And Wilson Furr missed it. Nick Dunlap‘s playing partner did not play the third round of the American Express due to a back injury. What a shame for the mishap and for missing out on witnessing the 20-year-old’s performance, who is matching records: like Tiger Woods as the only player who has won the US Amateur and the US Junior Amateur, this Saturday to Patrick Cantlay (Travelers 2011) as the only amateur to achieve a round of 60 strokes and tomorrow he intends to Phil Mickelson and six other players as the only amateurs who have won a tournament in the history of the PGA Tour. Astonishing. By the way, in 54 holes he has matched the -27 with which Jon Rahm won this event just a year ago. As I said, astonishing.
Unreal.
Amateur @NickDunlap62 is 11-under thru 15 and five shots clear of the field.
The @PGATOURU sophomore is on #59Watch pic.twitter.com/lLumhBjkxB
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 20, 2024
This kid from Northport (Alabama), invited by the sponsor to compete in Palm Springs, blew up La Quinta with a 60 that is now safely stored in the annals of history, with Cantlay by his side. He assures that he is nervous and it must be that he turns butterflies into positive energy because he did everything perfectly. Everything is everything. “I was good with the driver. I hit the irons very well and with the putter the same. I have nothing negative to say about this round. I did everything quite well”, commented the protagonist in the Californian desert. And so much. He had in mind the 59, a figure he already achieved at 12 years old, and he brushed the post. But let him keep what he danced.
When he had already started his majestic round, Mickelson posted a tweet that sounded prophetic: “Nick Dunlap has many chances this weekend to be the next amateur to win a Tour event. This generation of Aberg, Surratt, Sargent, Dunlap and Min Woo Lee are the youngest and most talented group of players I have seen and will be a force for decades”. Lefty has a good eye, who will share tournaments with Surratt, signed by Rahm’s team, in LIV next season.
But let’s go back to Dunlap’s round (remember that he plays his fourth professional tournament: two US Opens and Bermuda). In less than a rooster sings (and Phil tweets), he was six under on the day in the first eight holes of La Quinta, starting at 10. Neither nerves nor bagpipes. From 1 to 5 he holed another three, with medium and long distance putts included, to crown himself with an eagle on 6 and seal the round with another house brand birdie to the delight of the public and journalists, who requested his presence to ask him even for the name of his girlfriend (Isabella Ellis), who got up at 3.30 in the morning to fly to California and enjoy the MOMENT of her beloved Nick.
Welcome to the big stage, Nick. pic.twitter.com/MQ4zFzHF7U
— PGA TOUR University (@PGATOURU) January 20, 2024
Surely his legs will tremble in the final round when he goes out as leader and has two roosters by his side in the fight for victory. The also southern Sam Burns (-24) was left lagging with a -7 partial that made him lose the lead. He didn’t get as much juice out of the Stadium Course as he did on Friday at the Nicklaus Tournament (-11), but you have to make seven less… Burns wants his sixth torch in the PGA Tour and will put all the meat on the grill.
Just like the revived Justin Thomas (-23), who has forgotten his ghosts of 2023 and again arrives with a desire for mambo. The Kentucky player is the most illustrious golfer, at least in recent times, from the University of Alabama and is sure to prick Dunlap to take advantage of his youth and inexperience. “It’s funny,” Thomas said with a laugh, “that I did my job with -11 and this damn Alabama kid comes in with a 60…”. Six consecutive birdies (12 to 17 of the Stadium Course), his best streak on the Tour, and five more for good measure indicate clearly that Justin is back.
SIX birdies in a row for @JustinThomas34!
He is currently solo second @TheAmExGolf. pic.twitter.com/rjOrjqzdra
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 20, 2024
Bezuindenhout (-21) and the five aces with -20, among them the 2021 champion, Si Woo Kim, the Californian Schauffele and the Canadian Adam Hadwin, author of a historic 59 in La Quinta a few years ago, are a bit withdrawn but will attack by land, sea and air in case the three in front fail. Scheffler (-14) is no longer in the pools. The results are being so low that the cut was set at -13 (only four players finished over par after three rounds).
By the way, poor Furr, was replaced by Chris Gilley, a worker at La Quinta who had already competed before the American Express as a player. He did have a blast watching the extraterrestrial Nick Dunlap…
