The announcement came less than 24 hours after the 20-year-old became the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event since Phil Mickelson in 1991.
Dunlap also rose 4,061 places to 68th in the Official World Golf Ranking, the biggest jump in the history of the rankings.
“After a life-changing past 24 hours, I have decided to withdraw from the Farmers Insurance Open,” Dunlap said in an announcement made by the PGA Tour on Monday (Tuesday AEDT).
“I plan to return home to Alabama to be with family, friends and teammates. Thank you to Farmers Insurance and American Express for giving me these opportunities.”
Dunlap beat South Africa's Christian Bezuidenhout by shot to take the American Express in La Quinta, California. In the process, he joined Mickelson (1991 Northern Telecom Open) and Scott Verplank (1985 Western Open) as only the third amateur to win the Tour since 1957.
“It's a conversation I need to have with a lot of people before I make this decision.” – Nick Dunlap.
As an amateur, Dunlap was not eligible to claim the $1.512 million ($A2.296 million) winner's check. He is now eligible for PGA Tour membership and to enter all seven remaining PGA Tour events in 2024.
However, the Alabama sophomore will need to turn pro in order to claim the prize money in those events. The prospect of going from inviting sponsors at AmEx to professional golfer in a matter of weeks wasn't something Dunlap was ready to address immediately after Sunday's round.
“If you had said, ‘Hey, in five days, you're going to get a PGA Tour card or a two-year (exemption) opportunity,' I would have looked at you sideways,” he said.
“It's a conversation I need to have with a lot of people before I make this decision.”
Dunlap is the second-youngest PGA Tour winner in 90 years, behind Jordan Spieth's win in the 2013 John Deere Classic when he was 19 years old. He is also the first amateur to win the US Junior and US Amateur championships since Tiger Woods.
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