Days after becoming the first amateur golfer to win on the PGA Tour for 33 years, Nick Dunlap has joined the professional ranks.
The 20-year-old triumphed at the American Express Championship in California on Sunday.
He became the first reigning US amateur champion to win an American tour event since Tiger Woods in 1996.
But he missed out on a £1.2m winner’s cheque for the event because of his amateur status.
Until last Sunday, Phil Mickelson was the most recent player still in the unpaid ranks to lift a PGA Tour title in 1991.
Following his La Quinta triumph, Dunlap will begin his professional career at Pebble Beach next week. He is now exempt for all full-field tournaments and the seven remaining big-money signature events on the PGA Tour this year.
He will also be in the field for the Players Championship in March as well as the Masters, US PGA and US Open.
It is not clear whether he will be eligible for The Open at Royal Troon.
The R&A is yet to announce its exemptions for the 152nd Championship, but traditionally has only offered the reigning US amateur champion an exemption if he remains an amateur.
Despite his extraordinary victory, Dunlap does not receive any points towards the season-long play-offs until he makes a cut as a professional player, and does not retroactively receive any credit for the win at the American Express.
He won the 2021 US Junior Amateur and the 2023 US Amateur, joining Woods as the only players to win both of those events, and also represented the United States in their winning Walker Cup team at St Andrews last year.
