Alabama Golfer Nick Dunlap Continues Run to U.S. Amateur Championship Final

The Crimson Tide sophomore golfer secures the first spot in the men's 2023 U.S Amateur finals.

Coming off an impressive freshman season at Alabama, golfer Nick Dunlap is continuing his strong offseason.

Dunlap secured a spot in the 2023 U.S. Amateur Championship finals with a 3 and 2 victory over Florida's Parker Bell in the match play semifinals. He'll face Neal Shipley, who has also had a hot summer, during Sunday's 36-hole finals. The graduate student at Ohio State (and previously played at James Madison) defeated Auburn's John Marshall Butler in the other semifinal, 2 &1. 

ROLL TIDE! 🐘@AlabamaMGolf's @NickDunlap62 is moving on to the #USAmateur championship match! pic.twitter.com/d8rbtPVPYd

— USGA (@USGA) August 19, 2023

"There’s hundreds of people out here, it’s the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur, it’s a lot of pressure," Dunlap told the USGA. "I thought if I could just get the [honor], make him do something, make him try to make some birdies, hopefully maybe I’ll roll in a putt, which fortunately I did on 12. Just hung in there the rest of the day

With his spot in the finals, Dunlap earns an invitation to the 2024 Masters and U.S. Open. 

After finishing 41st in stroke play (72-70/142), Dunlap now has match play wins over World No. 1-ranked Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt (2&1) in the round of 64, Connor Jones (4&2) in the round of 32, Bowen Mauss (5&4) in the round of 16 and Jackson Koivun (19 holes) in the quarterfinals.

The Crimson Tide sophomore becomes the first Alabama golfer to reach the finals since Michael Thompson in 2007. Jerry Pate is the only Crimson Tide men's golfer to win the U.S. Amateur with his victory in 1974. 

Dunalp has already won the Northeast Amateur and the North & South Amateur this summer. Last season, he led Alabama in average strokes per round at 70.35, which ranks as the second lowest per-round single-season average in program history. 

Shipley was the runner-up in the Sunnehanna Amateur and the Trans-Miss Amateur, tied for second place at the Dogwood Invitational and tied for third in the Pacific Coast Amateur. He was fourth in the Elite Amateur Series, two spots behing Dunlap.