Neal Shipley’s impressive start to his professional golf career continued this weekend at the PGA TOUR’s ISCO Championship, where he finished at 20-under-par – two strokes behind the score he would have needed to make the playoff for the win – to tie for sixth place.
The former Ohio State golfer has now made the cut in four of his first five PGA tournaments. After tying for 53rd at The Masters and tying for 26th at the U.S. Open to earn low amateur honors in both majors, Shipley tied for 20th in his first official PGA TOUR start at the Rocket Mortgage Classic two weeks ago.
While Shipley is currently a member of PGA TOUR Americas, the PGA’s third-tier tour behind the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour, he has received sponsors’ exemptions to play on the PGA TOUR for each of the last three weeks. He missed the cut at the John Deere Classic last weekend before bouncing back with his top-10 finish at this weekend’s tournament in Kentucky.
The ISCO Championship was one of two tournaments co-sanctioned by the PGA TOUR this weekend along with the Scottish Open, where most of the tour’s top players competed this weekend in preparation for The Open Championship next weekend. While Shipley is not in the field for The Open, he will play on the PGA TOUR for a fourth straight week next weekend as he has received a sponsors’ exemption into the Barracuda Championship, another alternate event co-sanctioned by the PGA TOUR.