Nick Dunlap Delivers A Reminder The Golf World Needed, Rory McIlroy The Redeemer, And Yasir The Alleged Kidnapper
Not too often can you come away from a sporting event and say you may have witnessed a once-in-a-lifetime moment, but that's exactly what Nick Dunlap delivered with his win at The American Express on Sunday. Beyond the historical significance, Dunlap's win also served as a reminder at at time the sport needed one the most.
On the not-so-sentimental side of things, Rory McIlroy came from behind to secure what was his fourth Dubai Desert Classic victory of his career. After gagging all over himself just seven days prior, mounting a ridiculous comeback this past weekend may be one of the more impressive feats we've seen from him in quite some time.
Away from the golf course, Yasir Al-Rumayyan has been alleged to have played a role in the kidnapping of children. This may be the defacto sign that the PGA Tour may have made a mistake in proposing a merger with the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, which Al-Rumayyan governs.
Before we get into this week's edition of Par Talk I just wanted to say thanks for reading, as always. Feel free to reach out to me via email at mark.harris@outkick.com with your thoughts on anything golf. You can also follow me and reach out via X @itismarkharris as well.
Nick Dunlap's Win Comes At A Time Of Need
Leave it to a 20-year-old sophomore at Alabama to not only deliver what will undoubtedly be the golf story of 2024, but a story the world of professional golf needed.
The American Express is typically one of the most uninteresting tournaments of the year. Not only is it a pro-am, it's a pro-am that's played over three different courses, only one course provides statistics, and the winning score is always well below 20-under par. In other words, it's an easy tournament to ignore, and if you add the cloud of the PGA Tour - Saudi PIF - LIV Golf merger hovering over the sport it's completely acceptable for golf fans to say 'see ya next week.'
Dunlap didn't allow that to happen by becoming the first amateur to win on the PGA Tour since Phil Mickelson did it in 1999. The fact that he was able to par the final two holes on Sunday - with water and collapse staring him in the face - was nothing short of insane. The six-footer he made for par to win by one shot on the 72nd hole where he admitted he couldn't feel his body was as pure as it gets.
The kid can't legally buy alcohol yet and shot 29-under to win a PGA Tour event, that fact alone speaks for the level of golf that was played, but it's what happened after the final putt fell that stuck with me and plenty of others.
I don't think there's a sports writer out there who better encapsulates emotion with a game and then puts those thoughts into words onto a page than Kyle Porter of CBS, and he delivered the goods yet again while tears fell from a college sophomore's face who just pulled off the unthinkable.
Magic is certainly a word that comes to mind, but so too is money.
Money is the only thing the golf world has been focused on since LIV's inception and certainly since June when the proposed merger between the Tour and Saudi PIF was announced. Money in the most literal sense, had nothing to do with Dunlap's victory on Sunday.
As an amateur, Dunlap received exactly $0.00 for winning The American Express. He wasn't thinking about a paycheck while standing over a six-foot par putt to win a PGA Tour event, and neither were the fans watching him. The golf world was thinking about a dream coming true, the same dream any semi-serious golfer has ever dreamed, Dunlap was thinking about making history.
You can scream that it's simple-minded or soft to be sentimental about the game of golf or even a history-defining moment like Dunlap winning, but how can you not be sentimental after a moment like that?
Rory McIlroy's Greatest Tool May Be A Short Memory
Last Sunday, Rory McIlroy three-putted from three-putt and rope-hooked a drive into the drink to lose the Dubai Invitational by a shot to Tommy Fleetwood. McIlroy handing a golf tournament away in that sort of catastrophic fashion is something never seen before.
It's safe to say he flushed that Sunday collapse ahead of this week's Dubai Desert Classic given he found the winner's circle and very much enjoyed the hunter role instead of the hunted.
Heading into the weekend McIlroy was 10 shots off the lead and after a wildly impressive 63 on Saturday still trailed leader Cam Young by two shots. He ended up not needing his A+ effort on Sunday to win the tournament with Young shooting 2-over in his final round, but to come out and get the job done seven days after gagging all over himself still falls into the impressive category.
To say McIlroy is comfortable playing golf in Dubai would be quite an understatement given that he's now won the event four times in his career.
McIlroy has started his 2024 campaign with a tie for second and a win in his first two starts, whether that translates to instant success when he makes his season debut on the PGA Tour remains to be seen, but the odds are certainly in his favor.
LIV Golf's Backer May Or May Not Be A Kidnapper
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Saudi PIF and de facto head of LIV Golf, is being tied to an alleged kidnapping. More specifically, he is being accused of "having carried out the instructions" of Saudia Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the leader tied to the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018.
Al-Rumayyan being tied to this newly alleged kidnapping flew a bit under the radar in the sports world this past week likely because these sorts of allegations and behavior aren't exactly out of the ordinary in Saudi Arabia.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan has been alleged to have played a role in a kidnapping in Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
The lawsuit filed in Canada by a former Saudi intelligence officer involves two of his children being arrested in 2020 and imprisoned. The family has not been in contact with the two children since their imprisonment, and the former officer is alleging Al-Rumayyan had direct involvement in the issue.
“These include taking steps to orchestrate an alleged campaign which include ‘wrongful kidnapping and detention,’ ‘misappropriation of property’ and the ‘expropriation’ of companies worth hundreds of millions of dollars into PIF hands,” according to The Athletic. The report also alleges that Al-Rumayyan took steps to bring the criminal proceedings against the children as punishment for the former officer's defection from the country.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan sat next to Al-Rumayyan on national television on June 6, 2023 to announce the agreed-upon framework for a merger between the Tour and Saudi PIF. It's safe to say Monahan may be regretting that visual at the moment, even with these allegations being just that, allegations.
The merger between the two sides was supposed to come to fruition by the end of 2023, but that deadline has since been punished back to the Spring, with a loose deadline appearing to be before the Masters in April.
Only time will tell if these accusations throw another wrinkle into what appears to be a never-ending equation, but you can't imagine this sort of story lights a fire under the Tour to get things under wraps any faster than it had planned.
Follow Mark Harris on X @itismarkharris and email him at mark.harris@outkick.com