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His victory in The American Express has brought Nick Dunlap countless joys and opportunities. This Wednesday, January 24, one more of them came to fruition, as he was made official as the top ranked amateur golfer in the world.
Nick Dunlap climbed to No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) thanks to his victory in La Quinta, California. The University of Alabama sophomore surpassed fellow amateurs Gordon Sargent (Vanderbilt) and Christo Lamprecht (Georgia Tech).
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The first-place finish at The American Express earned Nick Dunlap 1970.8621 points, giving him 1370.2474 average points to top the world rankings. According to Golf Channel writer Bentley Romine, Dunlap became the first No. 1 amateur to also be ranked in the Official World Golf Ranking Top 100 (68th).
Dunlap is 60.5692 average points ahead of Sargent (2nd) and 63.2727 ahead of Lamprecht (3rd). The Top 10 is completed by Michael Thorbjornsen (Stanford), David Ford (Univ. of North Carolina), Benjamin James (Univ. of Virginia), Dylan Menante (Univ. of North Carolina), Nicholas Gabrelcik (Univ. of North Florida), Preston Summerhays (Arizona State) and Caleb Surratt (Univ. of Tennessee).
Nick Dunlap accumulates six victories and 17 Top 10s among the 34 counting events for his place in the world ranking. In addition to his victory in The American Express, his victory at the 2023 US Amateur Championship and the 2023 North and South Amateur Championship, stand out.
Other interesting results were the individual second place in the World Amateur Team Championship and fourth place in the 2023 NCAA Norman Regional.
What has The American Express brought for Nick Dunlap?
Winning The American Express 2024 has brought much more than enormous prestige and several records for Nick Dunlap. The young amateur has some serious decisions to make in the coming weeks, as his performance at La Quinta has opened up many opportunities for him.
Dunlap already has a place in the field of The Masters and the PGA Championship in front of him. He has also qualified for the seven Signature Events remaining in the current season (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, The Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Heritage, Wells Fargo Championship, Memorial Tournament and Travelers Championship).
If that wasn't enough, this result also opened Dunlap a spot in The Sentry in 2025 and gave him his PGA Tour card through the 2026 season.
Of course, the matter is not simple, since in order to be able to use all these possibilities, Dunlap would have to start his professional career when he is still in the middle of his sophomore year at the University of Alabama. Undoubtedly, it is a decision that would demand a lot of analysis from the player and his family.
Dunlap is only the eighth amateur player to win a tournament on the PGA Tour since its founding in 1916. He is also the first to do so since Phil Mickelson in 1991.
Among the many merits of his victory is the fact that he set the lowest score record for The American Express, with a score of 29-under 259.
