Rising star Nick Dunlap points out his "number one" priority for the 2025 season

Nick Dunlap will go into the 2025 American Express as the defending champion. Although he has a whopping $1,584,00 winner's share on the line this week, his eyes are set on the Ryder Cup in September.

This is a big season for all the golfers on the circuit as the Ryder Cup will take place this year. Every player would be vying to make the team and represent their country or continent at the Bethpage Black.

Nick Dunlap was recently asked on the NBC Golf Today show, how much the Ryder Cup was on his mind. The US golfer turned pro early last year after his American Express victory. Although the host acknowledged that the question "doesn't get asked much" to golfers who have been pros for little over a year, the 21-year-old player claimed that the biennial tournament was certainly one of his aims this year.

"Yeah, I would probably say number one. Something I have always thought would be an absolute experiene and a dream come true for me. And to represent your country is way more than just playing for yourself every week so I always watched it as a kid growing up. To be there, at Bethpage, wearing red, white and blue would be awesome," he said.

Nick Dunlap was the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event in 33 years. He will want to emulate a similar success story this year.

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Who is paired along with Nick Dunlap at the 2025 American Express Round 1?

Nick Dunlap and Sam Burns (Source: Getty)

Nick Dunlap will tee off with Sam Burns at the La Quinta Course in the first round of the 2025 American Express. The duo will start at 8:41 am PST. They are a part of the first tee on the course.

Here's looking at the full tee times and pairings for Round 1 of the 2025 American Express (please note all times are in PST):

La Quinta Country Club

• 1st tee
• 8:30 am: Max Greyserman, Kevin Streelman
• 8:41 am: Nick Dunlap, Sam Burns
• 8:52 am: John Pak, Tim Widing
• 9:03 am: Adam Hadwin, Ryan Palmer
• 9:14 am: Patrick Cantlay, Billy Horschel
• 9:25 am: Matteo Manassero, Michael Thorbjornsen
• 9:36 am: Charley Hoffman, Eric Cole
• 9:47 am: Keith Mitchell, Brandt Snedeker
• 9:58 am: Justin Thomas, Jason Day
• 10:09 am: Greyson Sigg, Vince Whaley
• 10:20 am: Camilo Villegas, Nico Echavarria
• 10:31 am: Wyndham Clark, Rickie Fowler
• 10:42 am: Blades Brown, Isaiah Salinda
• 10th tee
• 8:30 am: Patrick Fishburn, Andrew Novak
• 8:41 am: Tony Finau, Will Zalatoris
• 8:52 am: Aldrich Potgieter, Braden Thornberry
• 9:03 am: Justin Lower, Ben Kohles
• 9:14 am: Chris Kirk, Davis Thompson
• 9:25 am: Rikuya Hoshino, Taylor Dickson
• 9:36 am: Doug Ghim, Sam Ryder
• 9:47 am: Zach Johnson, Kevin Kisner
• 9:58 am: Si Woo Kim, Kurt Kitayama
• 10:09 am: Quade Cummins, Noah Goodwin
• 10:20 am: J.J. Spaun, Rico Hoey
• 10:31 am: Rafael Campos, Peter Malnati
• 10:42 am: Kaito Onishi, Jeremy Paul

Nicklaus Tournament Course

• 1st tee
• 8:30 am: Ryo Hisatsune, Matti Schmid
• 8:41 am: Chris Gotterup, Adam Svensson
• 8:52 am: Max McGreevy, Hayden Buckley
• 9:03 am: Ben Martin, Chandler Phillips
• 9:14 am: Brice Garnett, Harry Hall
• 9:25 am: Danny Walker, Matthew Riedel
• 9:36 am: Nate Lashley, David Skinns
• 9:47 am: Frankie Capan III, Antoine Rozner
• 9:58 am: Chad Ramey, K.H. Lee
• 10:09 am: Chesson Hadley, Harry Higgs
• 10:20 am: Michael Kim, Mac Meissner
• 10:31 am: Taylor Moore, Lee Hodges
• 10:42 am: Norman Xiong, Brian Campbell
• 10th tee
• 8:30 am: Joel Dahmen, Ben Griffin
• 8:41 am: Brian Harman, Sepp Straka
• 8:52 am: William Mouw, Ryan Gerard
• 9:03 am: Jason Dufner, David Lipsky
• 9:14 am: Mark Hubbard, Daniel Berger
• 9:25 am: Steven Fisk, Trevor Cone
• 9:36 am: Sami Valimaki, Henrik Norlander
• 9:47 am: Danny Willett, Victor Perez
• 9:58 am: Jake Knapp, J.T. Poston
• 10:09 am: Beau Hossler, Will Gordon
• 10:20 am: Tom Hoge, Cameron Young
• 10:31 am: Francesco Molinari, Jhonattan Vegas
• 10:42 am: Alejandro Tosti, Cristobal Del Solar

Pete Dye Stadium Course

• 1st tee
• 8:30 am: Lanto Griffin, Bud Cauley
• 8:41 am: Luke List, Kevin Yu
• 8:52 am: Kevin Roy, Ricky Castillo
• 9:03 am: Taylor Montgomery, Bronson Burgoon
• 9:14 am: Matt Kuchar, Cam Davis
• 9:25 am: Paul Peterson, Takumi Kanaya
• 9:36 am: Chez Reavie, Aaron Baddeley
• 9:47 am: Nick Taylor, Tom Kim
• 9:58 am: Sungjae Im, Mackenzie Hughes
• 10:09 am: Alex Smalley, Patrick Rodgers
• 10:20 am: Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Harris English
• 10:31 am: Lucas Glover, Erik van Rooyen
• 10:42 am: Kevin Velo, Jackson Suber
• 10th tee
• 8:30 am: Jacob Bridgeman, Joe Highsmith
• 8:41 am: Emiliano Grillo, Adam Schenk
• 8:52 am: Thomas Rosenmueller, Mason Andersen
• 9:03 am: Bill Haas, Andrew Putnam
• 9:14 am: Brendon Todd, Patton Kizzire
• 9:25 am: Anders Albertson, Philip Knowles
• 9:36 am: Trey Mullinax, Carson Young
• 9:47 am: Chan Kim, Sam Stevens
• 9:58 am: Davis Riley, Nick Hardy
• 10:09 am: Kris Ventura, Jesper Svensson
• 10:20 am: Ben Silverman, Wesley Bryan
• 10:31 am: Matt McCarty, Vincent Norrman
• 10:42 am: Will Chandler, Kyle Mendoza

Nick Dunlap will look to retain his title as he tees off on Thursday this week.