Miami (AFP) – Nick Dunlap, a 20-year-old American who became the first player to win PGA Tour titles as an amateur and a professional in the same season, was named PGA Rookie of the Year on Thursday. Dunlap became the second-youngest player to capture the Arnold Palmer Award after Jordan Spieth, who was 20 years and two months when he took the honor in 2013—nine months younger than Dunlap.
After starting the year as a University of Alabama sophomore, Dunlap won the PGA American Express crown in January while playing on a sponsor exemption in only his fourth career PGA Tour start. That made him the first amateur to win a US PGA Tour event since 1991, when Phil Mickelson captured the Northern Telecom Open. Four days after the triumph in the California desert, Dunlap turned professional and accepted a place on the PGA Tour, making his pro debut the next week at Pebble Beach.
Related news
Dunlap then won the Barracuda Championship in July for his unprecedented amateur-pro win double. After sharing fifth in the St. Jude Championship, the PGA’s first FedEx Cup playoff event, he finished 49th in the Cup standings and joined his fellow top-50 finishers in earning berths to 2025 signature events. “Nick carved out his place in the PGA Tour record book. To begin 2024 as a collegiate golfer and end it with two PGA Tour victories and among the top-50 players in the FedEx Cup is truly impressive,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said.
PGA Tour members who played in at least 15 events this year voted on the award from November 25 to December 4, and Dunlap received 57% of the votes to be selected over fellow Americans Max Greyserman and Jake Knapp and France’s Matthieu Pavon.
© 2024 AFP
