And just like that, five tours came to play! January typically creeps in for professional golf, with the US PGA Tour leading the way in Hawaii. Europe slides in, along with the LPGA and other sundry circuits. 2024 is different, perhaps motivated by outside forces. After two weeks of PGA Tour, the second with the DP World Tour, the LPGA, Korn Ferry, and Champions brought out their debutante display for 2024. KFT treated us to some early-week action from the Bahamas, while LPGA and Champions featured in Florida and Hawaii, respectively.

The PGA Tour bore witness to the lowest round ever recorded by an amateur golfer. Alabama’s (state and university) Nick Dunlap posted a 12-under par 60 at the LaQuinta golf club in California. His round came on Saturday and gave him a three-shot advantage through three rounds. Anything can happen on Sunday, but you’ll have to wait to find out exactly what transpired. Let’s work through the quintet of events, in the order they completed play, in this week’s Tour Rundown.

Korn Ferry Tour @ Great Exuma Classic: Paul finds road to Damascus

There is something so particular about tournaments that run from Sunday to Wednesday. You find them on the KFT, and only in the Bahamas. It would be splendid (I’ve written this before) if tournaments all began and ended on different days, at least for the streaming fan. Events finishing Thursday, then Friday, then Saturday, then Sunday, would provide marvelous drama.

Since that’s not the way of the financial world, we must be grateful when January rolls around each year. Over on Exuma at the Sandals Emerald Bay Resort, the Korn Ferry Tour began its new season in style. Unlike big brother the PGA Tour, KFT has a calendar-year schedule, with no wraparound. Players arrived in the Bahamas fresh from an extended break, champing to establish themselves as early as possible.

Chandler Blanchet held the 36-hole lead at 132, but the magic left the wand on the weekend, and Blanchet went south to a tie for 25th. Stepping up on Saturday were Germany’s Jeremy Paul and the USA’s Kevin Roy. The two seized the lead at 12-under par, and it was an appropriate pairing for the final tee time. Both Paul and Roy are journeymen golfers, looking for the breakthrough season to get to the promised land of the PGA Tour.

Sunday gave them a chance to prove themselves, although for a time, it seemed that Ross Steelman would steel the show. Sitting just inside the top 15 after three rounds, Steelman went on a sizzler over the outward half. Eagle at the first was followed by four more birdies, and the man of turned in 30. A bogey stumble at the 10th was corrected by four more birdies coming home. Needing one last gain at the par-five last, Steelman flinched and signed for 63 and 15-under par.

Behind him, Paul held steady while Roy faltered. Paul was out in a clean 32, while Roy matched two birdies with two bogies, and dropped four shots. Coming to the house, Paul played conservatively, with eight pars flanking a solitary birdie. With nothing to lose, Roy played to win, and he nearly did so. Birdie at 12 gave him hope, and a trifecta over the closing holes brought him past Steelman, into solo second spot. The victory for Paul was his first important, professional title, and set the table for a stellar season.

Clutch birdie to extend the lead ?

Jeremy Paul grabs another birdie on 15 to extend his lead to two shots with three to play @BahamasKFTour. pic.twitter.com/m89aKnBV68

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) January 17, 2024

PGA Tour Champions @ Mitsubishi: Alker returns to winner’s circle

Over the past 24 months, Steven Alker (alongside Steve Stricker) has been one of the two, most successful, senior golfers on the planet. Alker jumped into the public eye with a late-2021 win in Boca Raton. He followed that triumph with four victories in 2022, and two more in 2023. 2024 appears to be a different beast for the New Zealand champion. In each of the last two years, Alker waited until April to secure his first triumph. With one tournament completed, the Kiwi is one for one, with eyes set on another, career year.

