When former Alabama golfer Nick Dunlap announced that he was leaving school for the PGA Tour in January, it seemed as if the program had suffered from a supernova-sized explosion. The Crimson Tide was slated to be a formidable threat for the national championship with the U.S. Amateur champion Dunlap in the lineup.
Fittingly, since Dunlap departed from the program, his roommate and close friend, sophomore Jonathan Griz, has filled the void left for the Crimson Tide.
“Nick has been one of my best friends since about ninth grade,” Griz said. “I’ve had the privilege of living with him for almost two years. I have learned from just watching him, seeing what he does, and from what he does in the gym, on the golf course, even outside the golf course.”
In the three full tournaments Griz has competed in this spring season, he finished as Alabama’s highest-placed golfer in two of those events, taking home the medalist honors at the Linger Longer Invitational in Putnam County, Georgia.
When asked about Griz potentially filling the shoes of Dunlap, Alabama men’s golf head coach Jay Seawell says that the sophomore has stepped up thus far.
“With Jonathan, I think there’s a sense of Nick being gone, ‘I need to step up a little bit,’” Seawell said. “I think that’s what Jonathan has done in a very positive way. He’s taking his game up because he feels like with Nick gone, he needed to. You can see the results so far.”
Hailing from the golf haven of Hilton Head, South Carolina, Griz has been playing the sport since he was 4 years old, when his dad first took him to the course. He played in his first tournament at the age of 7.
Griz played on the Hilton Head Island Junior Golf Association circuit throughout childhood. However, it wasn’t until 2019 that Seawell discovered him.
“I think he was like 13 or 14,” Seawell said. “I was in Hilton Head recruiting some kids in the 2019 class, and he was playing in the same tournament. I saw him, and he was just something different; he was eye-catching.”
Although he committed to Clemson in seventh grade, Griz said the relationship he built with Seawell was strong enough to flip his commitment from the Tigers to the Crimson Tide.
“I committed to Clemson in seventh grade and de-committed shortly after,” Griz said. “I started talking with Coach Seawell and loved how he spoke; his faith in the Lord was a big part of it. I committed in ninth grade on the same day Dunlap did.”
Ahead of arriving in Tuscaloosa, Griz proved himself to be one of the top prep golfers in the country, ranking as high as No. 10 nationally. Throughout his prep career, Griz participated in 6 American Junior Golf Association events and won the 2020 South Carolina Amateur Championship, the youngest to do so, winning the trophy at 16. Griz also made his professional debut in 2021 at the Club Car Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour.
In an article in Hilton Head Monthly, Matt Lucchesi, the director of golf at Griz’s home club, Colleton River, said Griz’s diligence is a key factor in his success.
“His work ethic is a strong suit for him. He has high expectations of himself,” Lucchesi said. “It’s tough. There are a lot of good players out there.”
Griz quickly became a mainstay in the Crimson Tide’s lineup during his freshman season. He competed in nine Alabama tournaments, including two career-low rounds of 66 (at the time) and postseason solid showings, finishing top 20 at the SEC championships and the NCAA regionals.
Griz grabbed headlines in the second tournament of his sophomore season at the SEC Match Play hosted by Jerry Pate in Birmingham, Alabama. On the final day of the tournament, Alabama matched up against Florida. Griz arrived at the 16th hole, trailing Florida’s Ian Gilligan by one hole and with the Crimson Tide just 1 point away from a victory over the Gators. Griz won two of the final three holes, finishing his tournament with an emphatic Tiger Woods-like fist bump after sinking the match-winning putt for the Crimson Tide.
Fast forward to this spring season, and Griz has continued to cement himself as one of the top golfers for the Crimson Tide. Griz won the Linger Longer Invitational with medalist honors, shooting a total score . The sophomore held his lead wire to wire, not giving it to the field once.
Griz’s victory was mainly due to his 10-under-par 62 fired off on Day 1. The 62 shot on Day 1 was the second-lowest round in Alabama golf history, only behind Dunlap’s 12-under-par 62 from last fall. Following his victory, he was named SEC Men’s Golfer of the Week.
Griz said his win in Georgia is just a step in the right direction toward where he wants to be.
“I’m really grateful and thankful for it. It’s a step in the right direction,” Griz said. “I’ve struggled recently, especially in my freshman year, but I’ve started to play better and improve. Some of the recent results have been nice. Golf is such a crazy game; it is so up and down. Hopefully, there will be more success in the near future. It was nice to win again because I haven’t won in four years.”
For Griz, golf has truly been a game of ups and downs. A week after his first collegiate victory at the Linger Longer Invitational, Griz was disqualified from the Valspar Collegiate Invitational for signing an incorrect scorecard after round one.
Despite the game of golf sometimes throwing curveballs at him, Griz said his goal is to remain level-headed and continue to improve.
“All I can do is try my best and be excellent in what I do,” Griz said. “My biggest goal every single day is to get 1% better each day. Whatever results happen, that’s in the Lord’s hands. But all I can do is be excellent each day. So that’s my goal.”
