Fearless 20-Year-Old Deunraep... Wins PGA Championship

Cheering for 1-Shot Lead at American Express
Mickelson Sets Amateur Win Record After 33 Years Since 1991 Northern Telecom Open

Twenty-year-old Nick Dunlap (USA) made a remarkable record as an amateur champion.

Amateur Nick Dunlap is cheering after securing victory at the 18th hole of the 4th round of the American Express. [La Quinta, USA=AFP·Yonhap News]

On the 21st (local time), at the Pete Dye Stadium Course (par 72, 7,187 yards) in La Quinta, California, USA, Dunlap added 2 under par in the 4th round of the PGA Tour American Express (total prize money $8.4 million) to win by 1 stroke (29 under par 259). This is the first amateur victory in 33 years since Phil Mickelson (USA) won the Northern Telecom Open in 1991. The winner's prize money of $1,512,000 (about 2 billion KRW) went to the runner-up, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa, 28 under par 260).

Dunlap started with a 3-stroke lead and recorded 4 birdies and 1 double bogey. After a birdie on the 5th hole (par 5), he was shaken by a double bogey on the 7th hole (par 4). However, he changed the momentum with a birdie on the 8th hole (par 5) and secured the victory with 'stepping stone birdies' on the 14th and 16th holes. Dunlap is a sophomore at the University of Alabama. He won the US Amateur Golf Championship last year and participated in the American Express as an invited player. Although he did not receive the prize money, he secured a 2-year PGA Tour card.

Justin Thomas tied for 3rd place (27 under par 261), Sam Burns tied for 6th place (25 under par 263), Kim Chan tied for 14th place (22 under par 266), and Scottie Scheffler (all USA) tied for 17th place (21 under par 267), while Minwoo Lee (Australia) tied for 21st place (20 under par 268). Korea's Kyung-hoon Lee surged with 6 under par to rise to a tie for 25th place (19 under par 269). Kim Si-woo, the 2021 champion of this tournament, fell to this group after a quadruple bogey on the 17th hole (par 3). Sungjae Im also tied for 25th place.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.