| Nick Dunlap | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Nicholas Dunlap | ||
| Born | (2003-12-23)December 23, 2003 (age 21) Huntsville, Alabama, U.S. | ||
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[1] | ||
| Sporting nationality |  United States | ||
| Residence | Jupiter, Florida, U.S.[2] | ||
| Career | |||
| College | University of Alabama | ||
| Turned professional | 2024 | ||
| Current tour | PGA Tour | ||
| Professional wins | 2 | ||
| Highestranking | 30 (October 20, 2024)[3] (as of November 23, 2025) | ||
| Number of wins by tour | |||
| PGA Tour | 2 | ||
| European Tour | 1 | ||
| Best results in major championships | |||
| Masters Tournament | CUT: 2024, 2025 | ||
| PGA Championship | CUT: 2024, 2025 | ||
| U.S. Open | CUT: 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 | ||
| The Open Championship | DNP | ||
| Achievements and awards | |||
| |||
Nicholas Dunlap[4] (born December 23, 2003) is an Americanprofessional golfer who plays on thePGA Tour. He won theU.S. Junior Amateur in 2021 and theU.S. Amateur in 2023.[5] With his victory atThe American Express in 2024, Dunlap became the first amateur in 33 years to win a PGA Tour tournament.[6] He subsequently turned professional, ending his amateur career ranked number one in theWorld Amateur Golf Ranking.
Born on December 23, 2003, to parents Charlene and Jim Dunlap inBirmingham, Alabama,[1] Dunlap is an only child.[7] The family briefly moved toGreenville, South Carolina before Dunlap's freshman year of high school, and he was then homeschooled when they returned to Alabama.[8]
Dunlap displayed talent in golf from a young age at his home club,Greystone Golf & Country Club. Brian Speakman, lead instructor at Greystone, recalled in 2021 that Dunlap was "extremely athletic" and also a "pretty high-level" baseball andfootball player. He was a finalist in theNational Football League'sPunt, Pass, and Kick competition in 2013.[9][10] When he was 12, Dunlap shot a round of 59 atHighland Park Golf Course inBirmingham, Alabama, during a junior tournament which he won by 13 strokes.[11]
Dunlap won the Alabama State Junior Championship in 2018.[12] He was runner-up in the 14-18 division of the 2020Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championship,[13] the 2021Junior Players Championship,[14] and the 2021 Boy's Junior PGA Championship.[15] He won the 2021Dustin Johnson World Junior Championship,[16] the 2021American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Polo Golf Junior Classic,[17] and the 2021U.S. Junior Amateur, defeatingCohen Trolio, 3 and 2, in the final.[18] This win made Dunlap the first native of Alabama to claim the U.S. Junior Amateur title, and granted him an exemption to the2022 U.S. Open.[19] He was subsequently named the 2021 AJGA Boys Golfer of the Year.[20]
Ranked as the No. 1 junior golfer in the class of 2022 according toGolfweek, Dunlap committed to theUniversity of Alabama to study finance and play for theAlabama Crimson Tide golf team.[1] He is a lifelong Alabama fan,[21] and had known Alabama's golf coach Jay Seawell since the age of 10.[22] Dunlap battled withtendonitis in his left wrist during his freshman season.[8] He claimed his first individual collegiate win at the Linger Longer Invitational in March 2023.[23] He then won theNortheast Amateur in June,[24] and theNorth and South Amateur in July.[25]
Dunlap won theU.S. Amateur in August 2023. He was five over par through his first seven holes of the stroke play portion, but rallied to make the cut. He defeatedGordon Sargent in the first round of the match play en route to reaching the final, where he beatNeal Shipley, 4 and 3, to win the title. This made Dunlap the second golfer in history to win both the U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Amateur championships, afterTiger Woods.[26] Following his U.S. Amateur victory, Dunlap represented the United States team at the2023 Walker Cup and the2023 Eisenhower Trophy. The United States won both titles, and Dunlap was the runner-up in the individual stroke play at the 2023 Eisenhower Trophy.[27]
In January 2024, Dunlap received a sponsor exemption to play inThe American Express on thePGA Tour. In the third round, he shot a 12-under 60, tyingPatrick Cantlay's record for the lowest round by an amateur on the PGA Tour. This gave Dunlap a three-shot lead heading into the final round.[28] Dunlap shot 2-under in the final round to win the tournament by one stroke. He became the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event sincePhil Mickelson won theTucson Open in 1991.[29] At 20 years and 29 days old, Dunlap also became the second-youngest winner on the PGA Tour in the past 90 years, behindJordan Spieth who won at 19 years and 352 days old,[30] and he is the first amateur player to have won the U.S. Junior Amateur, U.S. Amateur, and a PGA Tour event.[31] Due to his amateur status, Dunlap was ineligible for the winner's prize money of $1,512,000, which instead went to runner-upChristiaan Bezuidenhout.[32] The win moved Dunlap from third to first in theWorld Amateur Golf Ranking, which takes into account the performance of amateurs in both amateur and professional tournaments.[33][34]
The week after hisAmerican Express victory, Dunlap announced that he was turning professional and had acceptedPGA Tour membership.[35] He struggled for form afterwards and stated he had difficulty adapting to life as a professional golfer. In his first six months, he recorded only one top-10 finish, and missed the cut at each of the threemajor championships he played.[36] In July 2024, Dunlap recorded his second PGA Tour win and his first as a professional at theBarracuda Championship, an opposite field event toThe Open Championship. Dunlap was exempt into The Open due to his win at the 2023U.S. Amateur, but forfeited the exemption by turning professional. With the win, Dunlap became the first player in PGA Tour history to win in the same season as both an amateur and as a professional.[37] He received thePGA Tour Rookie of the Year award for 2024.[38][39]
At the2025 Masters Tournament, Dunlap shot an 18-over-par 90 in the first round. He bounced back with a 71 in the second round, the largest round-to-round improvement in the tournament sinceCraig Wood shot 88-67 at the1936 Masters Tournament.[40] Dunlap struggled throughout the2025 PGA Tour season and by September he ranked last on tour instrokes gained off-the-tee.[41]
Source:[42]
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jan 21,2024 | The American Express (as an amateur) | −29 (64-65-60-70=259) | 1 stroke |  Christiaan Bezuidenhout |
| 2 | Jul 21, 2024 | Barracuda Championship1 | 49 pts (12-7-11-19=49) | 2 points |  Vince Whaley |
1Co-sanctioned by theEuropean Tour
| Tournament | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | CUT | CUT | ||
| PGA Championship | CUT | CUT | ||
| U.S. Open | CUT | CUT | CUT | CUT |
| The Open Championship |
CUT = missed the half-way cut
| Tournament | 2025 |
|---|---|
| The Players Championship | CUT |
CUT = missed the half-way cut
Amateur