TRUCKEE, California: Nick Dunlap became the first player in PGA Tour history to win as an amateur and a professional in the same year, rallying Sunday for a two-point victory in the Barracuda Championship.
In January at The American Express in La Quinta, the 20-year-old Dunlap — then a sophomore at the University of Alabama — became the eighth amateur to win a tour event and the first in 33 years. He turned professional days later.
“I never thought that I would have my name next to that, but it’s definitely an honor,” Dunlap said about the amateur-pro double. “It’s been a little tough after AmEx. You kind of lose a little bit of confidence and wonder if you can do it again.”
On Sunday at Tahoe Mountain Club in the only PGA Tour event that uses the modified Stableford scoring system, Dunlap took the lead with a 55-foot eagle putt on the par-5 15th.
Players receive eight points for a double eagle, five for eagle and two for birdie. A point is deducted for bogey and three for double bogey.
“I hadn’t made an eagle yet this week, so that was kind of the goal, and just play aggressive, not reckless,” Dunlap said. “This course, it allows you to make a lot of birdies if you’re in position.”
Dunlap added a birdie on the par-4 17th, cutting the dogleg with a 304-yard drive and chipping to 3 feet.
Nine points behind leader Mac Meissner entering the day, Dunlap had 19 points in the bogey-free round to finish with 49. He birdied six of the first 12 holes on the tree-lined Old Greenwood course.
“The only sour thing about this is that winning moment goes quickly,” Dunlap said. “It doesn’t stay as long as you may think, just because tomorrow I’m flying to Minnesota and trying to repeat and do the exact same thing.”
Vince Whaley finished second, making a 17-foot birdie putt on par-4 18th for a nine-point day.
“I didn’t hit it very good the whole day and I kind of kept myself in it with the short game,” Whaley said. “Then missed a couple I felt like I could have made coming in.”
Patrick Fishburn had 46 points, holing a 10-footer for birdie on 18 to cap a 12-point round.
“It was a great week,” Fishburn said. “This is probably one of my favorite stops of the year.”
Meissner was fourth at 44. He closed a five-point round with a bogey.
“I’m definitely pretty bummed,” Meissner said. “It was a frustrating day. I had a couple good looks early for birdie through the first 10 holes and didn’t capitalize. It was just tough.”
Taylor Pendrith and Patrick Rodgers tied for fifth at 43.
With two events left in the regular season, Dunlap jumped from 95th to 63rd in the FedEx Cup standings. The top 70 will advance to the playoffs.
“It’s been a goal,” Dunlap said. “It’s, honestly, one of the reasons I played here.”
Dunlap becomes first player in PGA Tour history to win as an amateur and a pro in the same year
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Dunlap becomes first player in PGA Tour history to win as an amateur and a pro in the same year
- On Sunday at Tahoe Mountain Club in the only PGA Tour event that uses the modified Stableford scoring system, Dunlap took the lead with a 55-foot eagle putt on the par-5 15th
Justin Thomas ends 3-year drought with playoff victory in RBC Heritage
- In the playoff, Novak missed from just inside 35 feet, setting the stage for Thomas
- The putt was so pure that Thomas dropped his putter before the ball dropped, stooping over and clutching both arms to celebrate a win that felt long overdue
- His previous win was the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in May of 2022
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C.:Justin Thomas ended nearly three years without a victory Sunday by making a birdie putt from just outside 20 feet in a playoff at Harbor Town to beat Andrew Novak in the RBC Heritage.
Thomas played bogey-free in dry, fast conditions for a 3-under 68, making a 25-foot birdie putt on the 16th that looked like it might be the winner until Novak, who grew up in South Carolina, matched him with a big birdie of his own for a 68.
Novak, who has had three good chances to win in his last 14 tournaments, had an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole in regulation that was left all the way.
In the playoff, Novak missed from just inside 35 feet, setting the stage for Thomas. The putt was so pure that Thomas dropped his putter before the ball dropped, stooping over and clutching both arms to celebrate a win that felt long overdue.
His previous win was the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in May of 2022. His game slipped and he missed the FedEx Cup playoffs for the first time in 2023, and he was left off the Presidents Cup team a year ago.
His game was back in order — he cracked the top 10 again — and needed only a victory to confirm his game was back among the elite.
