2x PGA Tour Champ Nick Dunlap needed a change. He found it in Jeff Curl, his longtime mentor, who believed Dunlap could become the best player in the world when he was just 14. According to a September 17, 2026 report from Golfweek’s Adam Schupak, the 22-year-old two-time PGA Tour winner has parted ways with caddie Hunter Hamrick after the FedExCup regular season. Jeff Curl, the mentor who was on Dunlap’s bag for his 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur and 2023 U.S. Amateur wins, is back on his bag at this week’s Biltmore Championship in Asheville.
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It is quite the reunion. And honestly, the timing could not be more interesting. Dunlap is going through a difficult 2026 season. He has made only seven cuts in 18 starts and enters Asheville No. 167 in the FedExCup standings without a single top-10 finish. His world ranking has also dropped to No. 418. That is a huge fall from the career-high No. 30 ranking he reached in October 2024.
Things did not get off to a good start at the Biltmore Championship either. Dunlap opened with a triple-bogey on the first hole.
His split with Hamrick ends a partnership that was, in fact, part of one of the biggest moments of his young career. Hamrick was actually on his bag when Dunlap, just only 20 years old, won The American Express in January 2024 as an amateur. The win made Dunlap the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event since Phil Mickelson in 1991.
Their Alabama connection was also important. Hamrick had worked with Dunlap while he was at the University of Alabama and left his assistant coaching role in July 2023 to become Dunlap’s full-time caddie.
The partnership got off to a dream start. Dunlap won The American Express and then added the Barracuda Championship in July 2024 during his rookie season. Since then, however, things have gone in the opposite direction. Dunlap struggled in 2025 and finished outside the top 130 in the FedExCup. His 2026 season has been even tougher.
His driving has been one of the biggest problems. In 2025, Dunlap ranked 180th on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and 178th in fairways hit. Those struggles have continued to hurt his consistency this season. He also withdrew from The American Express after the second round earlier this year because of an undisclosed injury.
Hamrick told Golfweek that he is now considering his options and hopes to get back on another bag soon. For Dunlap, meanwhile, the next chapter brings back someone very familiar.
Curl first met Dunlap at Greystone Golf and Country Club in Birmingham when Dunlap was just 10 years old. He became Dunlap’s mentor and helped him as he grew as a young golfer. Curl was on his bag when Dunlap won the 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur. Two years later, they worked together again at the 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club. That week showed just how strong their relationship was.
Dunlap was five-over through seven holes in the final before turning things around and winning 4-and-3. On the eighth hole, Curl wrote a message in Dunlap’s yardage book: “This can be an amazing story if you let it happen.”
Dunlap later said the message helped snap him out of his bad start.
“A lot of what I know about the game comes from him,” Dunlap said of Curl in 2023.
Curl, meanwhile, had seen Dunlap’s potential long before most people knew his name.
“I’ve known this was coming since he was 14, and I’ve told everybody,” Curl said.
It is still unclear whether Curl will remain on Dunlap’s bag permanently or if this is only a short-term arrangement, according to Golfweek.
Caddie changes at the end of a season are common on the PGA Tour. Recent examples show how quickly things can change. Collin Morikawa made two caddie changes during the 2025 season.
He first split with longtime caddie J.J. Jakovac in April. It was after six years together on the bag with six Tour wins. He then parted ways with Joe Greiner after just five events. Morikawa went more than two years without a win before finally winning the 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February.
It showed that a caddie change can sometimes help turn things around. Justin Thomas also had a change in 2025. He used a temporary caddie at the RBC Heritage while his regular caddie, Matt Minister, recovered from a back injury. Thomas then ended a three-year winless run.
The lesson is simple: changing caddies does not always solve a player’s problems. But the right person at the right time can help bring back confidence and momentum. For Dunlap, this change is not really about finding someone new. He is going back to someone who already knows his game and understands how he handles pressure.
But considering how much Curl already knows about Dunlap’s game, this feels like more than just a random caddie switch. Dunlap has spent the last two years trying to live up to the hype that came with his incredible amateur career and rapid rise on the PGA Tour. Now, he is turning back to someone who was there before any of that happened. Maybe Dunlap does not need a completely new voice. Maybe he needs a familiar one.