Amex Winner Turns Pro; Heads To Pebble Beach To Begin His Pro Golf Career

Update Thurs Jan 25th 2024:

Nick Dunlap did not waste any time deciding on his future.  He has decided to turn pro and has accepted membership on the PGA Tour.

With his victory Sunday January 21st at the American Express in La Quinta, CA Dunlap became the first amateur to win on tour since Phil Mickelson in 1991.

The 20-year-old is only the fifth amateur to win on tour since 1950 and the second-youngest champion in the past 90 years.

Jordan Spieth won the 2013 John Deere Classic when he was 19.

The University of Alabama sophomore had withdrawn from this week’s Farmers Insurance Open in Torrey Pines California to evaluate his future.

He will make his professional debut at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which begins Feb. 1st 2024.

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Sure the defending Amex Champ Jon Rahm was not here this year, but the field for The Amex PGA Tour stop in La Quinta was still full of big name stars.

Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffle, Zach Johnson, Justin Thomas, Tony Finau, Ricky Fowler.

But by the end of the Final Round of The Amex on Sunday, none of them could catch the only amateur in the field, Nick Dunlap, a college student at the University of Alabama.

His final round 2 under par, gave him 29 under for the weekend, that’s a record) one shot better than Christiaan Bezuidenhout. 

Dunlap, who is only 20, and a sophomore in college, becomes the first amateur to win a PGA Tournament in 33 years and the youngest to win on the tour since 1910.

Phil Mickelson won the Tucson Open in 1991 as an amateur.

For Dunlap, he gets exemptions, but he does not get the 1.5 million dollar prize money.

That goes to Bezuidenhout.

Nick Dunlap holds the trophy after winning the American Express golf tournament, Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024, in La Quinta, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun) used locally Jan 23rd 2024.

@ap.images