“I didn’t realize how much I missed winning,” Thomas said on the 18th green as he stood next to wife Jill and 5-month-old daughter Molly.
Thomas and Novak finished at 17-under 267, three shots clear of anyone else.
Novak was a runner-up in Bermuda last fall. He was right there at Torrey Pines in the Farmers Insurance Open. He was in the mix at the Valero Texas Open. And this looked like it might be his moment to break through until Thomas refused to be denied.
“Winning is hard. It’s really, really hard,” Thomas said with a tinge of emotion in his voice. “I’ve worked my butt off and stayed patient, stayed positive.”
He won for the 16th time on the PGA Tour, and to his recollection, he has never had to make a putt of length on the 18th hole to win by a shot.
“That was as fun as I thought it would be,” Thomas said.
They pulled away in the middle of the round from a tight leaderboard — a four-way tie at one point as they were joined by 54-hole leader Si Woo Kim and Maverick McNealy.
Daniel Berger closed with a 65 to tie for third with McNealy (70), Mackenzie Hughes (67) and Brian Harman (69).
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler even got in on the act, just briefly. He started four shots behind and was even for the round through eight holes. But he ran off three birdies in a four-hole stretch around the turn to pull within two.
Scheffler was running out of hole when he took on a high-risk shot needing eagle to have a legitimate chance. That found the water, leading to double bogey. He still shot 70 and tied for eighth, his third straight top 10 while contending into the final hour.
“I think I’m really close,” Scheffler said. “I feel like I did a lot of things well this week, just a few of the important shots I just didn’t pull off. Outside of that it was a pretty solid week.”
Thomas won the tournament with a birdie in a playoff. He saved his chances toward the end of the front nine when he made four straight putts starting on the fifth hole — 7 feet for birdie, 7 feet for par, 8 feet for par and just inside 15 feet for birdie on No. 8, where he took on the trees with a 7-iron to give himself a chance.
Novak had tree trouble and battled away, getting a few good bounces and a remarkable par save from a sandy lie amidst a forest on No. 11.
He moves high enough in the world ranking — inside the top 35 — that he should be a lock for the US Open and now needs to stay in the top 50 the next month for the British Open.
“I’m not as frustrated as I thought I would be.” Novak said. “I feel like I did a lot of good things. I’m pretty proud of putting myself in that position when I really felt like I wasn’t swinging it that great this week.
“I thought I was a little more comfortable down the stretch than maybe I have been in the past. Justin just went out and won it. There’s nothing you can really do about it.”
Justin Thomas makes 11 birdies for a 61 to take the lead at Harbor Town
- Fifty players in the 72-man field broke par on a course that yielded an average score of 69.2
- Justin Thomas makes 11 birdies for a 61 to take the lead at Harbor Town
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C.: Justin Thomas had a round to match the immaculate weather Thursday at Harbor Town with 11 birdies that allowed him to tie the course record with a 10-under 61 to lead the RBC Heritage.
The best shot he hit all day was an 8-iron that dropped near the pin and settled 5 feet away. He missed that birdie putt, one of the few chances he didn’t convert.
There was little to complain about on a day of hardly any wind, a course in mint condition and warm sunshine that added to the RBC Heritage being the ideal place to decompress from the hectic week at the Masters.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler, coming off a tie for fourth at the Masters, had very little stress at Harbor Town in a round of 64 that looked easy — which is not to say it felt that way.
“I will never say that golf is easy, ever. Golf is hard,” Scheffler said with a laugh.
But he was out of position only once off the tee and one other time when he went long of a green and both times he saved par. Otherwise, he putted for birdie or better on the other 16 holes and converted enough chances for a start that only looked good — not great — because of Thomas with the lowest score at Harbor Town in 10 years.
Bay Hill winner Russell Henley also had a 64, while Wyndham Clark was another shot back at 65. The group at 66 included former Hilton Head winner Matt Fitzpatrick and Gary Woodland, on the road back from brain surgery and building momentum from a runner-up finish in Houston.
Fifty players in the 72-man field broke par on a course that yielded an average score of 69.2
“I felt like if you compared my four rounds last week to today, today would be a much less stressful round of golf in terms of scrambling for a par,” Scheffler said. “A lot of the stuff I had to do last week I felt like I didn’t have to do today to shoot a good score. The golf course is obviously a bit different, but I was in position most of the day today.
