14 April 2024 , 19:56
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Neal Shipley could scarcely believe it when he found out he would be partnering Tiger Woods wearing his Sunday red for their fourth and final round at the Masters.
The 23-year-old, who finished runner-up to Nick Dunlap at the 2023 US Amateur Championship, heralds from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And on Sunday he got the chance to walk side-by-side with 15-time major winner Woods at Augusta National.
Woods laboured once again, shooting 77 and finishing the tournament 16-over. Shipley, however, had a better day of it and handed in a scorecard of 73. Both players could be seen talking at times. And after a mighty fine tee shot on the 16th from the amateur, both he and Woods walked together up to the green.
Speaking after the round, naturally much of the focus was on how he found playing with Woods - and he opened up with how he found out.
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After a round of 80, disappointed with his performance on Saturday, Shipley went to the range to put in some work. That's when he was told. "We went quickly to the practice facility to get some work in," he said. "My caddie came up to me and said, 'Hey, guess who we are going to be paired with tomorrow?'
"I was just like, 'No way it's Tiger.' And he said, 'Yeah.' "I got pretty excited, and that's when the emotions turned around."
Pushed for what he talked about with Woods, Shipley said much of the conversation was quite casual. "We talked a lot about just golf, Charlie and just normal things. He's such a normal guy and really cool.
"He was great to me all day. Couldn't be more appreciative of him just being awesome today, and it was just really cool to be around him and just the attention he gets and the roars. The crowds were phenomenal."
Tiger Woods and Neal Shipley chatted quite often during their round (Getty Images)Shipley wasn't taking any chances and introduce himself prior to the round and opened up a little more on the conversation they shared.
"Yeah, I went over to Tiger to introduce myself. I saw his caddie, Lance, earlier in the week. I went up to talk to them and just say "Hi" and on the putting green got to talk to Charlie a little bit. I had seen Charlie around at Old Palm and a few places. So cool to reconnect with those guys.
" I definitely think it's one of my more relaxed rounds of the week. I think Tiger made me feel really welcomed. I mean, he was cool, chatting it up. Just kind of a cool, like, casual round with Tiger, you know, other than you're here at the Masters.
"We started talking about golf courses and started talking about Oakmont. And it was kind of funny. He's like, 'Yeah I like the old Oakmont with trees.' I was like, 'I'm not old enough to remember that Oakmont'."