Monday Rap: Nick Dunlap Makes History, Rory Reigns In Dubai (Again) And The Tiger Woods Apparel-Watch Heats Up

Orlando Ramirez. Getty Images.

You'd hardly blame Nick Dunlap for collapsing. Regressing to the mean, so to speak. The 20-year-old Alabama sophomore had outpaced 155 professional golfers for 61 holes. But water always finds its level. Amateurs do not win tournaments on the PGA Tour. It hadn't happened for 33 years. Guys have made runs, held leads, but closing the deal iss another proposition entirely. So when Dunlap rinsed his tee shot on the par-3 7th and made double bogey, which coincided with a Sam Burns birdie, which meant his three-shot lead to begin the day had evaporated entirely, you sensed a fun story had run its course.

But Nick Dunlap is different. The kids these days are different. Gone are the days when an (a) next to a guys name meant he'd be playing in logo-less attire and just happy to be rubbing shoulders with the pros. The best college players these days—they're amateurs in name only, really. Dunlap was outfitted in Adidas head-to-toe all week. TaylorMade staff bag. He's not doing that for free. He's been hitting balls on launch monitors since his pre-teen years. Hell, he shot 59 in competition as a 12-year-old. More recently, he's been sharpening his competitive instincts every week in the pressure-cooker that is college golf. He's with data-backed course management systems. He hangs out with Nick Saban. In Dr. Bhrett McCabe, he's got the same mental-game coach as Jon Rahm—and Sam Burns, the guy he'd end up beating on Sunday. McCabe had conveyed a simple message to him: the round will not go as you expect it to. It never does in golf. How you react when you're punched in the mouth will be crucial. That seventh hole was gut-check time.

Dunlap regrouped after the double bogey on Sunday the same way he regrouped after being +5 through 7 holes at last summer's U.S. Amateur, which he also won. That win made him just the second player, after some Woods guy, to win both the U.S. Junior and the U.S. Amateur. That week in Denver, his caddie wrote a message in his yardage book: THIS CAN BE AN AMAZING STORY IF YOU LET GO AND LET IT HAPPEN. 

This time around, his looper stepped in with another message, this one a bit more straightforward:

"Your mom could make this putt."

With the luxury of hindsight, and knowing he'd made it, Dunlap would say after the round that, circumstances aside, it couldn't have been an easier putt. Inside-left. Just gotta hit it solid. Make the par putt, make history. Dunlap poured it right in the center, completing an up-and-down on the 72nd hole to win The American Express by a single shot and become the first amateur to win on the PGA Tour since Phil Mickelson in 1991. 

"I was so nervous that I don't know if I could have done anything," Dunlap said after the round. "Most nervous I've ever been, by far. Just tried to breathe, but also look up and enjoy it a little bit. I've said it numerous times today and yesterday and the past couple days, it's a really cool spot to be in as an amateur, and just to be here and be given the opportunity to play, and I don't ever want to forget today."

How could he? Dunlap's life truly flipped in an afternoon. If he pushes that par putt on the finisher, goes into a playoff with Christian Bezuidenhout and loses, he's likely heading back to Tuscaloosa on Monday. He'd have gotten a few more sponsor invites into Tour event, improved his amateur/PGA Tour University ranking, maybe earned some more NIL dollars, nothing too crazy. But he didn't push the putt. And now? Dunlap was asked after the round if he has homework outstanding. 

"Yeah…probably won't do it though."

There's no need. It is hard to imagine he attends even one more college course. Why would he? With the victory, Dunlap skipped about five steps in the normal development process of a professional golfer. He went from an elite college player to a top-level PGA Tour pro. He is fully exempt on the PGA Tour through the end of the 2026 season.  He guaranteed himself a spot in the Masters whether he turns pro (from winning the American Express) or, for whatever insane reason, he decides to stay in college (from winning the U.S. Amateur). He's now ranked No. 68 in the world, ahead of guys like Billy Horschel and Erik van Rooyen. Assuming he turns pro and accepts PGA Tour membership he'll be in to the seven remaining signature events this year. Four of those don't have a cut, which means guaranteed paydays. In the span of five hours his lifelong dream became a reality. 

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Dunlap's victory is the culmination of a youth movement in golf that's been years in the making. When Dunlap took the lead on Saturday en route to shooting a 12-under 60 at La Quinta, Phil Mickelson fired up the Twitter machine to highlight the excellence of the next generation. 

