'I Hit A Couple Buckets Of Balls At My Airbnb Into The Woods' - Nick Dunlap’s Remarkable Admission After Shooting 90 At The Masters

On Thursday, Nick Dunlap became the first player in a decade to fail to break 90 at The Masters - and he had the look of a broken man.

A day later, and the two-time PGA Tour winner might not have turned his game around totally - in fact, he's way off that - but he did show a lot of guts en route to posting a one-under par 71.

Afterwards, the American admitted that he's in a bad place with his game.

"It's hard to put everything you have into something and feel like you're not getting any better," he said.

"I think a lot of people would have maybe backed out, maybe not. Certainly I wanted to at times. I know that."

Dunlap's opening round of 18-over par included a back nine of 47 shots, just two shots off the tournament's second-half mark of 49.

What was incredible, especially considering the complex nature of Augusta National's greens, was that despite shooting 90, he did not 3-putt once.

Sadly for the 21-year-old, who won last year's American Express whilst still an amateur, he struggled to keep the ball on the course off the tee.

"I hit a couple buckets of balls at my Airbnb into the woods. I don't know if there was any houses or anything back there," he replied when asked what he did after his opening round, adding that his trainer, Clarke Holter, went to Target to buy him golf balls.

"I probably hit 12 different kinds of golf balls, from colors to brands to you name it. Doing a little ball testing!"

Asked whether he considered quitting, Dunlap said it had crossed his mind but it was never going to happen.

"I would never let myself do that. Never going to quit. I've never withdrawn from anything," he said.

"I've never teed it up and not finished. I take pride in that, and that's always how I'm going to be."

Rory McIlroy has been lauded for his comeback on Friday, after the Northern Irishman surged back into contention with a 66 following the disappointment of dropping four shots late on Thursday.

However, given the humiliation he suffered on the opening day, Dunlap's round was arguably more impressive, even though he did drop back to one-under after getting to four-under through 15 holes.

Dunlap might still be going home early, but it was some display, especially given how much he's still struggling with his swing.

"I'm trying to do something that I don't think is going to work in the first place, so it's very hard to step up there and see something good happening," he explained, adding when he did make a good swing it was a feeling that he hadn't had in four weeks.

Dunlap added that he's determined to get it right, which will mean hitting a lot more balls, only next time on the range and not into some woods near Augusta.

"There's always positives shooting under par, especially around here," he said. "But putted it nice. Hit some really good irons. I've just got to work some stuff out off the tee.

"I've got to hit a bunch of golf balls. I think I know finally now what direction to head into. Now I've just got to put in the time."