Nick Dunlap, the 20-year-old golf sensation who made history by winning the American Express PGA Tour event last week as an amateur, is turning pro and joining the PGA Tour.
The Alabama sophomore announced his decision at a news conference on campus Thursday, four days after becoming the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event since Phil Mickelson in 1991. The win gives Dunlap a tour card for the 2026 season and an immediate exemption from all remaining signature events.
“It was the easiest and hardest decision I have ever had to make,” Dunlap said Thursday. “I was very fortunate that everyone had the same opinion on it and my teammates were great and very supportive.”
Dunlap enters the professional ranks as a historic addition. When he won the 2023 US Amateur at age 19, he became the first male golfer since Tiger Woods to win both the US Amateur and US Junior Amateur, and his victory last week in La Quinta, California, makes him the Only player ever to get both trophies and win a PGA Tour event while still an amateur. He is also the second youngest Tour winner since World War II, behind only Jordan Spieth's victory at 19 years old.
Dunlap is already exempt from three of the four major championships. His U.S. Amateur win already got him into the US Open, and his win on Sunday gets him into the Masters and PGA Championship. The exemption criteria for the Open Championship have yet to be announced.
Why this is such a big deal
The sport is no stranger to young stars with a lot of hype, but Dunlap could enter the professional ranks with the same excitement and anticipation as any (male) golfer in at least a decade. As the only man to win both the US Junior Amateur and US Amateur, Woods has already given the 20-year-old Dunlap an aura, but his win last week put him in a new category.
He is no longer just a promising candidate. He now belongs to a category reserved for phenoms like the young versions of Spieth and Rory McIlroy. He is closely watched, used in elite pairings and written about extensively.
However, this requires some patience from both viewers and Dunlap himself. He missed the cut at the 2023 US Open and another alternate field tour event. That doesn't mean a then 19-year-old amateur should cut corners, but rather that there will be growing pains. He has to learn to be a professional, but he has what it takes to be a star.
GO DEEPER
Nick Dunlap is the new star of the PGA Tour. Now all he needs is your patience
The Year of Youth?
Much of this 2024 season has already focused on the emergence of several young stars. Ludvig Åberg took over the sport last fall when he was successful in winning the European Ryder Cup before even playing in a major. He then won his first PGA Tour event at the RSM Classic, cementing his status as a top player at 24 years old.
Danish golfer Nicolai Højgaard, 22, was also part of the victorious Ryder Cup team and is in his first full PGA Tour season after winning the DP World Tour Championship in November. And that's ahead of 21-year-old Tom Kim with three PGA Tour victories, 25-year-old Min Woo Lee, who is becoming one of the hottest players in the world, and 21-year-old Akshay Bhatia, who has two top-20s -Placements that turn things around while I'm back on tour.
Oh, and there's another gigantic amateur star coming in long-time Vanderbilt junior Gordon Sargent. The children are alright.
(Photo: Ray Acevedo / USA Today)