🏆 History!

What a day!

Lots to cover, but a simple ask at the top. If you enjoy this newsletter, I'd love for you to share it with a friend or two. We've witnessed some awesome golf already this year, and hopefully, it just keeps getting better. 

For now, onto some highlights from an historic weekend. 

1. Nick Dunlap, a University of Alabama sophomore, won The American Express on Sunday to become the first amateur golfer to capture a PGA Tour victory since Phil Mickelson did so 33 years ago. 

• Quick thoughts: Just incredible. This is why we watch golf! I was near tears after Dunlap's win, and it sounds like others were too. 

Dunlap (last year's US Amateur champion) held a three-shot lead heading into the final round, but things turned after he drove his ball into the water at the 7th and made double-bogey. 

• Dunlap's 10-foot birdie putt at the 16th brought him back atop the leaderboard — tied with 5-time PGA Tour winner Sam Burns. 

• Golf's #3 ranked amatuer then made two pars at the difficult 17th and 18th (including a nervy, 6-footer at the last), while Burns found water and made double-bogeys on both of the final two holes. 

"Nothing like I have ever felt," Dunlap said of his emotions on Sunday. "It is so cool." 

With the win, Dunlap won't see any of the $1.5 million winning payout. That goes to 2nd place finisher Christiaan Bezuidenhout. 

• But, he will be fully exempt on the PGA Tour through the 2026 season (should he choose to turn pro). 

“It’s a conversation I need to have with a lot of people before I make that decision," Dunlap told reporters when asked about leaving school. 

• For now, the second-year finance major said he had homework on Sunday night, but "probably won't do it." 

2. More winners (and losers) from Coachella Valley 

👍 Justin Thomas (T3) — A solid start to 2024 for JT, who's coming off his worst season as a pro last year. 

👍 Michael Kim (T6) — Pro golf’s most prolific tweeter carded a nice 65 on Sunday to finish inside the top 10. 

• Kim celebrated with In-N-Out after the round, which is always a win. 

👍 This guy, who really got the weekend started off on the right foot.

👎 Sam Burns (T6) — Standing on the 17th tee-box tied for the lead and finishing double-double is very tough. 

• It's also tough that the former LSU standout had "RTR" shaved into the side of his head ("Roll Tide Roll") after apparently losing a bet with Alabama alum Justin Thomas. Not great timing to get outplayed at the end by a current Alabama student. 

• FWIW, Dunlap brought up Burns a bunch of times in his interviews Sunday, saying he was "awesome" and "talked [him] through the round." That's cool to hear. 

👎 Rickie Fowler (MC) — The SoCal native's poor play continues. 

• Since the Ryder Cup, in his last three official events, Fowler's finished T64, 56th, and now, MC. 

3. Half-a-day before Nick Dunlap captured the golf world's full attention, Rory McIlroy claimed his 38th professional win at the DP World Tour's Dubai Desert Classic. 

• McIlroy, who started the weekend 10-shots back of 36-hole leader Cam Young, shot his way back into the tournament with an impressive, 9-under 63 on Saturday. 

• His final round 70 was enough to hold off the DP World Tour's 2023 Player of the Year, Adrian Meronk, by one-shot. 

Young, meanwhile, shot two-over on Sunday and finished third. 

• The 25th-ranked player in the world is still searching for his first win since the Korn Ferry Tour in 2021. 

By the numbers: McIlroy has now won the Dubai Desert Classic four times.

• His title back in 2009 was his first win ever as a professional. 

"It's always been a place where I come back to and reminisce about my career because I really feel like it's where everything started," McIlroy said on Sunday. 

Quick thoughts: An awesome start to the year for Rory with his runner-up finish last week and win this week in Dubai. 

• But for Rory (probably more than any other player right now) we judge his success based on major performances. 

• Perhaps, though, there’s something about his come-from-behind-victory this week that he'll be able to build on when it matters most. 

• Here's what Rory said on Sunday: "I've told this story numerous times now about the first green on Friday [at last year's Masters], and Brooks was on the eighth green, and I saw the big leaderboard, and I was already ten behind at that point. I was ten behind after two days this week and ended up winning the golf tournament ... I feel like I've taken that learning and put it into practice a little bit already. That's a huge thing for me."

4. More bright spots from the weekend were the epic backdrops at both tournaments. 

• I love watching golf with such dramatic scenery/terrain behind the players.

5. Adam Schenk hit one of his drives into a spectator's cocktail cup on Thursday, and I'm still thinking about it. 

• What are the chances? 

I know wild stuff is bound to happen with so many golf shots being hit among so many people. But it feels like these things happen more often than they should. 

• Most recently, I think of Rory's shot that ended up in a lady's lap. 

• And, of course, Phil Mickelson's second-to-last tee shot at the 2006 US Open that landed in a trash can. 

What are some crazy gallery shots/incidents that you remember? Reply here. 

6. Swing Envy: Here's a slow-motion look at Nick Dunlap's move. 

Definite Dustin Johnson vibes, as Golf Digest's Luke Kerr-Dineen points out.

Also of note: Dunlap started wearing athletic tape on his left wrist after developing tendonitis a couple of years back.

• Though the pain subsided, he still wears the tape because it "makes him feel more secure," the Golf Channel said last summer.

7. Today I learned: Jared Doerfler, who writes a very good golf newsletter, recently highlighted a virtual golf mini-tour-of-sorts that I had no idea existed. 

• It's called the NEXT Golf Tour. 

• Entry fees are $130 and the most recent purse, according to Doerfler, was $226,000. 

This thread is worth a read…

8. Looking ahead: This week, the PGA Tour heads to San Diego where Max Homa will try to defend his Farmers Insurance Open title at Torrey Pines. 

• Other headliners include Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas, and Min Woo Lee. 

9. Quote for the road: 

"I went from riding in the back of a Sprinter van at Alabama to driving an X5 around the whole week," Nick Dunlap told reporters Saturday night.

• Something tells me Dunlap will have a few more luxury cars in his future. 

That’s all for today! Have a wonderful week y’all, and I’ll see you back here soon. - Nick B.