Nick Dunlap Takes Little Time in Seizing PGA Tour Opportunity

After winning as an amateur the Alabama sophomore turned pro days later and will play in a signature event this week.

More Weekly Read: A Deal May Be Near | Reimagined Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Nick Dunlap will make his professional debut this week at Pebble Beach with plenty of confidence and the assurance of knowing that he’s fully exempt for the rest of this year as well as 2025 and 2026 on the PGA Tour.

And seeing that his victory at the American Express a week ago means starts in all the signature events—which includes Pebble Beach and the Genesis Invitational in two weeks—it’s hard to blame Dunlap for taking advantage.

He’s clearly got a solid game and already has been assured so many playing opportunities that it’s difficult to say no at this point and remain an amateur.

And yet ...

You wonder if he’d at least been better off waiting until after his college season concluded in May at Alabama. He could see his team through, possibly, to the NCAA championship while enjoying a few more months of non-paid golf with his teammates while those who will handle such things can line up endorsements, sponsorships and get things in place to move into the real world.

Nick Dunlap bypassed more college golf at Alabama to turn pro :: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

Who knows if Dunlap is suited to the rigors that the pro game entails? And while it’s fair to say he will learn as he goes and that the maturity he showed in winning a PGA Tour will carry him through.

The Amex was just his fourth start in a PGA Tour event and he missed the cut in the previous three. There are no guarantees, although there will be guaranteed paydays and FedEx points at four of the signature events for which he will be eligible.

Dunlap had plenty of time to make a decision on turning pro. Phil Mickelson, the last player to win a PGA Tour event as an amateur, waited more than a year to turn pro after capturing the Northern Telecom Tucson Open in 1991. He was a junior at Arizona State, returned to school, finished fourth at the NCAAs that year (after winning the previous two years) and was low amateur at both the Masters and U.S. Open.

The following year, Mickelson won a third NCAA individual title and then so after turned pro, making it through sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open in Memphis—where a guy named Jim "Bones" Mackay caddied for him for the first time—and then missed the cut in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

Mickelson had the security of knowing he was exempt for the next two seasons, and got his first victory as a pro in 1993 at the Buick Invitational of California—now known as the Farmers Insurance Open.

Dunlap needed to determine his professional status by the end of this year so perhaps it makes sense to go ahead and do it now.

But there are some cautionary tales, most notably Justin Rose—this week’s defending champion at Pebble Beach. Rose was just 17 when he holed out for a birdie on the final hole at Royal Birkdale in 1998 to finish fourth at the British Open. He turned pro afterward—and then proceeded to miss 21 cuts. “When I was missing 21 cuts, I mean I was just trying not to fade away, really," he said.

Nobody is suggesting that fate will befall Dunlap. He’s a few years older, for one thing. He’s got plenty of financial backing and security. (He would have made hundreds of thousands of dollars even if he stayed in school via NIL deals.)

But he might want to have a chat with Rose this week just as well.

By turning pro, Dunlap gets in the PGA Championship but will have to forego his British Open exemption. He’s still got plenty of time to qualify, however, as the top 50 in the world via the Official World Golf Ranking as of Week 21—or eight weeks prior to the Open—are exempt. Dunlap soared to 68th after his Amex victory.