COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State graduate student Neal Shipley certainly had a week he won’t soon forget. Shipley made the cut in his first Masters Tournament, earned low amateur honors and enjoyed a Sunday round at Augusta with Tiger Woods.
His scores were important but irrelevant compared to the experiences of the week. He shot rounds of 71-76-80-73=300 (+12) but was the lone amateur to make the cut and spent Sunday evening inside Butler Cabin with CBS’s Jim Nantz and champion Scottie Scheffler. He received the Silver Cup for being the low amateur. The only other Buckeye to earn the Silver Cup was the best Buckeye golfer, Jack Nicklaus in 1960.
Overall, the Pittsburgh, Pa., native was the fourth Buckeye to make the cut at the Masters while playing as an amateur. In addition to Nicklaus finishing tied for 13th in 1960, John Cook made the cut and finished tied for 39th in 1979 and Clark Burroughs finished tied for 46th in 1984.
The big takeaway from this week seemed to be that Shipley can compete at the professional level. He has another shot later this summer as he will play in his first US Open at Pinehurst. When asked what he’ll take from this week into that event, Shipley’s confidence shown through.
“I think what’s going to help me out a lot is just knowing that my game can compete out here and I don’t need to do anything special to make cuts. When I was just kind of doing my thing and not doing anything special, that was good enough to make the cut and compete out here and beat a lot of players that are on the PGA TOUR.”
Before that, Shipley will return to Columbus to join his Buckeye teammates to finish out the collegiate season. Ohio State hosts the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate next weekend at the OSU Golf Club. The Buckeyes will then play the following week in the Big Ten Championship at familiar Scioto Country Club, just miles from campus. NCAA Regionals are scheduled for mid-May and the NCAA Championship will be the final week in May at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.
Ohio State Official Press
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