The annual gathering of Champions Tour golfers on the island of Hawai’i marked the ignition of another season. Hualalai hosted the Mitsubishi Electric championship for the 28th time, and the scoring was ferocious. 25-under par was this year’s winning total, and two other golfers also reached 20-deep. Day one saw Alker and Vijay Singh joined at the top of the leaderboard, with rounds of seven-under par 65. Singh would not return to the 60s on the weekend, and would finish tied for 16th.

Day two saw Alker shave two shots off his card, returning a 63 for a two-shot advantage over Harrison Frazar and the aforementioned Stricker. On day three, Alker reached the 10th tee at five-under on the day. His 31 increased his lead over Frazar by one, while Stricker fell another stroke back with a 33 of his own. Both pursuers came home in 33 strokes on the inward half … and lost yet another blow to the eventual champion. Four birdies saw Alker finish four shots clear of Frazar, and five ahead of Stricker.

Tour Champions returns to action on February 16th, at the Chubb Classic. The ageless Bernhard Langer will attempt to defend his title over the Tiburon course in Naples, Florida.

Picking up right where he left off ?

Steven Alker claims the first event of the season @MEC_Golf. pic.twitter.com/gVV3rx0NqV

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) January 21, 2024

DP World Tour @ Dubai Desert Classic: Rory rebounds after heartbreak 

You may remember Cameron Young from the 2022 campaign, where he appeared to contend in every major championship. He tied for third at the PGA Championship that year, then did everything but win at St. Andrews, two months later. 2023 was a down year, by his newly-found standard, and Young looked to bounce back in 2024 and contend each week. At Dubai, he took a two-shot advantage into the final round, with a golden opportunity to secure a top-tier professional win.

The trouble for Young was, the man chasing him (and his final-round, playing partner) was Rory McIlroy. As if the shadow cast by the Northern Irishman isn’t already long enough, it had an extra chip on its shadowy shoulder. McIlroy gave away his golden opportunity for a win last week, frittering away all sorts of strokes to hand the Dubai Invitational to Tommy Fleetwood. Could that happen twice in succession? Odds were not in its favor.

Despite having veteran Paul Tesori on his bag, Young never appeared comfortable on Sunday. He five bogeys on the final day, one more than his total through 54 holes. Three birdies kept him in the chase, but he ultimately settled for a bronze medal, at 12-under par. One shot ahead of Young, at -13, was another golfer with a massive chip on his shoulder. Poland’s Adrian Meronk was THE guy left off the European Ryder Cup side in 2023. Meronk should have, and could have (but wasn’t) worn the blue and yellow of the victors at Marco Simone. That slight gutted him and, like a champion, he is out to earn his spot in 2025.

Meronk did little right on Sunday, but it was three shots righter than Young. His five birdies against two bogeys and a double moved him to 13-deep, and allowed him to ascend to the second tier of the podium. In first spot, to no one’s surprise, was McIlroy. Rory turned in three-under par on Sunday, allowing him to make up the two-shot margin and stack three more on top of it. With nine holes to play, the hunted and hunter had reversed roles. McIlroy played patient, plus-one golf on the inward half, as Young continued to find unstable footing.

After all putts were holed, McIlroy had completed his fourth title chase at the DDC, earned his 17th win on the DP World Tour, and secured a 38th professional win overall. The DP World Tour moves to the United Arab Emirates this week, for the Ras Al Khaimah championship.

THAT drive ? https://t.co/myxRH2znKW pic.twitter.com/pr3gfHHjwl

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 21, 2024

LPGA @ Tournament of Champions: All Systems Ko! 

We all did a double take when Lydia Ko failed to qualify for the season-ending, CME Tour Championship last November. If week one of the 2024 LPGA schedule is a reveal of sorts, we won’t have the same concern next fall. Ko posted three rounds in the 60s through Saturday evening, and carried a two-shot advantage into the final round. Her chief challenger was former wunderkind Alexa Pano, now a full-fledged member of the LPGA. Pano had been close before, and hoped that Sunday would offer a breakthrough moment.

Through ten holes on day four, Ko stood minus-three, and had increased her advantage over her playing companion to five shots. Chasing from the middle of the pack were Brooke Henderson (solo third) and Cheyenne Knight (solo fourth.) Despite a pair of bogeys coming home, coupled with a late pair of birdies from Pano, Ko had enough in reserve to play safely up 18 in five shots. Her two-shot victory was her 20th on tour, and her first since November of 2022. That one? It came at the Tour Championship that she missed the following season.

The LPGA moves westward across the Sunshine State, for the Drive On Championship this week in Bradenton. France’s Celine Boutier will defend her first of four titles at Bradenton country club.

We just can’t get enough of Lydia Ko’s game this week ? #HGVLPGA pic.twitter.com/KxrjhrNk1B

— LPGA (@LPGA) January 21, 2024

PGA Tour @ The American Express: 

TAE is known for two unchanging things: a 54-hole cut (which is brutal) and low scores. Imagine slicing it up for 36 holes, yet knowing that you need to get another 18 in to make the cut and get paid! On top of that, knowing that others will go low on Saturday, and you will need to go low yourself. Not much lower than the 60 that Nick Dunlap shot on day three, is there? Dude simply needed 74 on Saturday to make th cut, but he was after waaayyyy more than that.

Now, if you had said at the start of day four, that Dunlap would need but a 70 to win outright, the entire betting population of golfdom would have wagered its life savings. When Kevin Yu reached -10 on the day and -28 for the week, Dunlap was on the ropes. Yu faltered at the last, and finished solo 3rd. When Christiaan Bezuidenhout made eagle two at the 15, then closed with a birdie to eclipse Yu and reach -28, Dunlap was staggered.

And when the kid himself blew his drive safely right on 18, then blew his approach safely right of the green, there was no way that he would get up and down from 75 feet for the outright win. AND when he pitched to six feet for par, it was inconceivable that he would have the guts to hole the putt.

And hole the putt he did. And win The American Express he did. And become the first amateur to triumph since Phil Mickelson in 1991. 31 years passed between non-professional victories. Nick Dunlap will return to Tuscaloosa and the University of Alabama as the biggest man on campus since that other Nick announced his retirement. His NIL will explode this week, and he’ll have a lot of decisions to make about continuing in college, or testing the professional waters. And let’s not, for the moment consider how big an offer LIV is ready to make for him. Congratulations, Nick Dunlap.

WOW! ?

20-year-old amateur Nick Dunlap is a PGA TOUR champion.

He’s the youngest amateur to win since 1910. pic.twitter.com/DKQmK0fuAe

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 22, 2024

Bonus Coverage: Latin America Amateur Championship @ Santa Maria: ¡Santiago!

There may not be a road less traveled than that of Santiago de la Fuente del Valle, at least in this week’s tournament golf news. SFV (I may be the first to call him that) journeyed north from Mexico City to Russellville, Arkansas. There, he studied and competed at Arkansas Tech for two years. His mercurial rise to the top of NCAA Division II caught the attention of the University of Houston golf program. SFV transferred cities and states for his final two years of collegiate eligibility, and continued to rise. This week, SFV reached new heights in Panama City, Panama.

The 10th playing of the annual Latin America Amateur Championship saw the tournament return to the capital of Canal Country, albeit at a new venue. Santa Maria golf club replaced Club de Golf de Panamá as the host venue. Each year, residents of the Americas vie for an opportunity to compete in the Masters and the Open Championship; these perqs are bestowed on the champion. After 70 holes of golf, SFV and countryman Omar Morales stood even at eight-under par. With the courage of a lion, SFV closed with birdies at 17 and 18, to claim a two-shot victory over his counterpart, Morales.

Lo mejor de la última ronda del campeón del #LAAC2024.

Champion’s Final Round highlights. #LAAC2024 pic.twitter.com/zX7AhyuNZX

— Latin America Amateur Championship (@LAAC_Golf) January 21, 2024