‘The easiest, hardest decision’: Huntsville native Nick Dunlap going pro after PGA event win

(WHNT) — He’s gone places that only the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have been before, and now, fresh off his win at the American Express PGA event – Huntsville native Nick Dunlap has decided to head to the professional ranks.

Dunlap fought back tears as he announced that he would be giving up his amateur status, leaving Alabama and joining the PGA Tour at a press conference in Tuscaloosa on Thursday morning.

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“It was the easiest, hardest decision that I’ve ever had to make,” said Dunlap. “It was clear that I did want to play professional golf and it was a golden opportunity to do that with what the PGA Tour has provided.”

Following the win in California, Dunlap was asked if he was ready to turn pro, and he didn’t commit to it but it seemed the writing was on the wall. He withdrew from the Farmers Insurance Open this weekend to return to Tuscaloosa. Dunlap says he wanted to inform his teammates and coaches first before it became public knowledge.

“Telling them was the hardest thing, that I was leaving mid-year and I wasn’t going to get to play the rest of the season out with them,” said Dunlap. “Obviously, I didn’t plan on that, they didn’t plan on that. Unfortunately, it’s part of life but I was given a really cool opportunity and I wanted to try to chase that.”

Dunlap is penning a storybook beginning to his career becoming the first amateur to win a PGA Tour Event since Phil Mickelson did so in 1991. In 2023, he became only the second golfer in history to win the U.S Amateur Championship and the U.S Junior Amateur Championship joining 15-time major championship winner Tiger Woods, according to Golfweek.

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A week ago, Dunlap was in the opening round of the American Express event, and if you told him how his life would change in just seven days, he might not believe you.

“A week ago if you had told me I had the opportunity to live out my dream as a 20-year-old, it’s pretty surreal,” said Dunlap. “But it’s also scary. There’s a lot of changes.”

The win at the American Express skyrocketed Dunlap’s world golf ranking over 4,000 spots to No. 68.

Due to his amateur status, Dunlap did not receive any of the prize money from the win. But that will soon change now that he has become a professional. As a pro, Dunlap will be eligible to win prize money in all future competitions.

He will debut at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am next weekend and be eligible for tournaments like the Masters and PGA Championship. The winner of the event can claim the $3.6 million prize. You can watch the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on WHNT beginning at 2 p.m. on February 3.

A trip to Augusta is something Dunlap says he is looking forward to.

“Looking forward to Augusta,” said Dunlap. “That’ll be an experience of a lifetime.”

Dunlap will begin to live a life many would dream of as he plans to remain in Tuscaloosa, continuing to live his college life while playing professional golf.

“Coach Seawell has been gracious enough that I’m going to continue to live here and hang out with the guys,” said Dunlap. “At least live out some of my college life the rest of this year, I’d like to keep that the same moving forward.”

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