The ultimate bounceback
Masters 2025: Nick Dunlap's day of dread turned into remarkable 19-shot turnaround at Augusta
Nick Dunlap hits a shot during the second round of the Masters. (Stephen Denton)
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Anger enveloped Nick Dunlap Thursday afternoon and into the evening. Anxiety gripped him on Friday morning as he grappled with the visceral discomfort from the knot in his stomach—”more than I've ever had starting a round of golf.”
The anger he addressed by rifling several dozen golf balls into the woods behind his rented house. His trainer, Clark Holter, practically emptied a supply at an area Target store to facilitate the session that was more about passion than practice. “I probably hit 12 different kinds of golf balls from colors to brands to you name it,” Dunlap said. “I don't know if there was any houses or anything back there.”
The anxiety, however, never left him. And even after a redemptive effort in the second round of the Masters, it is still there.
Few men have endured a more ignominious round in the Masters—or any major championship—than Dunlap suffered through on Thursday when his already shaky confidence cratered completely with an opening 90. Yes, he briefly considered withdrawing afterward. But he just couldn’t. He couldn’t just leave Augusta National Golf Club at the lowest point of his young pro career.
“There's a lot of things I could have done that would make me a lot more happy [than] to come out and feel like I'm not playing well at all and play golf in front of a bunch of people,” he admitted. “But yeah, I'm never going to quit. I'm always going to show up.”
He showed up even though his game didn’t. But somewhere in the midst of his continuing struggles, Dunlap cobbled together a score Friday afternoon that was as much redemptive as it was resourceful. With a series of par saves and glimpses of the talent that he displayed so ably during last season’s Rookie of the Year campaign, Dunlap saved face with a one-under 71.
That’s more than a stroke better per hole, a remarkable feat of resilience while fighting his swing almost every agonizing step of the way. It could have been worse. Much worse. He actually hit fewer fairways than the day prior. The count was five (compared to six on Thursday) and that included a fortunate carom off the trees and into short grass on the second hole. But he found nine greens in regulation, three more than on Thursday, and his putter was especially reliable and provided some tangible relief.
“Yeah, showed up today, gave it all I got, and posted something under par," Dunlap said. “There's always positives shooting under par, especially around here.”
No smile creased the 21-year-old’s face in assessing the remarkable effort. He knows he has issues with his swing that have dogged him since late last year at the Hero World Challenge. The 2023 U.S. Amateur champion arrived at Augusta National having failed to make the cut in his last three starts and had thrown a couple of 80s on the board along the way.
On Friday, he missed fairways with driver, 3-wood and an iron. He might have found something, he said, with a solid tee ball on the par-5 15th after flaring a series of drives dead right into Augusta’s ample tree stands, only to miss left on the final two holes that contributed to a finish consisting of three straight bogeys he posted to finish the day.
Until that late stumble, Dunlap was on pace for the biggest scoring turnaround from the first to second round in Masters history, thanks to four birdies and a bogey-free run. Too bad he could not finish it off, make a little history even as he finished last in the field.
“I just knew it was going to be hard,” Dunlap said of returning for another helping of almost certain angst. “And I don't have very clear thoughts at all when I'm on the golf course right now, so knowing that it's probably going to be a struggle was … like I said, I had not a very good gut feeling about it stepping up today. Proud of myself to post something under par.”
Nick Dunlap hit dozens of golf balls from Target in preparation for his second round at Augusta. (Stephen Denton)
There isn’t a soul alive who plays golf for a living who doesn’t encounter crushing disappointment, who doesn’t feel helpless, once the game inexplicably vanishes. Dunlap, who in 2024 became the first man to win a PGA Tour event as an amateur and another as a pro in the same year, described the sickening feeling of futility. “It's like trying to bench press more than what you can and then put more weight on that and try to do it,” he said.
Justin Rose, the 36-hole leader, began his pro career missing 21 straight cuts. He can relate. A player must find a way through the fog.
“I think you have no choice when you're young and you haven't really achieved your goals and your dreams yet and you haven't been spoiled too much yet with all the trappings that come with good golf,” said Rose, vying for his second major title after capturing the 2013 U.S. Open. “When I missed the first 21 cuts, it was like, well, there's no plan B here. I've got to make this happen, make this work.
“Listen, I think that's an anomaly for Nick. I don't know what happened. Tough day for him. Hopefully, he'll shrug that off, you know what I mean? You don't want to be dwelling on days like that for sure, and if there's any place that can make you look silly at times, it's here.”
Rory McIlroy, in contention and vying to complete the career Grand Slam after a bounce-back second-round 66, recalled a difficult day at the Memorial Tournament in 2014 that left him embarrassed when his game revved into reverse. “I shot 63 the first round and backed it up with a 79," said the world No. 2 player, who went on to win the final two majors that year. "I came in to have lunch, and I saw Jack [Nicklaus, the tournament host] there. And he said, ‘How the hell did you shoot 16 shots more today than yesterday?’ So, it's just like championship golf, it can be volatile. The conditions can be tough. The momentum can start to go the wrong way on you.”
And that is the path upon which Dunlap currently travels. Even the wonder of Augusta National can feel like a mine field. And extricating himself from it is fraught with hazards, real and imagined, and disappointment. Somehow, he found a way to persevere on a windy afternoon, even as he couldn’t summon a way to ameliorate the pain inside.
“I tried my hardest to enjoy today for whatever it's worth,” Dunlap said with a sigh. “It's just very frustrating that my game is at this point, and it's hard not to try to focus on that. I'm a competitor, and I love this game. It doesn't really love me back right now. It's very hard for me not to focus on that at the moment just with the amount of time that I put in and effort.”
He promised to work harder, keep hitting more balls—color optional, perhaps—hundreds of them, just as he has been doing. There is only one way out. It’s different for each golfer. Even if it’s a familiar road for everyone.
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