Carter Pitcairn walked up to Neal Shipley on the range Saturday afternoon and asked a simple question.
“Hey, guess who we are going to be paired with tomorrow,” Pitcairn, the caddie for Shipley at the 2024 Masters, asked his player.
I was just like, “No way it’s Tiger.”
And he said, “Yeah.”
Shipley earned his way into the 88th playing of the Masters by virtue of his runner-up finish at the 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado last summer. He’s leaving Augusta National Golf Club as the Low Amateur at the Masters, the only one to make the cut, and his Sunday was filled with red. He got to play with five-time champion Tiger Woods.
“Playing with Tiger, Sunday at the Masters, the whole week, I think I have to win one of these things to kind of top this week,” Shipley said after a final-round 1-over 73 to finish at 12 over for the week.
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“Today being out there with Tiger, we were chatting. We talked a lot about just golf, Charlie and just normal things. He’s such a normal guy and really cool. He was great to me all day. Couldn’t be more appreciative of him just being awesome today, and it was just really cool to be around him and just the attention he gets and the roars. The crowds were phenomenal.”
Neal Shipley reacts to his putt on the 15th green during the final round of the 2024 Masters Tournament. (Photo: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)
Shipley came into the week as one of five amateurs in the field, and he leaves Augusta National a fan favorite, similar to when he was at Cherry Hills last summer, and he gets a spot next to the champion in Butler Cabin late Sunday during the green jacket presentation.
Why the added attention toward Shipley?
“Normal-looking dude with long hair. I don’t really look like most golfers I think,” said Shipley, from Pittsburgh. “I think I just have a great attitude on the golf course. I kind of show my emotion, and I think that’s kind of why people like me.”
Neal Shipley, 2024 Low Amateur. #themasters pic.twitter.com/pFZMROLBwE
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 15, 2024
The graduate student is the second player from Ohio State to earn low amateur honors at the Masters. The other? Jack Nicklaus.
Pitcairn, one of Shipley’s childhood friends, found out around Thanksgiving he was going to caddie at the Masters. He has plenty of experience: he was on the bag for Austin Greaser in the 2021 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont when he made the finals and also caddied for Shipley on Saturday last year during the semifinals in Colorado when Shipley’s caddie had to leave for a day.
“I think his mental state was the most impressive,” Pitcairn said of Shipley. “It’s hard. All this is just noise. But he did a great job of just going out there and playing golf. Really proud.”
Shipley said he, Pitcairn and Tiger talked plenty of topics during their stroll around Augusta National on Sunday, including Oakmont, where Shipley played and worked earlier in his life.
Neal Shipley hugs his caddie, Carter Pitcairn, after finishing his round on No. 18 during the final round of the 2024 Masters Tournament. (Photo: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Network)
“It was kind of funny. (Tiger) is like, ‘Yeah I like the old Oakmont with trees.’ I was like, “‘I’m not old enough to remember that Oakmont.'”
Shipley has another major start coming up this summer at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. What did he learn this week that will help him in his second major championship start?
“Just knowing that my game can compete out here and I don’t need to do anything special to make cuts,” Shipley said. “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.”
