Who is Neal Shipley? All you need to know about Tiger Woods’ partner for the final round at 2024 Augusta

Modified Apr 14, 2024 11:31 GMT

Amateur Neal Shipley of the United States at The Masters - Round Three (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Neal Shipley will tee off with Tiger Woods in the final round at the 2024 Masters at 9:35 am ET on Sunday, April 14. Shipley, 22, became the only amateur to make the cut at the Augusta National Golf Club.

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Every year, the Augusta National Golf Club extends invitations to the top golf amateurs including the reigning U.S. Amateur champion and runner-up. It also invites the winners of the British Amateur, the Asia Pacific Amateur, the Latin America Amateur, and the U.S. Mid-Amateur from the previous year.

This year, five amateurs received the invitation to the 2024 Masters. The five amateurs and how they qualified for the Masters are:

Neal Shipley: 2023 U.S. Amateur runner-up
Santiago De La Fuente: Latin America Amateur champion
Jasper Stubbs: 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur champion
Christo Lamprecht: 2023 British Amateur champion
Stewart Hagestad: 2023 U.S Mid-Amateur champion

Neal Shipley, who has been partnered with Tiger Woods, is a graduate student at Ohio State University. Shipley was the runner-up to Nick Dunlap at the 2023 US Amateur tournament held at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado. The second position helped him get an invite to the iconic Augusta.

Before Ohio State, Shipley was at James Madison University, where he completed his degree in just three years in 2022. The 22-year-old amateur golfer pursued a quantitative finance degree supplemented with minors in math and economics. Shipley has also completed a master's degree in data analytics. He also won the 2022 Pennsylvania State Amateur at Llanerch Country Club.

According to the Ohio State Buckeyes website, Neal Shipley's achievements include a PING All-America Honorable Mention and an OSU Scholar-Athlete distinction. He performed consistently and had three runner-up finishes during the 2023 summer including the 2023 Trans-Mississippi Amateur and 2023 Sunnehanna Amateur. He had a fourth-place finish in the 2023 Elite Amateur Series.

Neal Shipley has been in great form in 2024 and won the individual title at the Southwestern Invitational with a 12 under par at the North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, Calif. He also led Ohio State to win the competition.

Neal Shipley's performance at the 2024 Masters

Neal Shipley got off to a promising start at the Augusta when he scored 1-under 71. He was positioned at T17 with three birdies, two bogeys, and 13 pars despite strong winds. He was partnered with Mike Weir and Ryo Hisatsune for the first two rounds.

On the second day, Neal Shipley started strongly with birdies on Holes 2 and 3. He had six bogeys bogeys on Holes 4, 7, 10, 12, 14, and 18 and a double bogey on Hole 11. He scored birdies on Holes 13 and 15. Shipley finished with a round of 76 with 3-over par as the cutline settled at 6-over par. He was positioned at T30 after the second day.

Neal Shipley is the only amateur to qualify for the weekend at the 2024 Masters. He has already clinched both the Silver Cup and the low amateur title at Augusta National.

He was paired with Patrick Cantlay for the third round. His third day didn't go as planned as he recorded an 8-over 80, bringing his total to 11-over and placing him at T52. Shipley has been partnered with Tiger Woods for the final round.

Scottie Scheffler leads the Masters scoreboard with seven under par after the end of the third round on Saturday. He is followed by Collin Morikawa and Max Homa who are six and five under par, respectively.

The other pairings with tee timings in E.T. for the final round are as follows: