It went late in the match, but Alabama commit Nick Dunlap won the 73rd U.S. Junior Amateur on Saturday afternoon, with a 3 and 2 decision over LSU commit Cohen Trolio in a 36-hole match at the The Country Club of North Carolina.

Dunlap is now exempt into the 2022 U.S. Open and discussed the hard work it took him to get to this championship.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “Just the hours and hours that nobody sees, it’s finally paid off.”

Entering the match, Dunlap said, “It’s unreal. I’ve played the last six or seven weeks on the road, and I want to win everything I play in, obviously, but I’ve been trying to get my game ready for this week and for the U.S. Am (in three weeks). To be able to do it, it feels great.”

The two finalists are exempt into next month’s U.S. Amateur Championship at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club. But both were already in the field at Oakmont after Trolio’s semifinal run in 2019 and Dunlap being a qualifier.