EAST PROVIDENCE — Down four shots with seven holes left, Nick Dunlap wasn’t thinking about winning the Northeast Amateur. He just wanted to finish strong.
You could say he did just that.
Saturday at Wannamoisett Country Club, golf showed its cruel face and turned what looked like a routine final day of the 61St iteration of the tournament into one of its most thrilling finishes. Armed with a four-shot lead with seven holes to play, Caleb Surratt suddenly lost all that he had worked the previous 65 holes and Dunlap took advantage with clean golf. The two found themselves tied after 14 holes and played down the homestretch that way until Dunlap came up with a brilliant shot on the 18ththen rolled the downhill 18-footer that never had a chance of missing to come away with a two-shot win.
“It’s four shots, but it’s golf. It can happen fast and I’ve had it flip on me numerous times,” Dunlap said. “There’s a lot of momentum out there and he was playing some really, really good golf. I got a window and was able to capitalize.
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“It’s really just as easy as the cliché of believing in what you can do. Golf is weird.”
“I expected to play well. I work really hard, I’m trying to be as prepared for every opportunity, no matter what that opportunity is, whenever it comes about,” Surratt said. “I expected to be there at the end of the day Saturday but sadly I wasn’t quite as prepared for it.”
Dunlap put himself in an advantageous situation when Surratt’s game went sideways, then went out and grabbed the tournament by the throat on 18.
After leaving a lag putt on 17 on the lip for par – which was followed by a gutsy six-footer that Surratt celebrated with an emphatic fist pump – Dunlap tattooed his drive up the middle of 18 a few yards past his competitor, creating a showdown for the title.
Surratt’s approach started right of the green and swooped hard left, running into the fringe but at least putting a putter in his hand. Dunlap’s shot was a little more accurate, flying a 7-iron from 181 yards that started at the stick and never left the line, finishing just off the back.
“It felt pretty good,” Dunlap said. “I didn’t think it would fly past the hole. I wasn’t trying to do that, but it felt pretty good.”
Surratt’s lag putt came up seven feet short, setting the stage for Dunlap’s putt, which ran downhill with some slight right to left. He started it on the left edge, it turned slightly and never left the center of the cup, softly falling in as Dunlap gave a celebratory shout.
“It’s a cool one. It’s what you grow up trying to do,” Dunlap said. “You try and win golf tournaments, you try and make a putt on the last whole with everyone watching. It’s why you play.”
“You know it’s just over. It’s not like I can make this and force a playoff,” said Surratt of his mindset after Dunlap’s putt dropped. “It’s fast.” I had a similar situation happen to me earlier this year, but I know my time is going to come and when it does I’ll be prepared for that day, whenever it is.”
Surratt had played brilliant golf from his opening hole right through the 11thth on Saturday and it looked like how much he would win by was more the question rather than if he would close.
Bogeys on the par-3 12th and par-4 13th hole chopped the lead in half heading to 14. The hole winds around a pond, is very scorable, but turned into a nightmare when Surratt’s drive ended up in the hazard. Most of the gallery went into the tall grass to help find the ball, but it never showed its face.
Surratt made a solid bogey, but Dunlap’s birdie on the hole put the two tied atop the leaderboard.
“Going to 15 tee, it was like OK, now we’re even,” Dunlap said. “Now it’s a ball game.”
“I just kept hitting bad shot after bad shot,” Surratt said. “It kind of showed off my weaknesses, which is going to make me better rather than if I scrapped out a couple pars and won it, which wouldn’t even be as beneficial for me as learning those tendencies down the stretch.
“Next time I’m in that moment, I can guarantee I’ll be better.”
Don’t mistake his words. Surratt wanted to win Saturday, but the rising sophomore at the University of Tennessee — he was named the SEC Freshman of the Year after winning the conference title this spring — knows that this year’s Northeast Amateur is a part of his journey in the sport.
“I’ve had heartbreak like this before, but I’ve also had some highs,” said Surratt, who was third at last year’s Northeast. “I’m trying to become as mature as possible. Rory [McIlroy] lost by one at the US Open but he’s still competing at the Traveler’s this week. I’m trying to be that professional golfer.
“I’m not trying to make every week bigger than it is, although it would have been awesome to win. I know my time is going to come and I’ll be more prepared for it than I was this time.”
Dunlap, who plays for the University of Alabama and played in last week’s US Open, was not only happy about winning, but happy in how he won. While the scoreboard will forever show a two-shot win, it doesn’t tell the story.
This was a walk-off.
“I wanted to win the way I ended up winning,” Dunlap said. “I don’t want somebody to miss a putt. I’m happy it ended the way it did.”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Alabama’s Nick Dunlap erases 4-shot deficit, wins Northeast Amateur