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Ohio State golfer Neal Shipley found himself in an unreal Masters scenario this weekend after being paired with Tiger Woods. The duo finished out their respective tournaments in the same group on Sunday afternoon.
Shipley was the only amateur to make the cut this season, joining Buckeye great Jack Nicklaus as the only school members to be named low-am!
He got off to a hot start on Thursday, finishing one-under in Round 1.
A +4 on Friday led to a fall down the leaderboard, but it was good enough to make the cut. He entered Sunday at +11, and no matter what the scorecard read come day’s end, he’d have a story to tell.
Not only did he pair with Tiger Woods, but Neal Shipley actually outperformed the legend at Augusta National Golf Club in his final round.
Shipley shot one-over on Sunday, besting Tiger’s +5.
Neal Shipley is a grad student at Ohio State and the only amateur who made the cut at the Masters.
His caddie is one of his good high school friends.
Today, the two are spending Sunday at Augusta with their pairing: Tiger Woods.
How cool is this 🥹
pic.twitter.com/y7HinlpZGz— Stingr Golf (@StingrGolf) April 14, 2024
He was able to reflect on the experience with the media after wrapping up that final round.
Things got awkward in that Neal Shipley presser.
The questioning at the start of the press conference was typical. Shipley was asked about the unexpected scenario of not only making the cut and winning low-am honors, but also playing alongside Tiger Woods.
“I definitely think it’s one of my more relaxed rounds of the week,” he said on Sunday. “I think Tiger made me feel really welcomed… He’s such a normal guy, and really cool. He was great to me all day.”
Then, things got awkward.
His final question of the day alluded to the insinuation that Woods had slipped Shipley a note during play, which he quickly denied.
Really weird sequence pic.twitter.com/SLkbAiTnAN
— Matt Graeff (@mattgraeffgolf) April 14, 2024
“I saw on one fairway, [Tiger] wrote something and handed you a note,” the reporter began. “What was that about?”
Caught off-guard, Shipley turned to an official in silence before answering.
“No, he didn’t. That didn’t happen.”
The presser then ended.
It was an interesting end to what’s been an otherwise incredible weekend. I’m sure the reporter was just hoping to gain insight on a cool interaction that happened between Woods and Shipley, but he certainly didn’t get the answer he expected!