This time last year, I was focused on my stats class.

I was taking seven classes at Alabama and I was in a bit over my head. I really wanted to graduate in three years. I had some credits when I got on campus in ’22 and thought I could do it. But being a student athlete is tough work. So when I got invited to the 2024 Amex in Palm Springs, a PGA Tour event, of course I was thrilled. What college golfer wouldn’t be?? But I was also like ……… I gotta get this stats homework done. Invites like those don’t come around often as an amateur, so it was a really important week for me. I wanted to see how my game stacked up against the best in the world.

I can’t lie: my main goal was just making the cut.

But fast forward to Saturday night and I was in the lead. The next morning I was going out in the final group with Justin Thomas and Sam Burns. The final group. Of a PGA Tour event. With those guys. I didn’t get much sleep that night. I kept my phone off for the most part. My family and friends were down there with me. I’d had a pretty successful junior career, I’d played in some big events and two U.S. Opens. But this was just a whole other thing.

A month earlier I was cramming for finals, you know?

Now I’m supposed to go shake JT’s hand and try to beat him on a Sunday?

I give a lot of credit to the people around me for helping me stay within myself that week. After the round on Saturday, when the weight of the situation set in, I had some really important conversations with my sports psychologist, Bhrett McCabe. I’ve known Bhrett since I was a kid. What really stuck with me is how we talked about the “script.” What was going to happen in the final round, it was already written in a way. Not destiny or fate or any of that stuff. But more like, I couldn’t control anything other than myself. Whatever else was going to happen was just going to happen, and that didn’t matter. What mattered was how I approached each shot, and how I reacted to it. That was it. Not JT, not Sam, not the leaderboard. It was just about me and my caddie, Hunter Hamrick.

Sunday morning, I went out to get some fresh air and clear my mind. I put my headphones in and I just walked around the neighborhood in Palm Springs. It was calm. The air was a little crisp. It was just quiet. I felt like I had the most important four and a half hours of my life coming up, and I’d see people drive by on their way to church or wherever they were going, and they looked completely at peace. I kind of wondered if I looked the same to them.

On the inside I felt the same nerves I’d felt so many times before. I think that’s kind of a beautiful thing about golf. Like, in that moment, that round was the most important thing to me. And it’s the same feeling you have in a junior tournament, or in a club championship, or whatever it might be. It’s completely familiar but still unique every time.

I’ve always had this thing about challenges. I don’t want to say it’s a trick I can play on my mind. It’s more just like…. Man, I love when people think I can’t do something. And I knew what everyone thought when I got up to the first tee. Or when I hit my ball in the water on 7. Or when I was down with a few holes to go. I live for that sort of thing. That’s why I’m out here. Golf is all about that. There’s a hundred-plus guys in the field each week, what are the odds I win? Low. I like that.

I talked to Hunter a lot that round. I don’t like to stay quiet when I’m super nervous. I like to be vocal. I like to talk about what I’m feeling. He kept me in the right state of mind the whole day and gave me the confidence to be myself, to be the player I know I can be.

When that final putt went in, and I was a PGA Tour winner….. I don’t know….. It’s pretty hard to put into words even now. It’s exactly what I dreamed of so many times as a kid. To do it as an amateur and be the first one to win on tour since Phil in ’91? Just surreal.

I look back on it now a year later and I don’t think I quite understood the stakes. And maybe that was for the best. The way my life would change after that Sunday in all these sudden, crazy ways — I just never would have believed it.

I had to let my team know I was turning pro. (That was probably the last time I thought about stats class, until I sat down to write this.) I had a great talk with our athletic director, Greg Byrne. He and Coach Seawell have been in my corner for so long and they just wanted what was best for me, the person. That meant so much.

It was a big decision for me because I’m from Birmingham. I’d grown up always dreaming of going to Bama. We had season tickets and some of my favorite memories were going to Alabama football games. I have a really special relationship with Coach Seawell. He was the first person to recruit me. Alabama was a lot more than just a school to me. It was a continuation of home. It was in my blood.

When I was there I was actually fortunate enough to get to know Coach Saban a little bit. He’d come and watch me hit balls on the range and pick my brain, which is crazy to say. I learned so much from getting to spend time with him. He’s about as fierce a competitor as I’ve ever met. He’s all about getting better and improving every single day, no matter what. Obviously you saw that in his teams, but to just hear him speak about his life — his passions and how he overcame challenges — it was really inspiring.

I feel very lucky to have been at the University of Alabama.

And I’d be lying if I said there weren’t times when I miss it. It’s not always easy out here on tour. It’s a blessing to be able to play this game for a living, I don’t take any of that for granted. Don’t get me wrong. But I went from a college kid, playing on a team with his buddies to some dinners alone on tour, watching Netflix in the hotel, trying to find his way with the best players in the world. Going to the range at every event and seeing all the guys I used to look up to…. It took me a while to feel like I fit in. Months, I’d say. I’d stand beside major winners and Ryder Cuppers and think, Do I really belong out here? And that can play with your head. Because golf is all about confidence — about knowing who you really are. I feel like I was still figuring that out in Tuscaloosa, you know?

So it just took me some time. And I worked at my game really hard to get it to the point where I felt like my “good” was good enough. My “bad” still needs work, I know that. But when I get it going in the right direction I know I can do well out here. Winning the Barracuda in July showed me that I’m on the right path.

I was back in Tuscaloosa a few weeks ago and Coach Seawell surprised me with the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year award. To be able to share that with my family is an experience I’ll never forget. I feel like a lot has changed this year, but I’m still the same guy I was, walking around Palm Spring with his headphones in. I’m still trying to figure it out. To enjoy all the little things. To find some peace in all of this. My rookie season was incredibly special. I’m thankful to everyone around me. My parents, my friends, Hunter and Bhrett. My whole team. I wouldn’t be here without any of them.

I think, in golf, or in life, it’s easy to get caught up in the results. And out here on tour that can happen a lot. Every shot, every round, every event, there’s a result. A number beside your name. Strokes gained on every swing, every putt. Points to be gained and lost. Standings for this and that. It’s a lot. And if you don’t stop every once in a while, if you don’t just look around and enjoy the process, I think it’s easy to get lost out here.

I don’t know if I have any resolutions this year, but I’m trying to do more of that. To enjoy every win, big or small.

First year was pretty good. Can’t wait for what’s next. See you out there.

—Nick