Nick Dunlap Bio
Nicholas Dunlap, born on December 23, 2003, is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. A native of Alabama, he first drew national attention as a teenager, capturing the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2021 and the U.S. Amateur in 2023. In January 2024, Dunlap won The American Express as an amateur, becoming the first amateur in 33 years to win a PGA Tour event and the first player in history to hold the U.S. Junior Amateur, U.S. Amateur, and a PGA Tour victory.
He turned professional the following week, claimed his first professional win at the 2024 Barracuda Championship, and earned the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year award for 2024. He plays out of Jupiter, Florida, and continues to develop his game on the PGA Tour.
Early Life and Background
Nicholas Dunlap was born on December 23, 2003, in Birmingham, Alabama, to parents Charlene and Jim Dunlap. He is an only child, and the family briefly moved to Greenville, South Carolina, before his freshman year of high school, where he was homeschooled after they returned to Alabama. He has remained closely connected to his home state throughout his young career.
Dunlap first developed his game at Greystone Golf & Country Club, where lead instructor Brian Speakman remembered him as extremely athletic and a high-level baseball and football player as well. In 2013, he was a finalist in the National Football League’s Punt, Pass, and Kick competition. At age 12, he shot a 59 at Highland Park Golf Course in Birmingham during a junior tournament, winning the event by 13 strokes and signaling his future in golf.
Path to Professional Golf
Dunlap won the Alabama State Junior Championship in 2018 and rose through national junior circuits over the next several years. He was runner-up at the 2020 Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championship, the 2021 Junior Players Championship, and the 2021 Boys Junior PGA Championship. In 2021, he captured the Dustin Johnson World Junior Championship, the AJGA Polo Golf Junior Classic, and the U.S. Junior Amateur, defeating Cohen Trolio 3 and 2 in the final, becoming the first Alabama native to win the U.S. Junior Amateur title and earning an exemption to the 2022 U.S. Open.
Ranked the No. 1 junior golfer in the class of 2022 by Golfweek, Dunlap committed to the University of Alabama, where he studied finance and played for the Alabama Crimson Tide. He battled tendonitis in his left wrist as a freshman but still claimed his first individual collegiate win at the 2023 Linger Longer Invitational, followed by the Northeast Amateur in June and the North and South Amateur in July 2023.
Nick Dunlap Career
Amateur Career (2018–2023)
Dunlap’s amateur career peaked in 2023 at the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club. After struggling to five over par through his first seven holes of stroke play, he rallied to make the cut, beat Gordon Sargent in the first round of match play, and defeated Neal Shipley 4 and 3 in the final to claim the title. The victory made him only the second golfer in history, after Tiger Woods, to win both the U.S. Junior Amateur and the U.S. Amateur.
Following the U.S. Amateur, Dunlap represented the United States at the 2023 Walker Cup and the 2023 Eisenhower Trophy. The U.S. team won both competitions, and he finished runner-up in the individual stroke play at the Eisenhower Trophy, capping a year that placed him atop the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
Professional Career (2024–Present)
The week after his amateur win at The American Express in January 2024, Dunlap announced he was turning professional and accepting PGA Tour membership. He openly spoke about the difficulty of adapting to life as a professional, recording only one top-10 finish in his first six months and missing the cut at each of the three major championships he played. In July 2024, he won the Barracuda Championship, becoming the first player in PGA Tour history to win in the same season as both an amateur and a professional. He was later named the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year for 2024.
Driving Style and Strengths
Dunlap’s early PGA Tour results highlighted elite ball-striking, evidenced by the 12-under 60 he shot in the third round of The American Express that tied Patrick Cantlay’s record for the lowest round by an amateur. As a professional, however, his driver has been a work in progress, and by September 2025 he ranked last on tour in strokes gained off-the-tee, an area of his game he has openly targeted for improvement.
Notable Events and Milestones
His January 2024 victory at The American Express remains his signature moment, making him the first amateur to win on the PGA Tour since Phil Mickelson at the 1991 Tucson Open and the second-youngest PGA Tour winner in the past 90 years behind Jordan Spieth. He was also ineligible for the winner’s check of $1,512,000 as an amateur, which was awarded to runner-up Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
Nick Dunlap Career Wins
Nicholas Dunlap has won twice on the PGA Tour, once as an amateur and once as a professional, both during the 2024 season. He has also won several marquee amateur championships, including the U.S. Junior Amateur and the U.S. Amateur.
PGA Tour Highlights
Dunlap’s first PGA Tour victory came at The American Express in January 2024, a one-stroke win that vaulted him to No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. His second PGA Tour win followed at the 2024 Barracuda Championship, an opposite-field event held the same week as The Open Championship, marking the first time a player won a PGA Tour event in the same season as both an amateur and a professional.
Other Wins and Performances
As an amateur, Dunlap won the 2018 Alabama State Junior Championship, the 2021 Dustin Johnson World Junior Championship, the 2021 AJGA Polo Golf Junior Classic, the 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur, the 2023 Northeast Amateur, the 2023 North and South Amateur, and the 2023 U.S. Amateur. He was also named the 2021 AJGA Boys Golfer of the Year and helped the United States win the 2023 Walker Cup and 2023 Eisenhower Trophy.
Nick Dunlap Family
Family Background and Racing Lineage
Nicholas Dunlap is the son of Charlene and Jim Dunlap and grew up as an only child in Alabama. The family supported his early athletic development across multiple sports, including golf, baseball, and football.
Personal Life
Dunlap is single and remains closely tied to his Alabama roots, having committed to play for the Crimson Tide at the University of Alabama before turning professional. He currently resides in Jupiter, Florida, a popular home base for many PGA Tour players.
2025 Season Performance
Dunlap’s 2025 PGA Tour season got off to a turbulent start at the 2025 Masters Tournament, where he opened with an 18-over-par 90. He followed with a 71 in the second round, the largest round-to-round improvement at the Masters since Craig Wood shot 88-67 in 1936, a sign of his resilience even in difficult circumstances.
He continued to wrestle with consistency throughout 2025, and by September he ranked last on the PGA Tour in strokes gained off-the-tee. That statistic has defined the storyline of his second full professional season, with the work ahead centered on driver accuracy and distance control.
Looking ahead, Dunlap remains an early-career professional with two PGA Tour wins and elite amateur credentials. His development through the remainder of the 2025 season and into 2026 will be closely watched, with a focus on turning his ball-striking strengths into more consistent week-to-week results.