The Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal course at Diamante Resort in Cabo has the widest fairways on the PGA Tour. Three years ago, Adam Long hit all 56 of them in competition, and last year, the field drove it at an 88.7% accuracy clip.
So, at first glance, the fact that Nick Dunlap only missed one fairway on Thursday shouldn’t come as a total shock.
Then again, Dunlap is statistically the worst driver on the PGA Tour, ranking last among 165 qualified players in strokes gained off the tee. In fact, Dunlap has ranked at the bottom for two straight seasons; he finished 2025 ranked 180th.
“It’s the driver, that’s been what’s been holding me back,” Dunlap said. “I think all the stats kind of show that, but it truly is.”
But after firing an 8-under 64 that has him a shot off the lead at the World Wide Technology Championship, Dunlap couldn’t help but feel like maybe, just maybe he’s finally turning a corner off the tee.
“I feel like I’ve been swinging it a lot better and it’s not necessarily matching my eye,” Dunlap said. “We did a lot of work this week with new driver shafts, added some length. I was playing a short driver. [This shaft is a] little bit softer, it’s got some more kick, which allows me to get the ball up. I like to tee it down, so obviously, it allows me to get the ball a little bit higher and also fades a lot more than my other one did so I can be a little bit more comfortable aiming left.”
After parting ways with caddie Hunter Hamrick, the former Alabama assistant who’d been on Dunlap’s bag since his American Express victory as an amateur, following the Wyndham Championship in early August, Dunlap called longtime mentor and former Korn Ferry Tour pro Jeff Curl, who’d looped for Dunlap in the past, including for both of Dunlap’s USGA championship victories. They reconnected and spent the next several months trying to get Dunlap’s swing back to where it was when he was dominating amateur golf.
Dunlap said in recent years he’s been playing a shorter driver to stay on top of the ball and keep it in play.
“I’ve been having to swing the driver differently than the rest of my clubs, and I think we’re finally onto something, that I can swing the 3-wood the same way as the driver and it fit my eye,” Dunlap said. “I like being able to turn a 3-wood over and being able to kind of hold it where the driver I see a 10- to 15-yard fade. It’s been hard to kind of find something that will do that.”
Dunlap fired an opening 63 a few weeks ago in Utah, the only week Curl didn’t loop this fall because of a prior commitment. That began a stretch where Dunlap has shot in the 60s in seven of 10 rounds. His par or better streak is at seven straight rounds.
While his T-25 in Bermuda marked only his fourth top-25 showing of the year, Dunlap experienced a breakthrough the following week at the Mexico Open. He missed the cut at Vidanta Vallarta, but upon returning to the practice range on Saturday to hit balls, he happened to run into Camilo Villegas, who suggested Dunlap take a few swings with his driver.
Villegas is ranked only two spots better than Dunlap in strokes gained off the tee, and yet his driver revealed to Dunlap that he needed to make some significant equipment adjustments. So, he spent Monday experimenting with new driver setups before finding one he was happy with.
“Honestly, it was pretty eye opening to me,” Dunlap said. “I think it was the first eye-opening thing of how much a driver-shaft combo can actually do, especially with technology now. I think I kind of dove more into that of how can I have a driver fit me versus how can I swing so the driver will react the way I want to.”
Added Curl: “It was like a light turned back on. … He’s back to hitting it far and straight.”
Just four holes into Thursday’s round, on the par-4 13th, Dunlap hit a 350-yard missile that cut off a large portion of the cape-style hole. Dunlap told Curl that it only takes one drive seeing the ball do what he’s trying to make it do to feel comfortable with the big stick.
Wide fairways or not, it’s been a while since Dunlap has seen his drives cooperate like this.