This time Nick Dunlap will be able to cash the winner’s check.
While Xander Schauffele made history Sunday in Scotland by capturing his second major at the British Open, Dunlap, a 20-year-old from Alabama, won the Barracuda Championship in California, becoming the first player in history to win a tour event as an amateur and a professional in the same year.
“Never even thought that was a possibility to be honest with you,” Dunlap said.
Dunlap shot 60-70 on the weekend at the American Express event back in January in Palm Springs to top Christiaan Bezuidenhout by a shot. However, the full $1.512 million went to Bezuidenhout. Dunlap left the University of Alabama and turned professional the following week.
This time there will be no sharing from Dunlap, who earned $720,000 for his victory at Tahoe Mountain Club in Truckee. He shot a final-round 62 to earn 19 points in the Modified Stableford scoring system, topping Vince Whaley by 2 points.
Dunlap started the final round well down the leaderboard but slowly plodded his way up the leaderboard to take advantage of those at the top who were not able to produce many birdies. He birdied four of his first eight holes to turn in 31, birdied the 11th and 12th holes, then made the biggest move on the 15th hole.
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After reacing the par-5 hole in two shots, Dunlap rolled a 55-foot eagle putt from right to left gently into the hole to earn 5 crucial points. He finished par, birdie, par to set the pace in the clubhouse while many others still had work left.
“After I made the putt on 15 we started playing for some serious adrenaline,” Dunlap said.
But no one was able to mount a charge as one-by-one, everyone fell short. Whaley made birdie on the last hole to earn 2 points and jump into solo second-place, his best finish in tour. Patrick Fishburn was in third place, while third-round leader Mac Meissner fell to fourth place.
“I definitely feel like I’m trending in the right direction and all that jazz, but definitely disappointed right now,” Whaley said.
Since the American Express win, Dunlap has had mixed results. He’s missed six cuts—including at his last start, the John Deere Classic—and his best finish has been a 10th-place tie at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
The Barracuda victory for Dunlap, however, has moved him up 32 spots in the FedEx Cup race late in the season, with only two events remaining in the regular season. He’s now in 63rd place, with the top 70 earning a spot in the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first playoff event.