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Nick Dunlap Finishes First Round With One of the Highest Scores in Masters History

He was five strokes away from tying the record for the worst round in tournament history.

Madison Williams

Nick Dunlap hits a shot at the Masters.
Nick Dunlap hits a shot at the Masters. / Peter Casey-Imagn Images

It was a rough day at Augusta National for Nick Dunlap, to say the least.

Dunlap finished his first round at the Masters shooting 18-over for 90. He put himself in dead last with this score, with Thriston Lawrence sitting in second-to-last with a score of 8-over, a whole 10 strokes better than Dunlap.

Luckily for Dunlap, this isn't the highest score in Masters history. Charlie Kunkle holds that record with the 95 he shot in 1956. The only other player to shoot at least 90 under the age of 50 was Frank Souchak, who shot a 90 in 1954. However, Dunlap shot 47 on the back nine, which is closer to the tournament's worst back nine total of 49.

Dunlap's first round started off on the wrong foot as he bogeyed the opening hole. He went on to bogey three more times and even tally one triple bogey on the front nine. The back nine, as mentioned before, was much worse for Dunlap. He had four double bogeys and three bogeys to finish out his round.

Impressively, despite his high score, Dunlap did not have a single three-putt through his entire round on Thursday. Whether that makes the performance better or worse is for the viewer to decide.

The 21-year-old hasn't had the best luck in majors since turning pro. He's made zero major cuts in five starts, and it looks like this year's Masters won't be his first major cut.

Dunlap has the opportunity to turn things around on Friday, of course. In order to make Masters history, Dunlap would need to shoot a 68 or lower to break the record for the biggest improvement from round one to two, per The Athletic's Justin Ray. It's been a long-standing record as Craig Wood improved his play by 21 strokes from the first round to the second in 1936.

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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.

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