I pick the worst weekends to take time away. Thinking the American Express and Desert Dubai Classic events would provide a safe and sleepy stretch of golf, I sat out Saturday and Sunday in lieu of some family time. So, of course (of course!) Rory McIlroy won for the 34th time in his career in Dubai on Sunday morning, while later in the day, Nick Dunlap became the first amateur to win on the PGA Tour in 33 years -- first since Phil Mickelson in 1991 -- with his triumph at the American Express.
While much is to be discussed about the former event, it's actually the latter that I want to focus on today as we look back at the weekend. It's such a rarity -- nearly everyone on the U.S. Ryder Cup team last year was not yet born the last time it happened -- that it's worth taking a deeper dive on what Dunlap's win over Justin Thomas, Sam Burns and others means, both for him and the rest of the golf world.
Here are five takeaways from Dunlap's historic victory in the desert on Sunday.
1. No money, but something just as valuable: Of course, the first question everyone asks about an amateur playing well or winning at the professional level is whether they can accept the money. Even though college rules have shifted over the years to allow amateurs to receive more money than they did previously, Dunlap still is not allowed to collect the $1.5 million that now goes to runner-up Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
Nor does he receive the FedEx Cup points that normally go to the winner. Those, however, do not get passed down to Bezuidenhout, who collected the traditional 300 that go to the player who finishes in second.
I don't understand why they can't defer Dunlap's check until when/if he turns pro.
— LKD (@LukeKerrDineen) January 22, 2024
Assuming that would break some silly made up rule, but that seems like a fair way of doing it! https://t.co/ctzpeA9EwU
What Dunlap does get is the following:
- A PGA Tour card through the end of the 2026 season. He can exercise this privilege at any time in the 2024 season and also be eligible for the remaining 2024 signature events or exercise it after the 2024 or 2025 seasons.
- An exemption into the Players Championship.
- An exemption into The Sentry in 2025 (as long as he turns pro).
- An exemption into the Masters and PGA Championship (which he actually already has since he won the U.S. Amateur last summer).
The Alabama sophomore was asked about his future plans on Sunday.
"I have no idea," said Dunlap. "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. 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."
2. LIV Effect: In the never-ending war for talent, the PGA Tour notched a victory yesterday. The background here is that LIV Golf has gone after -- and will continue to go after -- top young college talent with rumors that the league is close to signing a top-10 player in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (not Dunlap) running rampant. However, the effect of a college player other top college players have played against and beaten then going on to win a PGA Tour event must make them reconsider, if only slightly, these decisions. If that guy can win a PGA Tour event ...
Plus, there is beauty in the meritocracy. If you can watch what transpired on Sunday and not feel something, then perhaps none of this is for you anyway. But for most folks, it was a reminder that making it means something special. Signing for big money and securing the future is certainly a great outcome, but securing your future through a performance like Dunlap now has?
It's distinctive and irreplaceable.
Stories like Nick Dunlap can’t happen in 48 person fields where all of the spots are reserved for 40 year olds who signed guaranteed long term contracts before the year started
— Michael Wolf (@bamabearcat) January 22, 2024
That is probably a naive perspective given how the last few years have gone, and of course LIV could throw the kitchen sink at Dunlap and sign him tomorrow. I'm also not saying that Dunlap should not be paid (I agree with the post above). But if the Tour still maintains some sort of advantage over LIV, it's that truly making it at that level must be about the best feeling in all of sports.
3. Have a year: At Cherry Hills last August, Dunlap was 5 over through seven holes of the stroke-play portion of the event before roaring back and winning the entire thing. Then he went on to win the Walker Cup at St. Andrews with his American teammates. Now a PGA Tour victory. That's arguably the two most prestigious amateur events and a professional event -- all within the span of six months, all as a college sophomore. That's one of the more surreal runs we've seen over the last several years from an amateur golfer.
Nick Dunlap began this 123rd U.S. Am by playing a wrong ball on his 3rd hole, four-putting his 5th hole and being 5 over thru 7.
— Brentley Romine (@BrentleyGC) August 20, 2023
That's when his caddie Jeff Curl wrote this on 8th hole of Dunlap's yardage book: "This can be an AMAZING story if you let go and LET IT HAPPEN!!!" pic.twitter.com/KUHI6IlnaP
4. The kids are coming: Does this mean Dunlap is the next Mickelson? I don't believe so. I think what it means is that Dunlap is emblematic of the quality of play for elite 20-year-olds right now. Gordon Sargent, Caleb Surratt, Preston Summerhays, Christo Lamprecht and Michael Thorbjornsen are all at or near that level as well, and all have made noise either at the amateur level or -- for many of them -- on the PGA Tour or at major championships over the last few years. We have not seen any truly elite American 20-year-olds probably since Jordan Spieth started mixing it up and winning majors, but that seems to be changing with Dunlap and Co.
5. Golf is wild: Imagine Oregon QB Bo Nix or LSU QB Jayden Daniels stepping in for the Falcons or Saints and going on to win NFC Player of the Week before returning to classes and film in Eugene, Oregon, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the following week. That's a mind-bending scenario, but it's more or less what played out for one of the best college players in the country on Sunday in Palm Springs, California. Golf is maybe the only sport that exists where there is significant money involved and you could feasibly be good enough to be the best player in the world at the professional level in a given week but choose to stay an amateur even though you're allowed to turn pro. It is a strange and bizarre game when a 20-year-old college kid can do this in almost any tournament.
It's also part of the allure that anyone can do this. Any college kid could get an exemption and change their life with a PGA Tour win. Any 36-year-old ex-college player could play their way into the U.S. Amateur. Any 40-year-old weekend warrior could win the U.S. Mid-Am and get to Augusta National. Almost everyone fails, but it is the hope that these ideas engender that make golf wonderful.
