[PHOTO: Orlando Ramirez]
Nick Dunlap became the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event in 33 years yesterday. Overnight, he made a bit more history.
That’s because when the Official World Golf Ranking was updated, the 20-year-old University of Alabama sophomore had vaulted more than 4,000(!) spots after his victory at the American Express tournament.
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Make that 4,061 spots, to be precise. Have a look at where Nick now sits: 68th, right in between Aaron Rai and Thriston Lawrence.
It should come as no surprise that according to OWGR guru @Nosferatu on X/Twitter, that’s the biggest jump in the history of the world ranking, which dates back to 1986. Pretty impressive.
Also impressive? The next highest-ranked amateur is Stanford senior Michael Thorbjornsen at No.463, who made a jump of 147 spots himself this weekend after finishing T-11 at the Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour.
The top 10 in the OWGR, led by No.1 and Scottie Scheffler and No.2 Rory McIlroy – who won in Dubai – remained unchanged.
Dunlap is currently third in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, behind Vanderbilt’s Gordon Sargent and Georgia Tech’s Christo Lamprecht. Thorbjornsen is No.4.