Nick Dunlap has a chance to do something special Sunday.
The 20-year-old sophomore at Alabama is in the solo lead at 27 under at the PGA Tour’s American Express in La Quinta, California, after three rounds. The tournament normally doesn’t give sponsor exemptions to amateurs, but Dunlap is no regular amateur.
Last summer, he won the U.S. Amateur, becoming the second player ever to win a U.S. Junior and U.S. Amateur. The other? Tiger Woods.
Only seven amateurs have ever won a PGA Tour event (none since 1991), and the last am to finish in the top five was Michael Thorbjornsen at the 2022 Travelers Championship.
Here’s a look at the seven amateurs who have won PGA Tour events.
Cary Middlehoff
The first amateur to win an event on Tour was Middlehoff, who captured the 1945 North and South Open. He went on to win the Masters.
Fred Haas
That same year, Haas became the second am to win on Tour, capturing the 1945 Memphis Invitational. He eventually represented the U.S. in the Ryder Cup.
Frank Stranahan
Frank Stranahan is the only amateur to win multiple times, claiming titles at the 1945 Durham War Bond Tournament and the 1948 Miami Open. He was also a powerlifter known as the “Toledo strongman.”
Gene Littler
Littler was the next, winning the 1954 San Diego Open. He’s in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Doug Sanders
Doug Sanders followed suit in 1956, winning the Canadian Open in a playoff. He won 20 Tour events and had four runner-up finishes in majors.
Scott Verplank
Before his senior year at Oklahoma State, Verplank won the Western Open outside Chicago in August of 1985. He defeated Jim Thorpe on the second extra hole of a playoff for the win at Butler National Golf Club.
Phil Mickelson
On Jan. 13, 1991, Mickelson won the Northern Telecom Open in Tucson, Arizona, as an amateur. He remains the last amateur to win a PGA Tour event.
Lefty, then 20, was a junior at Arizona State and made the 90-minute drive south to TPC at Starpass, where he won by a shot (a birdie on the last hole) over Tom Purtzer and Bob Tway.
