Nick Dunlap shoots one of the worst first-round scores in Masters history
Nick Dunlap had an opening round to forget at the Masters.
By Matias Grez, CNN
(CNN) — It’s fair to say Nick Dunlap will want to forget his opening round at the Masters on Thursday – and quickly.
The 21-year-old shot an 18-over-par 90 to record one of the worst first-round scores ever at Augusta and the highest since Ben Crenshaw, who was 63 at the time and playing his final Masters, shot 91 in 2015.
It will likely be scant consolation but Dunlap did finish five shots better off than the worst official score in Masters history. That unwanted benchmark belongs to Charlie Kunkle, who shot a fourth-round 95 in 1956.
Golf is a notoriously difficult sport; one week you can be crushing drives and flushing irons, and the next slicing wayward approaches onto an adjacent fairway.
There perhaps would have been a few chants of “one of us, one of us” from recreational golfers around the world watching Dunlap’s round unfold, with even one of the world’s best experiencing the sport’s cruel fate.
The signs were ominous on the opening hole as Dunlap began his round with a hooked drive into the gallery on his way to a bogey. And things only got worse from there.
There were another three bogeys and a triple bogey on the front nine, before Dunlap endured an even worse back nine that included four double bogeys and three more bogeys. He didn’t speak with reporters after leaving the course.
Dunlap’s round is even more incredible given he is widely considered one of the sport’s best young prospects. He won two PGA Tour titles last season, including the first win by an amateur since 1991 when he claimed the American Express tournament in California.
Since turning professional, however, Dunlap has failed to make the cut at his first five majors and looks likely to extend that streak to six at Augusta.
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