Mt. Lebanon's Neal Shipley returns from Masters with amazing memories

It’s back to reality Friday for Neal Shipley.

A week after playing in the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, Shipley, a Mt. Lebanon native and Central Catholic graduate, will be leading the Ohio State Buckeyes golf team at the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate tournament at Ohio State’s Scarlet course.

But his first appearance at the Masters was full of lifetime memories.

He was low amateur in the tournament, which earned him the prestigious Silver Cup. He is the second Ohio State amateur to win the Silver Cup. The other was Jack Nicklaus in 1960.

He was paired with some legendary golfers, including Tiger Woods during the final round, and he witnessed the green jacket ceremony in Butler Cabin.

“Playing with Tiger was an amazing experience,” Shipley said. “We talked a lot about golf and golf courses through the day. He even mentioned Oakmont.

“He was very nice to me, and I really appreciated that. It was a day I will cherish forever. He was great to me out there, and to have all the patrons out there rooting both of us on was phenomenal.”

Shipley, 22, shot a 1-under-par 71 during Round 1 and a 4-over 76 in Round 2 to qualify for the final two rounds.

His first shot of the tournament ended up deep in the woods to the right of the fairway. But he recovered and made par.

He shot 80 on Saturday but rallied to shoot a 1-over 73 in the final round Sunday. He finished tied for 53rd at 12-over, ahead of Woods.

“This week is going to be one of the best weeks in my life and something I’ll remember forever, especially playing with Tiger,” Shipley said.

Shipley qualified for the Masters by placing second in the 2023 U.S. Amateur. And while low amateur in the 2024 Masters doesn’t earn an invite back, his U.S. Amateur finish earned him a spot in the U.S. Open on June 10-16 at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s Course No. 2 in Pinehurst, N.C.

“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,” 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 that are on the PGA Tour.”

Because he is an amateur, Shipley won’t receive prize money from his finish at the Masters. There are other benefits, however.

He has earned an exemption to play in PGA Tour Monday qualifiers, and at PGA Tour Q-school he gets to skip Stage 1 and go straight to Stage 2.

“Being low amateur, in my opinion, is one of the biggest honors for a young amateur,” Shipley said. “I was very happy with my final round. I played well in difficult conditions.”