Last year, after Nick Dunlap became the first amateur since Phil Mickelson in 1991 to win on the PGA Tour, he was faced with a perplexing decision.
Remain at the University of Alabama, or turn professional?
The 21-year-old eventually chose the latter.
The decision had pros and cons.
“The longer I waited, the more starts I lost,” Dunlap said Wednesday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, “and obviously being in those elevated events it’s extremely important and being in the majors. So for me, it was more of a, I either turn now or I wait pretty much all year, finish out the school year, and then kind of take that—you lose half a year.”
His first season on Tour was turbulent. He didn’t record a top-10 in the five months following his historic victory at the American Express. However, in July, he won again at the Barracuda Championship, becoming the first player in PGA Tour history to win as an amateur and a professional in the same year.
When Dunlap was deciding if he should turn professional, he didn’t want to leave his Alabama teammates, as they had a goal of winning a national championship together. But mostly everyone close to Dunlap pushed him to play regularly against the world’s best.
“Anybody that was very close to me knew that this was my dream, this is what I wanted to do,” he said. “And I did go back, I talked with my team and Coach (Jay) Seawell and (coach Hunter Hamrick) and my parents and (teammate) Canon Claycomb was actually one of the ones that stood up in the team room before I kind of told ’em that I was going to turn and said, ‘Hey, man, like, if you don't turn pro, we're all going to be disappointed in you.’
“Coming from him—and obviously it sucked a little bit for me because I feel like I left ’em kind of mid-season and we had a really good thing going, I think we could have gone a long way in the tournament at the end of the year and in the NCAAs. But I really think it was a group effort, everybody was super supportive of my dream and what I wanted to do and that was to play on the PGA Tour.
Sometimes, though, Dunlap thinks “what if?”
“College is so much fun,” Dunlap said, “I have so many memories with those guys and we’re going to be brothers forever. Sometimes wish I may have gotten a little bit longer, but very, very grateful for what happened.”
And for college golf stars who might be facing a similar decision, Dunlap suggests they follow in his footsteps.
“Gordon (Sargent) and Luke (Clanton) and Jackson (Koivun) soon, they have got some really fun decisions ahead,” Dunlap said, “and sometimes it can be stressful, but it’s a really good spot to be in and kind of have a decision of whether I stay in college and enjoy that or I can go chase my dream on the PGA Tour is not a bad spot to be in.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Nick Dunlap Sometimes Wistful for School Days, but Glad He Turned Pro.
