Entering this week’s World Wide Technology Championship, only two PGA Tour players had hit a fewer percentage of fairways than Nick Dunlap, who has found fairways at a mere 48.57-percent clip this season. Even worse, Dunlap ranks dead last in strokes gained off the tee among 175 qualified players, losing more than 0.2 shots than the next lowest-ranked competitor.
Luckily for Dunlap, Tiger Woods’ El Cardonal course at Diamante in Los Cabos, Mexico, features arguably the most generous fairways on the PGA Tour.
And on Thursday, Dunlap took full advantage, hitting all 14 fairways, missing just one green and recording his lowest round as a professional, an 11-under 61. He was tied with Sami Valimaki, who posted 61 shortly after Dunlap.
Dunlap carded nine birdies before chipping in for eagle at the par-5 18th hole, capping a 6-under close over his final six holes. The first-round 61 earned Dunlap the early co-lead with Sami Valimaki as he looks to set at least a share of the 18-hole pace for the first time in his young career, and it marks his second-best score on the PGA Tour, behind only the third-round 61 he fired at the 2024 American Express, which he won as an amateur.
What was working well? “Everything,” Dunlap said. “Just kind of one of those days. Golf’s been very hard recently, and today was the opposite of that.”
Dunlap opened a vein after missing the cut at this year’s Masters, saying after his 90-71 performance, “It’s hard to put everything you have into something and feel like you’re not getting any better.”
“It’s like trying to bench press more than what you can and then put more weight on that and try to do it,” Dunlap added. “That’s kind of where I’m at off the tee right now.”
Seven months later, Dunlap hasn’t seen marked improvement. He’s still got just one top-10 finish to his name this season, a T-10 at the Sony Open in January. He’s recorded half as many rounds of 75 or worse (12) as rounds in the 60s (24) – coincidentally, he’s missed 12 of 24 cuts, too. And of his 70 officials rounds prior to this week, only two have been sub-60 scores (64, John Deere Classic, final round).
Considering Dunlap ranks top 75 in the other three strokes-gained categories, the driver has remained a clear and obvious culprit.
“I think it was at a point where I wasn’t just going to immediately jump back and start driving it amazing,” Dunlap said Thursday. “It was just kind of slowly keep trying to build each day.”
Meanwhile, Dunlap has been grinding with his new instructor, Scott Hamilton, to figure out his big-stick problems. Dunlap says he’s been doing “some good stuff” and knows what he needs to do – “it’s just going out there and trusting it.”
On El Cardonal’s wide-open layout, it was easy for Dunlap to swing freely.
“It was nice not having to find the ball in the desert, just go out to the fairway,” he said.
But now comes the hard part: maintaining. Two weeks ago in Utah, Dunlap started with a 66 before backing that up with 76 and heading home early for the fourth time in his last five starts dating to the Barracuda Championship, where he was the defending champion.
“It can definitely springboard you,” Dunlap said of his 61, “but for me it’s just go out there, try to execute exactly our game plan tomorrow, put the ball in the fairway.”
From there, everything is possible again.