Nick Dunlap endured another miserable day on the golf course on Thursday, just a week after his meltdown at the Masters.
The 21-year-old posted an opening round of seven-over par of 78 at the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town in South Carolina.
It left him bottom of the leaderboard after day one and a staggering 17 shots off leader Justin Thomas.
Dunlap’s round included a staggering quintuple bogey when he took nine shots on a par four.
It saw him go from even-par to five-over in one hole. He also posted a double bogey on the 15th to compound a desperate day.
It comes just days after Dunlap opened up on the ‘lowest point’ of his golfing career in a brutally candid statement as he reflected on his Masters nightmare.
Nick Dunlap endured another miserable day on the golf course at the RBC Heritage Thursday
Dunlap’s round included a staggering quintuple bogey when he took nine shots on a par four
The 21-year-old is pictured with girlfriend Erika Baker at the Par-3 Contest at the Masters
Dunlap, who won the American Express as an amateur in 2024, endured his fair share of highs and, especially, lows over the undulating fairways of Augusta National last week.
The 21-year-old flirted with golf’s most undesired record Thursday, dropping five shots over his final three holes of a horror opening outing at Augusta to a card a birdie-less round of 18-over.
That made him the first player in a decade, the third under age 50 and the first under age 38 to fail to break 90 at the Masters.
Yet, to his credit, the young professional returned Friday, refusing to withdraw despite shooting the highest score at the Masters since Ben Crenshaw shot 91 at the age of 63 in 2015.
It was a lot more than most players would have stomached in his shoes and Dunlap continued to show the highest level of maturity and sportsmanship as he bared his soul in a post-missed cut statement.
‘The most humbling and humiliating yet exciting and rewarding game there is,’ the University of Alabama product wrote on Instagram.
‘In possibly the lowest point I’ve ever been golf never fails to teach you lessons. It’s the worst feeling to put everything you have day in and day out into something and feel as if you’re getting worse and there doesn’t seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
‘No one sees or talks about the rough and struggling times. People, including myself, only skip straight to the good and don’t think anything like this would ever happen. Until it does. One thing I have learned is to never quit and to always keep moving forward. No matter what. It will in fact get better and it will be quite rewarding when it does.
‘Not sure if anyone needed to hear this but I needed to hear myself so excuse me lol. Time to keep moving forward.’
