Dunlap Prevails in Historic U.S. Am Final

Joins Tiger Woods as only players to win U.S. Amateur and U.S. Junior Amateur

by Jon Rizzi

For the first 18 holes of Sunday’s 36-hole U.S. Amateur final, Neal Shipley and Nick Dunlap engaged in one of the all-time great matches. Both birdied the first hole. Both seemed to be within 20 feet of each other off the tee.  The only bogey on either player’s card came at the par-3 15^th, when Dunlap, despite taking an unplayable on his wayward tee shot into the weeds across the creek to the left of the green, chipped to about six feet and made the putt for a 4.

Both emerged unbloodied, all square, with each winning three holes.

Then came the second 18. It being Sunday, did either make a “halftime adjustment”? Or was it just that Dunlap—a 19-year-old University of Alabama student who’d compiled a 29-2 match play record that began as he won the 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur—he’ll be traveling to St. Andrews next month as a member of the U.S. Walker Cup team?

 

The latter was more likely the case As Shipley, a graduate student at Ohio State University, said, “You shoot 5 under in the morning round, you would think you’d be at least 1 or 2 up.”

Both players continued their hot play by birdieing the par-4 first to open the afternoon. Then Dunlap assumed control of the match. He won the third and fourth holes with birdies, and took a 3-up advantage with his par on the par-4 seventh.

The backbreaker came two holes later, as Shipley, who had knocked his approach to five feet for a likely lead-trimming birdie, watched Dunlap pour in a 30-foot birdie putt.

“I think it halted his run,” Dunlap said in the press room after the match. “He was going to make that putt, and I think that turned things a little bit.” Dunlap had gone 5-under-par 30 for the first nine afternoon holes.

Finding himself 4 down to Dunlap with eight holes to play, Shipley—whose enthusiasm and fan engagement had earned him a big following—took No. 13 when Dunlap couldn’t escape the dense rough. But he gave that hole right back when he missed a short putt on the par-4 14^th.

Dormie on the 33rd hole—the same hole on which Dunlap made his only bogey of the day—Shipley conceded Dunlap’s par putt and missed his birdie try to continue the match.

“Nick played great, and he just made a lot of putts on me this afternoon,” Shipley said of his opponent’s 12-birdie performance. That’s what it takes to win these things. He has what it takes, obviously, and I just didn’t really play my best. I got outdueled today.”

 

Historic Win

With the victory, Dunlap became the only player other than Tiger Woods to capture both the U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Amateur.

“Well, I think it’s only a third of what Tiger’s actually done,” said Dunlap, acknowledging that Woods won the U.S. Junior Am in 1991,’93 and ‘93 and the U.S. Am in  ‘94, ‘95 and ‘96. “But just to be in the same conversation as Tiger is a dream come true and something that I’ve worked my entire life for. It’s the hours and hours that nobody sees to try to get to this point and even have a chance to win this trophy. It’s unbelievable; can’t put it into words.”

Dunlap’s road to this year’s championship began inauspiciously, as he stood 5 over par through seven holes at co-host Colorado Golf Club, with a double bogey and a triple bogey. He birdied six of his next 10 holes to turn things around and ended up completing 36 holes in 1 under par, one stroke inside the cut line of even par.

The experience was seminal to his run.

“I learned that I could do it; I always thought I could, but when you’re 5 over through seven and your mind is spinning and you can’t see straight, you’re looking at the negative – I think I was in last place at one point,” said Dunlap. “For me to be able to snap out of that, slow things down, back off, whatever it took for me to slow down and get back into my process, I think I just learned that anything is possible as long as you put your mind to it.”

In the first round of match play he defeated the No.1. ranked amateur in the world, Gordon Sargent, and went on to beat Auburn’s Jackson Koivun in extra holes in the semifinals.

For Dunlap, who said he’d touched the Havemeyer trophy at Pinehurst when he won the U.S. Junior Amateur, the victory had special resonance. “Just to be in the same conversation as Tiger is a dream come true and something that I’ve worked my entire life for. It’s the hours and hours that nobody sees to try to get to this point and even have a chance to win this trophy. It’s unbelievable. I can’t put it into words.”

Dunlap will have custody of the trophy for one year, as well as a 10-year exemption into the U.S. Amateur, a gold medal and entry in the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon and a likely invitation to the 2024 Masters Tournament. Shipley receives a silver medal, a three-year U.S. Amateur exemption, and he is also exempt into the 2024 U.S. Open and will likely receive an invitation to the 2024 Masters.

Dunlap will have custody of the trophy for one year, as well as a 10-year exemption into the U.S. Amateur, a gold medal and entry in the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon and a likely invitation to the 2024 Masters Tournament. Shipley receives a silver medal, a three-year U.S. Amateur exemption, and he is also exempt into the 2024 U.S. Open and will likely receive an invitation to the 2024 Masters.

Cherry on Top

“Have we ever had a U.S. Amateur that was better attended?”  USGA President Fred Perpall asked rhetorically during the closing ceremony in the club’s remodeled clubhouse. The crowds on Sunday and preliminary numbers bear him out.

Exclusive of tickets processed through the Quest Ticketing System, through Saturday, 7,278 tickets had been sold, generating $171,348 in ticket revenue. In comparison, ticket sales at last year’s U.S. Amateur at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey, generated $46,000.

“The energy out there was really special,” Dunlap said. “It was a world-class event.”

“The course was phenomenal,” Shipley added. “The setup all week was phenomenal. I have nothing but good things to say about it.”

Among the other big winners at the event were Colorado youth. More than 2,000 kids participated in the Junior Experience—a volunteer-staffed pavilion located in the pool area where all week they drove, chipped (to a floating green) and putted; heard about youth golf programs and careers in golf; experienced golf-themed STEM activities experiences; and learned about scholarships and the many doors the game can open.

For Cherry Hills and the USGA, the goal of the Junior Experience was to expose young people to the myriad possibilities golf can provide.

Before Saturday’s semifinal matches, the pavilion hosted an announcement to underscore the club’s philanthropic commitment to youth, with Championship Chair Jim Hillary presenting checks of $150,000 apiece to the Palmer Scholarship Foundation, Evans Scholars Foundation, and area First Tee Colorado Chapters.

The money resulted from a three-year fundraising drive initiated by Hillary and supported by club members, corporate partners and the USGA to, as he put it, “utilize the championship as an opportunity to give back to the game.”

And that they did in every way, both on and off the course. “We just fit,” Perpall said of the relationship between the USGA and Cherry Hills. “You can feel it.”

---

Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram