Wins Barracuda Stableford event
The legend of Nick Dunlap grew a little bit larger Sunday afternoon.
Dunlap, the former University of Alabama golfer who counts the Canebrake Club in Athens as one of his home course, won the Barracuda Championship in Truckee, California, for his second victory of his rookie season on the PGA Tour.
The opposite field event to the Open Championship, the Barracuda Championship uses the Stableford scoring system where points are awarded for birdies, eagles and albatrosses, or subtracted for bogeys or worse. Tied for 13th place entering the final round, Dunlap amassed the day’s best score of 19 points to finish four rounds with 49 points.
Nick Dunlap edged Vince Whaley by two points to secure his first victory as a PGA Tour professional. In January, as an amateur, Dunlap won the American Express Championship in La Quinta, California, prompting him to forego his college career at Alabama and turn professional.
Early professional results were mixed for the 20-year-old Dunlap, with only one top-10 finish since the American Express title. But Sunday’s victory, worth 300 FedEx points and $720,000, vaulted him from 93rd to 63rd in the FedEx rankings. The top 70 on the points list advance to the upcoming playoffs. It also validated his decision to turn professional and join the Tour full time.
Another first for Nick Dunlap
He also became the first player in history to win on Tour as an amateur and professional in the same season.
“It’s really cool,” Dunlap said. “I never thought that I would have my name next to that, but it’s definitely an honor. It’s been a little tough after AmEx. You know, you kind of lose a little bit of confidence and wonder if you can do it again. I truly have the greatest team and they support me, they believe in me, they push me, and they’re the reason that I’m here.”
Dunlap said after winning and turning professional he realized he needed to improve in a couple of different areas to stay competitive – driving and chipping.
“Your expectations go through the roof a little bit and I knew I needed to get a lot better at a couple different aspects of my game and one of them was driving the golf ball and chipping, and I’ve worked very, very hard,” he said.
“I started working with Josh Gregory a couple months ago. He’s helped me tremendously with my short game and kind of structuring my practice out here, and those two things have gotten a lot better and that’s kind of the things I’ve been focusing on.”
Throughout this first season, Dunlap, who previously became only the second person to win the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship and U.S. Amateur Championship (Tiger Woods is the other) said he had to adjust to how he prepares from week to week.
“My first couple events I always thought I had to be at the golf course all day practicing, grinding, and you do that week to week, it’s a lot,” he said. “I think for me, it’s like I’ve tried to find a schedule and a routine and something that works for me and that’s been the hardest part, is when do I work out, how long do I practice on Monday and Tuesday, when do I play my practice rounds, what’s best for me.”
Fishing is Dunlap’s ‘reset’
During the Barracuda Championship week, Dunlap tried his hand at fishing in an attempt to get away from golf for a while.
“I’m traveling with a fishing pole now, so I’ve been trying to go fishing every evening and it’s just that little reset that helps me not focus on golf all day long. I can kind of reset, have some fun, come back out with a new mindset the next day,” he said.
Dunlap said even though he was well behind starting the final round, playing a Stableford scoring event allows players to jump into contention quickly.
“It’s nice, you never really feel like you’re out of it,” he said. “You know, you make an eagle or two and you’re right there. I hadn’t made an eagle yet this week, so that was kind of the goal, and just play aggressive, not reckless. This course, it allows you to make a lot of birdies if you’re in position and that was just kind of my goal, was hit it in the fairway and attack as many pins as I could.”
Dunlap sprang into the lead with a 55-foot eagle putt on the 15th hole. He birdied the 17th hole for what proved to be the winning margin. He made seven birdies and an eagle in the final round on the Old Greenwood course at the Tahoe Mountain Club.
Dunlap heads to the 3M Championship north of Minneapolis this week looking for his third win.
Gregg Dewalt is the editor of Alabama Golf News
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Featured image of Nick Dunlap (r) and caddie, Golf Channel screengrab