"Nick Dunlap has a real shot this weekend to be the next amateur to win a Tour event," Mickelson wrote. "This generation of Aberg, Surratt, Sargent, Dunlap, and M.W. Lee are the youngest and most talented group of players I’ve seen and will be a force for decades."

I'd argue it's not necessarily the talent that sets them apart from prior generations. It's everything else. They're not necessarily more naturally gifted than players of years past. They're just…they're smarter. They've received better instruction. They've got better equipment. They've got a better understanding of statistics and what produces lower scores. They know their launch monitor numbers. They know the benefits of mindfulness and meditation. All sports grow and progress. Football players today are better than football players were 20 years ago. The same is true in virtually every sport. The sudden success of players like Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Aberg and now Nick Dunlap is a natural evolution. 

"It’s getting them involved in mindfulness and meditation," says Scott Fawcett, creator of the DECADE course management system that has spread through all levels of competitive golf. "And understanding these pros aren’t that good while obviously being the best in the fucking world if that makes sense. They’re just not that good…golf is too hard for anyone to be significantly better than the other today. Tiger had a distance advantage, and a meditation advantage, that will never exist again."

This isn't to cheapen Dunlap's achievement in any way…but it's not like Dunlap was winning every college event by a million. He was a second team All-American last year. He finished second in his most recent college start. The level of college and amateur golf is, quite simply, stronger than its ever been. And it's producing players ready to win big time events right away. Gone is the learning curve that used to exist on the PGA Tour. 

"With PGA Tour U, the PGA Tour is giving an unbelievable opportunity to some of the top players, whether that's a junior or a senior or a fifth year or whatever that is, to go out and compete on the Korn Ferry Tour and showcase what they have, and I think that's been shown with Ludvig and some of the guys on the Korn Ferry Tour coming right out and having success," Dunlap said Sunday. "I've always said it, you know, to just see some of the players that are playing amateur golf in these college events and, you know, with the USGA, you play well, you know you're getting some spots in U.S. Opens and stuff like that. For me to be able to experience that at such a young age, it only helps me, and especially in some moments like today, to kind of bounce back on that and be like, hey, I've been in a situation like this. Obviously it's escalated now, it's on a PGA Tour level, but to kind of look back on that, it was really helpful today."

Speaking of the PGA Tour U program…a few months ago, Gordon Sargent became the first player to get his PGA Tour card through the PGA Tour U Accelerated program. He's the same year as Dunlap, but because he played well enough he'll receive his PGA Tour card at the end of this college season and immediately start playing on the PGA Tour. As far as the seniors go, the first-place finisher in the PGA Tour U standings at the end of the year gets his PGA Tour card. Last year, that was Ludvig Aberg. This year, Michael Thorbjornsen of Stanford is leading the standings. And just about 12 hours before Dunlap made history, Thorbjornsen polished off a final-round 68 to finish tied for 11th against a strong field at the Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour. 

The kids are here, they're ready to win, and we're all fortunate to be able to watch it all unfold. Unless, that is, you're a PGA Tour player who has to deal with them for the next decade. Ben An knows he's got his work cut out for him. 

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It was also a big week for History and Legacy, two words that have been thrown around ad nauseum over the last few years in professional golf. But days like Sunday are when those words mean something. Dunlap's victory was so special because we know how hard it is to win PGA Tour events and how improbable it is for an amateur to do so. We know how amazing it is because so many of the game's legends have come up through the same PGA Tour system, and we have decades and decades of history to contextualize achievements. It was also a reminder of the value non-signature events can have. The Dunlap story simply isn't possible in a 80-player field comprised only of established PGA Tour players. Some of the most compelling Sundays we've seen in recent years—Scheffler vs. Nick Taylor in Phoenix and Chris Kirk vs. Eric Cole at the old Honda come to mind—happened outside the well-monied confines of signature events. The longshot story still resonates, big time, and there's absolutely a place for it in the evolving landscape of professional golf.

Rory reigns again in Dubai

Is Rory McIlroy underrated? It's a conversation we have on tomorrow's Fore Play podcast. It's a funny proposition given just how much media attention he gets. But so much of that attention is for what he's saying into a microphone or what he hasn't done on the golf course. He's sort of a prisoner of his early success in that way, at least as far as expectations go. When you win 4 majors by the time you're 25 years old, people expect the world of you. Winning 20 tournaments, multiple FedEx Cup titles, starring in the Ryder Cup—it's not enough for some people. Players of McIlroy's caliber are ultimately judged on how many major championships they've won, and Rory's been stuck on four for a decade. That's the casual-fan narrative, at least. 

