As Neal Shipley rode back to the clubhouse following his semifinal win at last summer’s U.S. Amateur, he realized the opportunity he had just earned with that accomplishment.
The top two finishes of each year’s U.S. Amateur are invited to The Masters, giving the Ohio State senior the coveted chance to play in golf’s most storied tournament.
“The USGA guys pull me out to go do some media up the hill at the clubhouse, and it kind of hit me going up the hill and I turn around to my caddy (his childhood friend Carter Pitcairn, who plays at Wisconsin), we’re in the cart, he's in the back and I’m like, ‘Hey Carter, we just got a tee time at effing Augusta National,’” Shipley said. “So that was very eloquent of me in that moment, but that was kind of when it hit.”
Shipley has been watching The Masters since he was a young child, but now, he gets to live out the dream of playing in it as one of five amateurs in this year’s field.
“I think everyone who grows up playing golf competitively or at any level kind of dreams about playing at Augusta or competing in the Masters,” Shipley said. “So certainly living out one of my childhood dreams. I've heard so much about the week and how special it is, and I'm just really excited to experience it and experience the Masters and everything that it represents for our game.”
Qualifying for The Masters allowed Shipley to play numerous practice rounds at Augusta National over the past several months before this week’s tournament, and each trip to the highly exclusive golf club made him recognize the gravity of the opportunity even more.
“It really hasn't felt real until these last couple of visits and starting to see the grandstands get put up, the scoreboards,” Shipley said during an interview at the Ohio State Golf Club in March. “My first trip, none of that was up. So you start to kind of realize like ‘Man, this is really happening.’”
“I think everyone who grows up playing golf competitively or at any level kind of dreams about playing at Augusta or competing in the Masters. So certainly living out one of my childhood dreams.”– Neal Shipley on the opportunity to play in The Masters
As excited as Shipley is to play in The Masters, he’s trying not to put too much pressure on himself entering the tournament. Even though he’ll be playing against the best golfers in the world, he is confident in his ability to compete with them by just playing the game the way he knows how.
“What I’ve tried to focus on during competition, when you have added pressure because of outside factors, is just kind of zoning back on – you know, acknowledge those thoughts, but then kind of turn your focus back to what’s happening in the moment,” Shipley said. “Just focus on the golf shot at hand and kind of really get zoned in on that. Because at the end of the day, if you can hit every shot out there and are really committed to your process, there’s going to be no regrets on the result, just because of that commitment. And then, you’re bound to play better golf.”
The player who defeated Shipley in the U.S. Amateur final, former Alabama golfer Nick Dunlap, became a PGA TOUR winner in January when he defeated a field full of the tour’s top players at The American Express. Knowing that Dunlap was in the same position Shipley was in less than a year ago gives Shipley added confidence in his ability to go head-to-head with the world’s best golfers.
“It gives me a ton of confidence, especially moving forward in my professional career, knowing that when I'm playing good golf, I can beat pretty much anyone out there in the world,” Shipley said. “A lot of it in the professional ranks is about just kind of timing it up, like just playing good at the right times, like Nick did. So it's just, there's that next step. It's just about staying patient but carrying that confidence with me that I can compete and definitely carrying it with me at Augusta. Because I know if I play well, those guys on tour, they're not perfect, and they don't always hit good golf shots. There's no secret sauce. It's just hard work, and just grinding it out, really.”
THE SHOT! THE SPIN! THE SHIP! @OhioStateMGOLF's Neal Shipley has punched his ticket to the #USAmateur championship match! pic.twitter.com/O9rX9VHn5X
— USGA (@USGA) August 19, 2023
Shipley has had the opportunity to consult with multiple Masters champions leading up to this week’s tournament, including the winningest player in Masters history, six-time champion and Ohio State legend Jack Nicklaus. He’s also been able to lean on his Ohio State teammate Maxwell Moldovan for advice on what it’s like playing in a major, as Moldovan has twice played in the U.S. Open, making the cut last year.
