Nick Dunlap played his first round of golf as a pro golfer today. You may recall that this 20-year old former amateur golfer, a college student at the University of Alabama, won the PGA Tour’s The American Express tournament two weeks ago at La Quinta, California, to become the first amateur golfer to win on the PGA Tour since Phil Mickelson did it in 1991. Dunlap then retired to campus life for the next two weeks to contemplate whether he should now turn pro and take advantage of the many benefits that come from winning on the PGA Tour even though he didn’t get to bank the $1.5 million that he would have if he had been a pro then. It didn’t take Nick long to decide–yes, he would turn pro immediately and begin his lifelong dream of competing on the PGA Tour.
So, that dream became a reality today in the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Unfortunately, Nick faltered by carding a five-over par 77, landing him a whopping 14 strokes behind the tournament leader Thomas Detry, who shot a nine-under par 63. Nick did have some excuses. He said he was “tired” from all the emotional strain he’s been going through of late, which is surely understandable. He also didn’t know Pebble Beach Golf Course. He explained, “I remember playing this place on the PGA Tour PlayStation game, so to be out here and to see it for the first time is pretty cool.” And “cool” is an apt description of this young man when he handled all that pressure like a veteran two weeks ago.
Yesterday, Nick played a practice round with the world’s #1 pro golfer Scottie Scheffler and his best friend Sam Burns, who Nick had to beat in the closing holes to win two weeks ago. Nick playing a practice round with those two guys–who must be the most prominent members of the soon-to-be 65-year old PGA Tour Bible Study–shows that Nick Dunlap’s public profession as a Christian is already causing him to befriend others on Tour of like faith.
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