Paul Dunne

Paul Colum Dunne (born 26 November 1992) is an Irish professional golfer from Greystones in County Wicklow. He first came to prominence at the 2015 Open Championship where, playing as an amateur, he was tied for the lead after three rounds. In 2017 he had his first European Tour win, the British Masters.

For other people named Paul Dunne, see Paul Dunne (disambiguation).

Paul Dunne
Personal information
Full namePaul Colum Dunne
Born (1992-11-26) 26 November 1992
Dublin, Ireland
Height5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Weight160 lb (73 kg; 11 st)
Sporting nationality Ireland
ResidenceGreystones, County Wicklow, Ireland
Career
CollegeUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham
Turned professional2015
Current tour(s)Challenge Tour
Former tour(s)European Tour
Professional wins2
Highest ranking65 (29 April 2018)[1]
(as of 22 October 2023)
Number of wins by tour
European Tour1
Other1
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentDNP
PGA ChampionshipCUT: 2018
U.S. OpenCUT: 2017
The Open ChampionshipT30: 2015

Amateur career

Dunne attended Blackrock College, a secondary school for boys. He won the 2010 Irish Youths Amateur title; the following year, he finished third.[2]

Dunne played college golf at University of Alabama at Birmingham. As a junior, he was named the 2014 Conference USA Golfer of the Year. As a senior, Dunne finished fifth in the individual competition at the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship.[3] As a senior in college he was the Blazers' top golfer with a scoring average of 71.9.[4]

Dunne qualified for the 2014 Open Championship through final qualifying at Woburn. He scored 75 and 73 and missed the cut by two shots. He also played in the 2014 Palmer Cup.[5]

Dunne finished his amateur career after representing Great Britain and Ireland in their 16.5 to 9.5 victory over the United States at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in the Walker Cup.[6] He contributed 1.5 out of a possible 4 points over the two-day tournament.[7]

2015 Open Championship

Dunne qualified for the 2015 Open Championship by winning the Final Qualifier at Woburn; it was the second straight year he had won it.[8] Scoring 69 in each of the first two rounds at St Andrews, he made the cut and was the leading amateur at that stage.[9] In the third round, he scored 66 to become joint leader at 12-under-par. He was the first amateur since 1927 to lead the Open Championship after 54 holes, and he also set a tournament record for lowest 54-hole score by an amateur. On the final day he was in the last pairing with Louis Oosthuizen.[3] He shot a 78 in the final round to drop to a tie for 30th place.[10][11]

Professional career

Dunne turned professional later in 2015. His first event as a professional golfer was the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.[12] In November 2015, he gained a Category 17 European Tour membership by finishing 16th at the European Tour Qualifying School.[13] He then went on to finish in 106th position, in the 2016 Race to Dubai series and earn Category 11 European Tour membership for the European Tour in 2017.[14]

In April 2017, Dunne lost in a sudden-death playoff to Edoardo Molinari at the Trophée Hassan II. He missed an eight-foot par putt on the first extra hole to allow Molinari to win the event with a par.[15] In October he had his first European Tour win, taking the British Masters by three strokes from Rory McIlroy, after a final round 61. Dunne's victory was the 51st title won by a player from the Republic of Ireland on the European Tour.[16]

Personal life

Dunne was born in Dublin, Ireland, to Colum and Michelle Dunne. He has two older siblings, Alison and David.[2]

Dunne graduated with a degree in business finance from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.[9]

Amateur wins
  • 2009 Irish Boys Close
  • 2010 Irish Youths Amateur Close
  • 2013 East of Ireland Open Championship, Georgetown Intercollegiate
  • 2014 Samford Intercollegiate

Source:[17]

Professional wins (2)

European Tour wins (1)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner-up
1 1 Oct 2017 British Masters −20 (66-68-65-61=260) 3 strokes Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
1 2017 Trophée Hassan II Italy Edoardo Molinari Lost to par on first extra hole

Other wins (1)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runners-up
1 6 May 2017 GolfSixes
(with Republic of Ireland Gavin Moynihan)		 2–0  France − Mike Lorenzo-Vera and Romain Wattel

Results in major championships
Tournament 20142015201620172018
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open CUT
The Open Championship CUT T30 CUT T67
PGA Championship CUT
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Results in World Golf Championships
Tournament20172018
Championship T55
Match Play
Invitational T66
Champions T38
  Did not play

"T" = tied

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

References
  1. "Week 17 2018 Ending 29 Apr 2018" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  2. "Paul Dunne". UAB Sports. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  3. "Who is Paul Dunne? Amateur golfer from Ireland played collegiately at UAB". AL.com. 19 July 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  4. Zak, Sean (19 July 2015). "5 Things to Know About Leading Amateur Paul Dunne". Golf Magazine.
  5. "Irish amateur Paul Dunne qualifies for British Open". The Irish Times. 1 July 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  6. "The Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup Team is announced". R&A. 24 August 2015.
  7. "Walker Cup 2015 Scoring". USGA. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  8. "10 things to know about Paul Dunne". PGA European Tour. 19 July 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  9. Slover, Ray (19 July 2015). "Paul Dunne, Irishman and UAB grad, stunning success at British Open". Sporting News. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  10. Corrigan, James (20 July 2015). "The Open 2015: Zach Johnson holds nerve against Marc Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen to win first Claret Jug". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  11. Lewis, Simon (21 July 2015). "Disappointing end for Paul Dunne as Open dream a bridge too far". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  12. "Paul Dunne makes ace start to pro career at Dunhill Links". The Irish Times. 1 October 2015.
  13. "Paul Dunne – Results". PGA European Tour. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  14. "Race to Dubai – 2016". PGA European Tour. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  15. "Play-off defeat always the hardest to swallow but Paul Dunne takes huge step forward". The 42. 17 April 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  16. "Paul Dunne edges closer to a very lucrative European Tour perk after spectacular British Masters win". Irish Independent. 1 October 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  17. "Paul Dunne". World Amateur Golf Ranking. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  18. "European Boys' Team Championship – European Golf Association". 19 October 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
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