Moldovan’s advice to Shipley has been to stay focused on golf and playing each shot rather than allowing himself to get distracted by everything that comes with playing in a major.
“Just kind of staying in your process, and just taking what the golf course gives you,” Shipley said of what Moldovan has told him. “I think your first time at a big event like that, it can be overwhelming … Especially because there's so many other distractions when you're at a major. You have media all over you, all the people, you're gonna have sponsors or partners just kind of pulling you every which way and just having the power to say no and stay focused on the schedule and just kind of just go through it like a normal week.”
Shipley’s preparation to play in The Masters has come amid playing his final season as a Buckeye. A fifth-year senior who transferred to Ohio State in 2022 after three years at James Madison, he has been the Buckeyes’ top player this season with a scoring average of 70.33. He’s earned five top-20 finishes in eight events, including four top-10s and three top-fives, headlined by a first-place finish at the Southwestern Invitational, where he also led OSU to the team title.
Neal Shipley is Ohio State’s top scorer for the 2023-24 season with a total score to par of -34. (Photo: Ohio State Dept. of Athletics)
As eager as Shipley has been to play in The Masters, he says he hasn’t allowed that to distract him from his collegiate competition. Beyond the motivation of wanting to play well for his team, Shipley is also looking to improve his standing in the PGA TOUR University rankings. Shipley currently ranks 50th in those standings; he’ll need to climb into the top 20 by the end of the season to earn membership in PGA TOUR Americas (the PGA’s third-tier tour).
Only the top 10 players in the rankings earn membership on the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour and only the first-place finisher earns a PGA TOUR card.
“I've been trying to treat the season like any other season,” Shipley said. “The preparation for The Masters, obviously, there's special things that go with it like these practice trips or just talking to guys about the golf course, just so I’m prepared. But for me, this final season is about just trying to make sure I’m ready to go for each tournament and completely prepared and focused on it. Especially when I get on the property of whatever tournament we're at, I'm not thinking about Augusta, I'm thinking about what's at hand that week, because a lot of that matters for me and my PGA TOUR U ranking.
“With the season I had last season and just kind of my development in the last 12 months, my PGA TOUR ranking really isn't where I'd like it to be. But if we can finish really strong here, I’d still have a chance. And then if you're just getting prepared as well as possible each week, my game’s gonna be ready for April. So that was my thought on it.”
Shipley says his experiences at both James Madison and Ohio State have helped him get to where he is now. He believes his time at JMU, which doesn’t have its own golf course, taught him “how to be a grinder and work really hard and work with the resources you have.” Ohio State, though, has given Shipley the resources to take his game to the next level.
“The resources that they give student-athletes, it's just absolutely unbelievable,” Shipley said of Ohio State. “I think a lot of the guys here who have been here for four years might not really realize all the opportunities that you have … And a lot of it comes from just having great support from donors and the athletic department in general. I think the fans and donors at Ohio State are probably second to none. They’re awesome.”
Given that The Masters will be his first time playing in a professional tournament, Shipley enters Thursday’s first round as an underdog. He’s one of six Masters participants with 5,000-1 odds to win – the longest among all players in the field – on DraftKings Sportsbook. But Shipley believes he has the game to make some noise in Augusta this week.
“I think it fits my game really well,” Shipley said of Augusta National. “It really favors a guy who hits great iron shots and is a really good driver of the golf ball. Putting is really important there. But bottom line is you have to hit a lot of greens to score. So I think it fits my game in that way.
“Some golf courses definitely hand themselves to certain types of games. But I feel like my game is really well-balanced and that there's no glaring weakness. I can work the ball both ways. And in general, when you hit the ball well, you can go play well anywhere. And I feel like my ball striking is right up there with some of the guys on tour.”
Shipley will tee off at 11:30 a.m. for Thursday’s first round and will take the course at 8:24 a.m. Friday for the second round, with the top 50 players plus ties making the cut for the weekend. ESPN will televise coverage of The Masters from 3-7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday while CBS will broadcast live from the tournament 3-7 p.m. Saturday and 2-7 p.m. Sunday.
