Twenty-year-old Nick Dunlap became the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event since Phil Mickelson in 1991 by capturing The American Express title on Sunday in La Quinta, Calif.
Dunlap got up and down for par at the 72nd hole at the PGA West Pete Dye Stadium Course to shoot 2-under 70 for the round and 29-under 259 for the week, one ahead of South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
The reigning U.S. Amateur champion and sophomore at Alabama opened 64-65-60, having racked up 10 birdies and an eagle to shoot 12 under at La Quinta Country Club in Saturday’s third round.
He began Sunday with a three-shot lead over Sam Burns but found the water on the par-4 seventh hole and made double bogey. Dunlap responded with birdies at Nos. 8 and 14, and after chipping to 10 1/2 feet at the par-5 16th, he sank a birdie putt to tie Burns at 29 under.
Dunlap then landed his tee shot at the par-3 17th on the island green and Burns proceeded to find the water.
Dunlap made par but hit his tee shot at No. 18 landed on a mound far right of the fairway. After Burns found the water for the second straight hole, Dunlap’s second shot traveled 194 yards and rolled down a mound into a far corner of the fairway, setting up another remarkable chip to 6 feet.
Bezuidenhout eagled the par-4 15th and birdied the 18th to polish off a bogey-free 65 and make Dunlap’s final par necessary to avoid a playoff.
–Field Level Media