“Overall, yeah, I would say stress-free day.”
Thomas is winless since capturing his second PGA Championship title in 2022, though his game has been trending enough in the right direction that he is No. 8 in the world. The Masters was a disappointment — no round lower than 70, 13 shots behind in a tie for 36th — but he put in some good work at Hilton Head for two days and made it pay off.
Six of his birdie putts were inside 10 feet, and he threw in three birdies from the 35-foot range, one of them on the 17th hole that put him in range of the course record.
He thought he had it with that 8-iron to a front pin on the 18th, which runs along the Calibogue Sound, only to miss the putt. He also missed a 4-foot par putt on the 10th.
“I’ve been playing really well, really solid. Felt good about things,” Thomas said. “I just didn’t play well last week. Put some really good work in the couple days leading into the start today, and I felt prepared. It was just about going out and doing it, and it was nice to do so.”
Among those who played later as the breeze — and nothing more than a breeze — began to pick up was Justin Rose, who lost in a playoff last week. He birdied his last two holes for a 67 to join a group that included Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay and Tommy Fleetwood.
Masters champion Rory McIlroy decided to skip this signature event even before the Masters got started. Hilton Head was not a course he felt suited him with its tight, tree-lined angles.
Thomas felt differently.
“I love it. I wish we played more places like it,” Thomas said. “I think more architects should design places like this. It kind of stands of test of time, I think. Especially if we continue to get weather like this and if these fairways get firm — the greens are already getting firm — it’s going to be everything we want by the end of the week.”
He got everything he could have wanted — save for that birdie putt on the 18th — at the start of the week.
Mixed-team golf event approved for 2028 Olympics
- Like the men’s and women’s individual events, the 36-hole mixed-team competition will take place at the Riviera Country Club
- Each country will be limited to a maximum of one team, according to the IGF
NEW YORK: The International Golf Federation (IGF) announced on Tuesday that the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles will see the debut of a mixed-team golf event, with each team composed of a male and female athlete from the individual competitions.
Like the men’s and women’s individual events, the 36-hole mixed-team competition will take place at the Riviera Country Club. It will consist of an 18-hole alternate shot format followed by 18 holes of best ball. Each country will be limited to a maximum of one team, according to the IGF.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to see a Mixed-Team Event added to the program for Los Angeles 2028,” Antony Scanlon, executive director of the IGF, said in a statement. “Golf was incredibly successful at Paris 2024, and as we continue building on the momentum from Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, we’re excited to bring even more attention to our sport through this additional format.
“The athletes were very enthusiastic about their desire to play with their compatriots, and we look forward to watching them compete together in Los Angeles.”
Golf made its return to the Olympic games in 2016, its first appearance since 1904. It now joins archery, athletics, gymnastics, rowing coastal beach sprint and table tennis as the lone sports to feature a mixed-gender competition for the 2028 Olympics.
Rory McIlroy wins Masters in dramatic fashion, completes career Slam
- It marked the fifth major championship for McIlroy, and his first since capturing the PGA Championship for the second time in 2014
It was finally Rory McIlroy’s time, even if it took a little longer than perhaps was necessary.
McIlroy birdied the first playoff hole with a short putt after missing a chance to win in regulation, capturing the Masters and completing the career Grand Slam on Sunday in Augusta, Georgia
“This is my 17th time here, and I started to wonder if it would ever be my time,” the Northern Irishman said. “I think the last 10 years coming here with the burden of the Grand Slam on my shoulders and trying to achieve that — yeah, I’m sort of wondering what we’re all going to talk about going into next year’s Masters.”
McIlroy’s 1-over-par 73 left him tied with England’s Justin Rose, who posted 66 and waited for McIlroy to finish. They both shot 11-under 277 for the week.
Re-playing the 18th hole at Augusta National Golf Club, McIlroy’s approach shot rolled back toward the hole and inside Rose’s ball. After Rose missed a birdie attempt and notched a par, McIlroy didn’t flub another chance for a victory.
He dropped his putter, put his hands on his head and fell prostrate on the green, sobbing.
“There was a lot of pent-up emotion that just came out on that 18th green,” McIlroy said. “A moment like that makes all the years and all the close calls worth it.”
It marked the fifth major championship for McIlroy, and his first since capturing the PGA Championship for the second time in 2014.
