Nick Dunlap will not have slept, nestled on the fluffy mattress of the cloud after a glorious week and an apotheotic ending at the American Express. He will travel nearby, to San Diego, to play the Farmers, as he had planned, and will enjoy the beautiful experience lived, dreamed, in the Californian desert, where he became the first amateur to win a PGA Tour tournament since Phil Mickelson did it in ’91. In Palm Springs he attended several appearances to journalists, eager to know his experience in those magical last 8 holes at the Stadium Course, to know about his life, to find out what his future will be from now on with a victory on the tour. Nick must make a decision: does he continue as an amateur or does he turn professional? Amateur or professional? Amateur or professional?
Dunlap has the opportunity to become a full-time member of the PGA Tour. However, that decision will have to wait. After the celebrations in the Coachella Valley, he said he was undecided about his future. “I don’t know. I have to take some time to assimilate a bit what just happened. That’s a decision that’s not just about me. It affects a lot of people, from my coach in Alabama (Jay Seawell) to my teammates, and obviously I’m going to try to enjoy it. It’s a conversation I need to have with a lot of people before making that decision,” he explained.
Dunlap, champion of the US Junior Amateur and the US Amateur, can take one of two paths. He is eligible to become a member of the PGA Tour at any time during this season and will get the classic exemption of a tour champion: membership until the 2026 season; exemptions for all signature tournaments of 2024 (as long as he turns professional before those events), the Masters and the PGA Championship.
The Alabama sophomore currently has exemptions for the Masters, the US Open and the Open as the winner of the US Amateur 2023. His exemptions to the Masters and the Open depend on him remaining an amateur, but if he turns professional, his victory at the American Express exempts him from the Masters and the PGA Championship as the PGA winner. The US Open allows the US amateur champion to compete in their tournament as a professional. As a tour winner, Dunlap is exempt from participating this year in THE PLAYERS regardless of whether he turns professional.
If Nick does not accept membership this season, he has up to 30 days after the end of the course to turn pro and become a member of the PGA in 2025, being exempt for The Sentry. If he does not become a Tour member in the 30-day period following the conclusion of the 2024 season, he would have to wait until the conclusion of the 2025 campaign to accept membership, in which case he has again 30 days to do so to compete as a pro on the PGA Tour in 2026.
Regardless of when Dunlap becomes a member (after this week, next month or next year), it will only extend until the 2026 season of the PGA TOUR.
If Dunlap does not turn pro, he can still participate in full events outside the tournament winners category. However, he will be subject to non-member regulations (i.e., he can only compete in a maximum of 12 events). Although PGA winners are exempt from participating in all exclusive tournaments for the rest of the course, these are limited to PGA members, so Dunlap could not participate before turning professional and becoming a Tour member.
This is the panorama that Nick and his team have to study carefully, although it gives the feeling that his gratitude to the University of Alabama will push him to try to win the NCAA title with his teammates, just like Rose Zhang did last year and just after the final she left her amateur status.
LIV Golf?
As the tentacles of LIV Golf are long, it is possible that very juicy offers will reach Nick. Have they contacted him or his representatives from the Saudi tour? “I have no idea,” he asserted, to continue with a very favorable explanation to the traditional circuit, to the legacy, to Tiger Woods… “But as far as I’m concerned, I always grew up dreaming of playing on the PGA Tour and making a putt like a while ago to win a tour tournament. That was always my dream. I have always tried to chase something that no one else has done and that’s why I do the work I do, I want to do something special and something memorable, not just for me, but maybe leave something behind for someone else to try to follow and evaluate it,” Dunlap said. “For me, that’s Tiger, right? I will probably never be close to some of the records he set, but I try to chase him. I know it’s an extremely high bar, and I don’t know if that sounds very arrogant or not, but for me that’s something, I consider him the best of all time, and trying to chase that, and even being in some kind of conversation with him is a dream come true, and that’s why I do what I do,” he insisted.
Since he was a kid, Nick has sacrificed a lot in training. He had skills to practice any sport, but Jeff Curl, former player of the Korn Ferry Tour, became his sports mentor and confidant when he was only 10 years old and, under his protection, he introduced him to the Tour professionals and got him involved in their weekly matches. Dunlap carried Curl’s bag in numerous tournaments, including one with almost 40 degrees in Dothan (Alabama). It was one of several times that Curl realized that Nick was a different kid. After a round, the duo returned to the hotel and Curl could barely move. Dunlap, however, put on his shorts to run two miles to the gym and return to exercise. “That’s when I knew we weren’t the same,” Curl told Sports Illustrated, who caddied for him in his US Amateur victory. “But that’s precisely why I believe he will be the world number one and why he can believe that no one will stop him”… Will this victory mark the beginning of a new era? We’ll evaluate it in a few years.