Golf history was rewritten in California over the weekend, when American Nick Dunlap outlasted Christiaan Bezuidenhout by a single stroke at The American Express Open. Yes, Dunlap is only 20 years old but the real eyebrow raising part is that he’s an amateur – the first one to claim a PGA tour title in 33 years.
Dunlap followed in the footsteps of the legendary Phil Mickelson in 1991, but the win wasn’t completely out of the blue. Having missed the cut in his previous three PGA Tour events, it was his only his fourth tournament overall, but Dunlap showed an amalgamation of shot-making prowess alongside supreme putting ability throughout the weekend – the sort that’s swiftly catapulted amateur players to the status of legends. Throwing his name in there with players such as Tiger Woods and Mickelson, it’s plausible to speculate that Dunlap may become the next prominent golfer for some time to come.
He’s only the seventh amateur to win a PGA Tour event, but his reputation is already strong, considering he was only the second player to win both the US Amateur and US Junior Amateur championships last year – a feat in the past only achieved by Woods himself.
