Nick Dunlap shot a 90 in the first round of the Masters last year and that wasn’t close to being the worst round in tournament history.

That indignity belongs to Charlie Kunkle, an accomplished amateur from western Pennsylvania, who shot a 95 in the final round of the 1956 Masters.

Kunkle’s record comes with an asterisk: Billy Casper, the 1970 Masters champion, wanted one more trip around the course in 2005 at age 73. Casper shot a 106 but withdrew before signing his scorecard, thus avoiding the indignity of holding the record for the Masters, which starts Thursday.

Kunkle, who died in 2013 at age 99, was a veteran of World War II who served on the USS Independence, the captain of the Duke basketball team in 1936 and the president of a minor-league hockey team.

Born and raised in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, he was friends with Arnold Palmer — and encouraged the eventual “King” to remain an amateur. In addition to being a successful business owner, Kunkle helped reshape Johnstown’s Sunnehanna Invitational into one of the nation’s premier amateur events.

Because of his busy business schedule and limited opportunities to play during the winter, Kunkle arrived at Augusta having played only nine holes of golf. It didn’t help that the 1956 tournament was played under brutal conditions — rain, wind and cold temperatures — and resulted in producing the tournament’s highest winning score.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Kunkle began the round by taking a 7 on the first hole when he needed three shots to get out of a trap. He three-putted nine times, shot 49 on the front and 46 on the back.

The 95 was just an unfortunate day for a good player. Kunkle qualified for the Masters by reaching the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur. He qualified five times for the U.S. Amateur.

“The record, that’s not important to me,” Kunkle told the Pittsburgh Press in an interview in 2005. “I earned my way there. You don’t get there by knowing the right people. I was proud to have played in the Masters.”

Kunkle finished the tournament 52-over 340, giving him the record for the highest single round and highest tournament score. The tournament record won’t likely be beaten, since the Masters began cutting the field the next year.

Dunlap earned his way into the Masters, too. He won the PGA Tour’s American Express while an amateur at the University of Alabama in 2024, turned professional and won again in July. Dunlap expressed optimism on the eve of the tournament.

Dunlap shot a 90 — a 43-47 — in the opening round. That’s 18 over par. Dunlap’s forgettable card included seven bogeys, four double bogeys and one triple bogey. It was the first 90 posted at Augusta National since 2015, when 63-year-old Ben Crenshaw opened his final Masters with a 91.

“It’s like trying to hold on to a rope, but you can’t hold on to it,” Dunlap explained the next day. “It’s a really, really bad feeling. You just can’t stop it. It’s just whatever bad can happen does happen.”

To his credit, Dunlap signed his scorecard and returned the next day and shot a 71, despite making bogeys on the final three holes.

“There’s a lot of things I could have done that would make me a lot more happy,” Dunlap said. “But I’m never going to quit. I’m always going to show up.”

Four players have shot 49 on the back nine: former U.S. Amateur and British Amateur champion Jess Sweetser in 1936, former U.S. Amateur and British Amateur champion Dick Chapman in 1955, former U.S. Open champion Tony Manero in 1955 and 15-year PGA Tour veteran Frank Conner in 1982.