Nick Dunlap became the latest long shot to overcome immense odds to win a tournament after the amateur’s 1-shot victory at The American Express on Sunday.
Dunlap, the first amateur to win on the PGA Tour since Phil Mickelson in 1991 and the first reigning U.S. Amateur champion to win on the tour since Tiger Woods, entered the tournament with 300-1 odds to win at ESPN BET. BetMGM listed him as long as 400-1.
Last week, Grayson Murray won the Sony Open in Hawaii as a 350-1 long shot, one week after Chris Kirk won at The Sentry at 200-1.
Per ESPN Stats & Information, Murray and Dunlap had the second- and third-longest odds, respectively, of any PGA Tour winner over the past five seasons, trailing only Jim Herman, who won the 2020 Wyndham Championship at 500-1.
At 20 years and 29 days, Dunlap is the youngest amateur to win an event in the history of the Tour.
In a field that included many of the Tour’s regulars — such as Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Sam Burns, who collapsed down the stretch to give Dunlap the victory — the win for another long shot didn’t hurt sportsbooks as few bets were placed on the amateur.
SuperBook told ESPN that it did not take a single pre-tournament bet on Dunlap. DraftKings publicized a $10 bet that netted $3,000 for one bettor, but told ESPN there were no other notable wagers on Dunlap.
The few cashing tickets on Dunlap will be taking home more than the player himself for winning the tournament. As an amateur, Dunlap is unable to accept the $1,512,000 prize for finishing first. Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who finished second, will go home with the grand prize.