Nick Dunlap made history at The American Express on Sunday when he became the first amateur golfer to win a PGA Tour event since Phil Mickelson in 1991.
The 20-year-old, who was playing in just his fourth Tour event, carded a 72-hole record score of -29 to put his name alongside six-time Major champion Mickelson in the record books, Lefty having won before turning pro when he claimed the Northern Telecom Open 33 years ago.
🚨INCREDIBLE!! BIG BALLS!!20 yo Nick Dunlap becomes the first amateur to win on the #PGATour in ~33 years!Jumps an unbelievable 4061 places in the world rankings to #68 in the world!!!! #OWGR #TheAmexGolfJanuary 22, 2024
Winning on the PGA Tour always opens a lot of doors, and the young American is likely to see his schedule change after witnessing his world ranking jump some 4,061 places.
The Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) has come in for a lot of criticism since the formation of LIV Golf, with no points being awarded for those players competing in the 54-hole, no cut tournaments.
Regardless of whether the OWGR is truly accurate as it stands, no one can argue that Dunlap’s leap into the top 100 isn’t a spectacular achievement, especially given his amateur status.
Even Mickelson himself, a player who has won just about everything in the game, had tuned in to watch Dunlap make history – and he was hugely impressed.
Such an impressive performance by Nick Dunlap. Congratulations on an incredible win. This is just the beginning 👍👍January 22, 2024
“This generation of Aberg, Surratt, Sargent, Dunlap, and M.W. Lee are the youngest and most talented group of players I’ve seen and will be a force for decades,” Mickelson said on X.
He added: “Such an impressive performance by Nick Dunlap. Congratulations on an incredible win. This is just the beginning.”
Dunlap joins an exclusive club of just five amateurs to have won on the PGA Tour in the last 70 years.
As well as him and Mickelson, the others are Scott Verplank (1985 Western Open), Doug Sanders (1956 Canadian Open) and Gene Littler (1954 San Diego Open).
Sadly for the University of Alabama student and reigning US Amateur champion, his amateur status meant no prize money; instead, the $1.5m first-place winnings went to South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
Dunlap also missed out on the 500 FedEx Cup points, although he will be waking up to plenty of positives on Monday morning, one of the biggest ones being that he’s won himself a two-year PGA Tour exemption through 2026.
