young on Sunday. The win, by one stroke over Adrian Meronk, moved the Irishman closer to world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler but was not enough to overtake him. Meronk will play the Farmers this week at Torrey Pines. We'll see McIlroy in the States in two weeks at Pebble Beach. Young had the lead after three rounds but fell back on Sunday with a 2-over 74. He is still looking for his first win on the PGA Tour (and DP World Tour, too). Joaquin Niemann of LIV Golf, making a bid to get into the top-50 OWGR to qualify for the Masters, tied for fourth and moved only to No. 64. He has plenty of work to do before April, likely on the Asian Tour, if he wants to get to Augusta.