NICK DUNLAP SCRIPTS HISTORY WITH VICTORY AT THE AMERICAN EXPRESS

After a day of back-andforth competition, Dunlap and Sam Burns were tied for the lead when Burns put his tee shot in the water and doublebogeyed the 17th. Dunlap thought he had a two-stroke lead when he stepped up to the 18th...

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Nick Dunlap doesn't possess a false confidence, and he doesn't project a supernatural calm. The University of Alabama sophomore fully understood just how crazy it was to be fending off a field of professionals Sunday while he tried to become the PGA Tour's first amateur winner in 33 years.

“Most nervous I've ever been, by far,” Dunlap said. “Just tried to breathe, but also look up and enjoy it a little bit.”

The 20-year-old simply played through it all — through his mistakes, the rising pressure and the overall improbability of his week at The American Express. Dunlap came out of it with a victory that could herald the arrival of a major golf talent — and one who might not even need to finish the homework he brought with him to the West Coast. Dunlap swallowed his nerves one last time to make a 6-foot par putt on the final hole, holding on for a one-shot victory over Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

“Everybody’s got doubts,” Dunlap said. “I probably had a thousand different scenarios in my head of how today was going to go, and it went nothing like I expected. I think that was the cool part about it. That’s golf.”