Nick Dunlap almost had it. No college golfer has ever hit a sub-60 round, but the Alabama sophomore from Huntsville stared down an eight-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole at Maidstone Golf Club in New York during the Hamptons Intercollegiate.

Didn’t get it. Lipped out.

A little disappointing. But it didn’t phase Dunlap, who helped the Crimson Tide win the team title for the event, or Alabama coach Jay Seawell.

“That probably was my special moment, just to walk with him and see how he handled that,” Seawell said Monday. “He’s built for greatness. This is just the beginning. Y’all are gonna see.”

Dunlap’s young Alabama career is off to an electric start. The Hamptons title earlier this month came after he won the U.S. Amateur Championship in June.

He won two straight SEC golfer of the week awards to begin the current season. And on Friday, he’s heading to Abu Dhabi, UAE, to represent the U.S. in the World Amateur Championship, which runs Oct. 18-21.

“It’s been a lot,” Dunlap told reporters Monday. “It’s something that I dream about.”

Seawell has known Dunlap since the sophomore was “11 or 12″ and coming to Alabama’s golf camps. The homeschooled youngster blossomed into the No. 1 junior golfer in the class of 2022 according to Golfweek, and opted to spend his college career at Alabama.

He got off and running fast, ending the 2022-23 season as Golfweek’s No. 16-ranked college golfer in the nation. He was also named to the all-SEC team, along with the conference’s all-freshman squad.

His U.S. amateur title followed him winning the U.S. junior amateur in 2021. The only other person to win both?

Tiger Woods.

The obvious comparisons to one of the greatest golfers of all time were something Dunlap marveled at. They also weren’t something he wanted to think about regularly.

“I can’t live up to that hype every day,” Dunlap said. “I’m 19. The only thing I can do is compete the best I can.”

His golfing ability has taken him around the world. Beyond the coming trip to the UAE, plus another planned excursion to Bermuda, Dunlap played in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico last year, and in the Walker Cup in Scotland at St. Andrews in early September.

He said the latter trip was the highlight of his career so far.

“That was my main goal, I circled it on my calendar two years ago,” Dunlap said of the international competition. “I’ve got a golf ball from the first Walker Cup. It’s something representing the United States. It’s something that’s been really close to me for a long time, especially in Scotland, St. Andrews, the home of golf.”

The international competition is cool, but Dunlap emphasized that his No. 1 goal remains competing for Alabama. According to Seawell, the sophomore has already turned down professional events.

Alabama’s coach said Dunlap continues to try and improve, occasionally through late-night sessions hitting balls on the video machine.

“He wants to be great,” Seawell said. “But he also realizes the only way you do that is to work and majority of the time, the work is always hit. Nobody knows what a young guy or an athlete goes through to become great, and he’s willing to do those things. And watching him do all that, I’m his biggest fan. He inspires me.”