But man, what a career this guy's had. A week after he blew the Dubai Invitational with a three-putt from two feet and a snap-hook on 18, McIlroy came back from 10 shots down after two rounds to win the Hero Dubai Desert Classic for the fourth time. He's now won three of the past five Rolex Series tournaments, the DP World Tour's version of signature events. He was in a bit of a reflective mood after clipping Adrian Meronk and Cameron Young for the victory. 

"I wanted to do what Tiger Woods did," he said. "I'll probably not have the career that he's had, but I still look at the trophies that I've won and my name is on those same trophies that his is on, as well. I don't know a better way of quantifying success in the game as putting your name on the trophies that the people before you have put their names on.

"Whether it be this trophy or major championship trophies or whatever it is. I sat up here on Wednesday and talked about global golf and something like the Australian Open. I'm looking at the Stonehaven Cup, and my name is on there with Peter Thomson and all the legends of the game. I think it's a very cool thing."

Again, big week for History and Legacy. Now back to the cruel reality for McIlroy and the inescapable shadow Augusta casts on his career: he's started the year in fantastic form and will now head back to the United States to begin his Masters run-up in earnest. McIlroy has said he might play up to nine times before Augusta this year, a departure from the five-or-six he's done in the past. He's throwing everything at the wall. Gotta respect the effort. 

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Tiger-TaylorMade

Nothing's official yet, but all signs point toward Tiger Woods launching an apparel line with TaylorMade Golf. This always seemed the likely outcome after he and Nike parted ways after 27 years. There was some speculation that Woods might sign with Greyson, given his close relationship with Justin Thomas and a now-deleted Instagram post from the brand announcing Charlie Woods as an ambassador. But Greyson likely can't offer Woods the kind of cash he'd want nor enough equity for him to feel like there's real upside. 

Which brings us to TaylorMade. Woods signed with TaylorMade after Nike stopped making golf equipment, and it appears TM will take the reigns when it comes to Woods' apparel now, too. Over the weekend, NUCLR Golf uncovered a trademark filing for SUNDAY RED for the apparel space, along with a proposed new logo. 

Obviously we have a relationship with TaylorMade. We haven't spoken directly about them with this, but the move would make sense assuming Woods wants to start his own line and own a significant piece of the business and have serious financial upside. We won't speculate further beyond what's publicly available, like above, but there's a good chance we see TW debut Sunday Red at the Genesis Invitational. 

Elswehere…

—LIV Golf's season begins in two weeks and we're still in the dark as to who will join Jon Rahm's team. Tyrrell Hatton, whose name has been floated in rumors, was asked if he might jump. “I’d say there’s several people who have had conversations… I think that’s part and parcel of golf at the moment, but I’m quite happy playing the PGA Tour and DPWT." Xander Schauffele also confirmed to me in an interview for tomorrow's Fore Play pod that he will be staying put this season. There's also been some serious speculation that Wyndham Clark might be on the move, but a source close to Wyndham says that Wyndham has privately told people the story is false. Who really knows, though…

—A transgender golfer won a women's golf event. Hailey Davidson, who was born a male, won the NXXT Women's Classic in Orlando to secure status on the Epson Tour, which is one level below the LPGA Tour. 

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—Justin Thomas appears to be back after a T3 finish at the American Express. He's posted top fives in each of his last four starts and is back up to No. 23 in the world rankings. 

—Aaron Rodgers had a hole-in-one at Shadow Creek in his first round of golf since his Achilles surgery. 

—Lydia Ko won the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at Lake Nona in Orlando, the first LPGA event of the year. She now has 20 wins on the LPGA in her career and is still, somehow, just 26 years old. 

“I think the finish that I had last year, not only winning Grant Thornton but I played really well in Korea and in Malaysia," Ko said.
"Maybe if I had found the keys that I found then a little earlier, maybe I could have had a better season. I think if you keep going down a spiral of thinking like what if, it’s endless. I worked hard in the two weeks leading up to this event. To win at home has been nice."

The LPGA uses a points-based system to determine who gets in the Hall of Fame, and she's now just victory short of crossing that threshold. Not bad for 26.

—Loved this video of the Alabama golf team reacting to their boy's winning putt. 

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—Like everyone else, I was really upset to see the news that all Sports Illustrated staffers were informed their days with the company are numbered. I started my career there, and it's been awful to see the slow death of the place I always dreamed of working. No one asked, but this remains my favorite SI cover of all time:

Until next time,

Dan

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