McIlroy needed par at No. 18 to win in regulation, but after blasting from a greenside bunker on the 18th hole he rolled a 5-foot par putt too far to the left.
It was a starkly different reaction from when he departed the 18th green following Thursday’s first round, which included a pair of backside double bogeys and dodging the media on the way to the practice area.
Rose spoke briefly to McIlroy after the playoff and later added perspective to what just happened.
“This is a historic moment in golf, isn’t it — someone who achieves the career Grand Slam,” Rose said. “I just said it was pretty cool to be able to share that moment with him. Obviously, I wanted to be the bad guy today, but still, it’s a momentous occasion for the game of golf.”
The new champion — who gave away his two-shot lead through 54 holes with a double bogey at No. 1 — also recovered from a disastrous stretch on the back nine to birdie the 17th hole for a brief one-stroke lead. McIlroy’s bogey on No. 11, double bogey on No. 13 and bogey on No. 14 appeared to send him on track for another final-round collapse at a major.
McIlroy said sending his ball into the creek on a wedge shot on the par-5 13th could have doomed his chances.
“I did a really good job of bouncing back from that,” he said.
McIlroy recovered for a birdie on the par-5 15th hole by drawing a tremendous second shot around a tree, over a water hazard and to 6 feet of the pin, where he two-putted for birdie.
Then he stuck his approach on No. 17 and sank the putt to take the lead.
Rose, seeking his first Masters title, had six birdies and two bogeys across the last eight holes, finishing with a 20-foot birdie putt.
“To make the putt on 18, the one you dream about as a kid, to obviously give myself an opportunity and a chance was an unbelievable feeling,” Rose said.
Rose was the leader after the first and second rounds, and after a tough 75 on Saturday he made a major final-round push. He had only four pars on his card — countering four bogeys with 10 birdies.
Patrick Reed (69 on Sunday) was third at 9 under. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler (69) placed fourth at 8 under, giving him four consecutive top-10 finishes at the Masters.
“I was just proud of the way we hung in there and put up a good fight,” Scheffler said.
Bryson DeChambeau, who figured to be McIlroy’s biggest threat and in the final pairing, took the lead after the second hole before stalling with back-to-back bogeys and a string of pars to skid off the path. By the time he double-bogeyed No. 11, he was tied for ninth and seventh strokes back.
DeChambeau’s 75 left him at 7 under, tied for fifth place with South Korea’s Sungjae Im (69).
DeChambeau said his troubles began with a putt on the third hole that scooted well beyond the cup.
“There’s no way that putt goes that far by,” he said. “I just didn’t realize how firm and fast it could get out here. It’s great experience. Won’t let that happen again.”
McIlroy leads Masters after electric start to third round
- A glittering leaderboard has fans buzzing about the possibility of a classic finish on Sunday and many patrons are pulling for McIlroy to finally win the Green Jacket
AUGUSTA, Georgia: Rory McIlroy reached the midway point of the third round at the Masters on Saturday with a two-shot cushion over Bryson DeChambeau after a blistering start that saw him leapfrog overnight leader Justin Rose after just two holes.
Grand Slam-chasing McIlroy started birdie-eagle-birdie en route to becoming the first player to begin a round at the Masters with six consecutive threes on a partly cloudy day that offered pristine scoring conditions.
Rose started the day atop a star-studded leaderboard but by the time he made the turn, he was looking up at McIlroy and DeChambeau after going one-over through his first nine holes.
Popular American DeChambeau started hot with back-to-back birdies but a narrowly missed par putt on the third forced him to settle for the first of two bogeys he collected on the front nine.
A glittering leaderboard has fans buzzing about the possibility of a classic finish on Sunday and many patrons are pulling for McIlroy to finally win the Green Jacket and become only the sixth player to claim all four of the sport’s majors.
Augusta National has been the site of painful collapses for McIlroy and that gut-wrenching run threatened to repeat itself when he stumbled late in his opening round with two double bogeys.
But the Northern Irishman bounced back admirably on Friday with a thrilling round of 66 to climb back into contention and that momentum appears to have carried over into Saturday’s round.
A heavyweight battle between McIlroy and defending champion Scottie Scheffler could still materialize after the world number one went even through his first nine on Saturday to sit four-back of McIlroy.
