NASSAU, Bahamas — Life comes at you fast as a golfer, and sometimes it can appear to be a pretty sweet gig, especially this week.
Take Nick Dunlap, all of 20 years old, still a few weeks away from his 21st birthday, technically still unable to rent a car.
He’s playing in the Hero World Challenge at the Albany Resort for the first time. Among other perks, he’s assured of earning $150,000 this week from the $5 million purse, no matter how he fares.
Such is the beauty of getting invited to Tiger Woods’s annual fundraising event, which has just a 20-player field.
“It’s pretty special,” said Dunlap, who opened Thursday with a 4-under 68, tied for eighth and four shots behind Cameron Young’s lead at 8 under. “I’ve never been to the Bahamas, so just flying over here was pretty cool. I’ve never seen water this blue. It’s completely different. We got to travel to some cool places in college, but some of the places the PGA Tour takes us is pretty cool.
“This is definitely one I had circled and fortunately I was able to get an exemption in and just happy to be here.”
Dunlap was close to being eligible via his Official World Golf Ranking of 33rd, as the event invites the year’s major winners and then goes down the OWGR list, with the stipulation you must be in the top 50. Three players get sponsor invites.
It’s quite the ride from a year ago at this time, when Dunlap was plotting his moves as a college student at Alabama and hoping to perform well enough via the PGA Tour University system for college players to turn pro sometime in the spring of 2025.
But his world changed in January when he won the American Express Championship near Palm Springs, Calif., shooting a third-round 60 followed by a final-round 70 to become the first player to win as an amateur since Phil Mickelson in 1991.
That victory opened up numerous doors for Dunlap, ones he had no reason to contemplate previously. He had planned to be in in school for the rest of the year and beyond.
But within two weeks, Dunlap turned pro and ended up playing 23 times. He is all but certain to be named the PGA Tour’s rookie of the year.
“I was kind of on track to graduate in three years and that was going to kind of be my goal,” Dunlap said of getting on tour via PGA Tour University and its points system. “I would have been turning pro I guess in June, something like that best case scenario, and if not, you stay your fourth year, you either get PGA Tour or Korn Ferry Tour, which is incredible. That was kind of going to be my goal.
“Obviously that got sped up a little bit. It’s been an unbelievable journey and very grateful that it happened when it happened. I’ve learned way more the past year than I would have being in college. Like I said, there’s been some low points and obviously some high points, but that's kind of golf.”
Dunlap posted three more top 10s the rest of the year, including a victory at the Barracuda Championship, which was played opposite the British Open.
He qualified for the previous three majors and missed the cut in all of them, part of the learning process he endured.
“Those first two or three months was, I didn’t really know where to go, what to expect, all the golf courses were new,” he said. “I grew up, and still do, looking up to a lot of these guys and for them—for me watching them on TV and then quickly for them to become my peers was a little new.
“Just being more comfortable in my own skin and my own game and knowing that I don’t have to change anything, I just have to get better at a couple things to be able to compete out here. My good is good enough to win, but my bad isn’t where it needs to be yet to be able to perform the way I’d like to every week.”
Dunlap said the adjustment was not easy. He struggled at times after his initial victory, finishing last for example at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in his next start and missing five cuts in 13 tournaments.
But he eventually started to adapt.
“I think the early parts of the year it was a little much,” he said. “The media, it was loud, the social media was loud. Kind of middle of the year it took me to understand it. First of the year I was always looking in the future, like how can I end the year, majors, whatever it is. Middle of the year it took me (to realize) this is where I always dreamed of being, I’m 20 years old and I’m living out my dream.
“Kind of when I realized that, I started to have more fun and live in the moment and play each tournament for what it stands for and just enjoying being out there.”
Year 2 begins in just a few weeks. Dunlap will play the Sentry, the season-opening event in Hawaii, and defend his title two weeks later at the American Express. He will qualify for the Masters again via the top 50 OWGR at the end of this year, is in the PGA Championship and will likely make the U.S. Open field if he can stay among the top 60.
A first Open appearance would be another goal as well as contending for a place on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.
“It’s pretty special,” said Dunlap, who made more than $2.8 million in official prize money after not being able to collect as an amateur for his American Express win. “Eight months ago I was sitting at a table with all my teammates playing college golf. The world’s come at me a little quick.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Nick Dunlap's Whirlwind Year Begins at Alabama and Ends in Paradise.
