First time I’ve watched PGA golf in six months because I couldn’t resist this story going into the final day.
Kid was leading by three going into the fourth round but I fully expected him to crumble. Instead it was the guy who overtook him that came apart on the 17th and the kid held his nerve on the 18 despite a wayward tee shot.
He won on stroke count alone or did his handicap* (assuming he has one) factor into the score?
*Of course I mean golf handicap, not any disability.
Stroke count alone.
When this last happened the gap between the PGA and amateurs was considerably smaller.
Its more common in Women’s golf to have amateurs in contention, but I can’t even remember the last time any male amateur has been on the first page of the leaderboard on Saturday or Sunday.
So after this, does he stay an amateur?
He didn’t receive the prize money*, so technically he still is.
*It went to the runner-up, who is a pro.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/21/sport/nick-dunlap-american-express-pga-win-spt/index.html
OK, that sounds like a rip-off.
But what I meant was, he’s clearly an excellent golfer, at least comparable in skill to the actual pros (allowing for the possibility that he just had a really good day, and his opponents had a really bad day). Is there a high likelihood that, after this, he’ll go pro for future tournaments?
Sam Bennett, a student at Texas A&M, was in 3rd place going into the weekend at last years Masters, and was T7 going into the final round.
There was an amateur (Jordon Niebrugge) that finished T6 in the British Open back in 2015. Another amateur (Paul Dunne) was tied for the lead going into the final. Incidentally, neither Niebrugge or Dunne
has made much of an impact as a professional. I don’t think Niebrugge is playing pro golf anymore and Dunne is playing a developmental tour in Europe