When Nick Dunlap won the American Express Golf Championship last weekend, he couldn't accept the $1.5 million prize money because he was still a college athlete.
As a 20-year-old University of Alabama sophomore and member of its golf team, ranked 12th in the nation, Dunlap knew when he entered the PGA Championship as an amateur that he wouldn't be able to make money. Any money from him, because that would violate NCAA rules.
So why play?
“There are a large number of people who will be lining up to sign him as a sponsor,” Victor Matheson, an economics professor at Holy Cross College who specializes in sports, told MarketWatch. “Nike, Titleist, all these guys will all be lining up.”
According to Dunlap's Instagram account, he has already secured sponsorships with Taylor Made and Adidas ADS.
Before entering the tournament.
from the archive: When LeBron James chose Nike in 2003, he gave up $28 million. It could end up making him a billion dollars.
The NCAA began allowing college athletes to earn money off their name, image and likeness, or NIL, in 2021, when student-athletes won a decades-long debate over the fairness of receiving no pay even though the games they played in generated millions. of dollars to the institutions in which they are registered. Since then, student-athletes have been able to raise sponsorship funds that supplement their non-existence.
The second benefit Dunlap will gain from winning this tournament is membership in the PGA.
Winners of Tour events receive guaranteed invitations to future golf tournaments for a certain number of years, depending on when they win, a PGA spokesperson told MarketWatch. This means Dunlap will have the ability to play in tournaments between now and 2026.
“Without a PGA Tour card, you're not allowed to play in that tournament,” Matheson said. “He's basically getting his license.”
However, he still cannot receive any prize money if he remains a university student and therefore an amateur. Dunlap could decide to turn professional, or if he stays in college, he can still compete in up to 12 PGA events a year as an amateur.
The only thing he can't do is leave the Alabama golf team and take his $1.5 million compensation retroactively. The money has already been awarded to Christian Bezuidenhout, the professional golfer who finished second in the American Express Championship.
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Although it may seem like a foregone conclusion that Dunlap would turn pro right away if he were able to make millions of dollars through his golf game, that's not simple math.
Like many professional individual sports, golf is expensive for athletes. Golfers, unlike professional golfers, football or hockey players, must cover their travel costs to competitions, in addition to paying their coaches and fitness trainers. An athlete who enters professional golf and does not perform well in tournaments does not get paid, and may end up losing money.
“The assumption is that a college scholarship is worth more [an athlete] “The potential prize wins they're going to get is greater than the potential prizes they're going to get, because the vast majority of college athletes who play golf don't win $1.5 million,” Matheson said. “So maintaining that college eligibility is worth a lot to the vast majority of college golfers.”
Dunlap, who wins the U.S. Amateur Championship in 2023, became the first PGA Tour amateur winner since Phil Mickelson won the Tucson Open in 1991. Dunlap said after the tournament that he had not decided whether he would look to turn pro in the near future.
“I have to take a moment to let what just happened sink in a little bit,” he told ESPN.com. “This decision isn't just about me. It affects a lot of people, and obviously I'm going to try to enjoy this. It's a conversation I need to have with a lot of people before I make this decision.”
Dunlap did not respond to a request for comment.
See also: NFL star Brock Purdy earned $870,000 this season – 16 college football players who earned more NIL
Professional golfers who lost to Dunlap last week reacted to the 20-year-old's historic win on social media, with one calling Dunlap's performance “ridiculous.”
“I didn't think I'd have to deal with some weird college kid shooting 60 today,” Justin Thomas, the former top-ranked golfer in the world, said after his contest against Dunlap.
Did he actually lose money by playing?
“Golfers, whether you're an amateur or a professional, always pay for their accommodation and travel,” Matheson told MarketWatch. “Nick Dunlap paid the price for coming out to play.”
That meant Dunlap had to pay for his flight from Alabama, as well as lodging and meals for a week in La Quinta, California, where the tournament was held.
It is also possible that he had to pay his own caddy. A PGA Tour spokesperson told MarketWatch that all PGA Tour players are responsible for providing their own caddy for all competitions.
