Joins fellow Alabamian Gordon Sargent
Huntsville’s Nick Dunlap continues to add to an already impeccable amateur resume.
On Monday, the rising sophomore at the University of Alabama earned another honor when he was named to the 2023 USA Walker Cup Team by the USGA.
Caleb Surratt, 19, of Indian Trail, North Carolina, also was named to the team. The duo joins Gordon Sargent, Michael Thorbjornsen and David Ford, who previously earned automatic selections to the 10-player roster as the three highest-ranked American players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. The USA Team will compete against Great Britain and Ireland in the 49th Walker Cup Match on Sept. 2-3 at the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland.
“Nick and Caleb are excellent additions to further solidify this year’s team,” said Mike McCoy, captain of the USA Team. “These two players have worked tirelessly to put themselves in a position to be selected to this team and I’m thrilled to see their hard work be rewarded. I look forward to having them on our side at the Old Course.”
Nick Dunlap: An impressive body of work
Nick Dunlap, 19, of Huntsville, is coming off an impressive summer campaign with back-to-back wins at the Northeast Amateur and the North & South Amateur at Pinehurst No. 2.
He is No. 10 on the World Amateur Golf rankings.\
He also won the Linger Longer Invitational and is currently leading the 2023 Elite Amateur Golf Series standings. The 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur champion earned his second U.S. Open start in June by surviving a 3-for-2 playoff in the Columbus, Ohio qualifier.
The second-team All-American has played in seven USGA championships, including three U.S. Amateurs, and advanced to the semifinals of the 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at Bandon Dunes.
Dunlap qualified for the 2019 U.S. Amateur as a 15-year-old and was named the 2021 AJGA Rolex Golfer of the Year.
Dunlap is the second player on the team with ties to Alabama. Sargent, Vanderbilt’s star who is a rising junior, is from Mountain Brook.
Caleb Surratt took the SEC individual title
Caleb Surratt, 19, of Indian Trail, North Carolina, had a dominant week at the SEC Championship earlier this year, claiming the individual championship by six strokes.
The sophomore at the University of Tennessee won the Maui Jim Intercollegiate and is coming off a runner-up finish to Dunlap at this year’s Northeast Amateur. He had seven top-10 finishes in the 2022-23 college season for the Volunteers, earning him first-team All-American honors. Last year, Surratt won the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley, became the first back-to-back winner of the Terra Cotta Invitational and won the 2022 Elite Amateur Golf Series.
He also finished runner-up in the 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at Bandon Dunes, losing to Wenyi Ding, 3 & 2, in the 36-hole final. Surratt reached the Round of 16 in the 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur and the Round of 32 in the 2021 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont Country Club.
He won the 2021 Western Junior to join a list of champions that includes Jim Furyk, Collin Morikawa and Rickie Fowler.
The winner of the 2023 U.S. Amateur Championship, set to take place Aug. 14-20 at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado, and the recipient of the 2023 McCormack Medal, provided they are American, will earn the final automatic spots on the team.
The ITS working group will name final selections to the team and alternates immediately following the U.S. Amateur. The Walker Cup Match is a 10-man amateur team competition between the USA and Great Britain and Ireland.
The Match is played over two days with 18 singles matches and eight foursomes (alternate-shot) matches. The Old Course has hosted eight previous Walker Cups, more than any other venue, most recently in 1975, when the USA defeated GB&I, 15½-8½, led by future U.S. Open champions Jerry Pate and Curtis Strange.
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Featured image of Nick Dunlap courtesy of the Alabama Golf Association
