Neal Shipley earns low amateur honors at 124th U.S. Open days before turning pro

PINEHURST, N.C. – Neal Shipley is now the second player in the last quarter-century to earn low amateur honors at the same year’s Masters and U.S. Open, joining Viktor Hovland in 2019. He did so in his final week as an amateur, and after calling a two-stroke penalty on himself in Saturday’s third round, where the ball moved after he set his club behind the ball.

All’s well that ends well for Shipley, who played three years at James Madison before two seasons at Ohio State. He carded rounds of 70-73-71-72 at Pinehurst No. 2 for a 6-over total, clipping his Sunday playing partner Luke Clanton (a rising Florida State junior) by two strokes for low amateur honors. Clanton had a 5-footer for birdie at No. 18 to match Shipley, but it slid 4 feet past and he missed the comebacker.

In his final week as an amateur, Shipley lived a kid’s dream at Pinehurst. Now he’ll celebrate with his family (who cheered throughout his post-round press conference Sunday), pack up and head to western Canada for his debut on PGA TOUR Americas next week.

“It’s really an honor to win the low amateur here, and especially at Pinehurst,” Shipley said afterward. “It’s a really special place, and just really excited about being in the ceremony later today. It’s been wild; it’s something that maybe three, four years ago I didn’t think was possible, and to accomplish all this has just been phenomenal. Just the stuff of dreams really, as an amateur, to do everything I’ve done. I think I’ve checked all the boxes now.”

Shipley’s arc should inspire amateur golfers across the globe. He qualified for this year’s Masters and U.S. Open with a runner-up at the 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills (Colorado), falling to Nick Dunlap in the final match. The Pittsburgh-area native wasn’t a highly sought-after junior recruit and took a few years to hit his stride in college. He finished No. 48 on the 2024 PGA TOUR University Ranking, well outside the top 25 to earn status on a TOUR-sanctioned circuit. He displayed grit by qualifying for PGA TOUR Americas via Q-School just one week before the U.S. Open, surviving a 9-for-1 playoff at the California site.

Between there and Pinehurst, he stopped at a friend’s wedding in Dallas.

“Been kind of going around the country and a lot of long flights,” Shipley said, “but lucky that I’m young and can handle all that still.”

Others to finish as low amateur at both the Masters and U.S. Open since 1990 include Phil Mickelson (1991) and Matt Kuchar (1998); the list also includes Jack Nicklaus and Ken Venturi among others. It’s a more and more impressive feat in the game’s modern era, as advanced instruction and equipment makes it harder for players to separate.

The Shipley-Clanton Sunday pairing marked just the second time in the last 40 years (Rickie Fowler and Derek Fathauer, 2008 at Torrey Pines) that two amateurs were paired on a U.S. Open Sunday. Seven years later, Fowler and Fathauer met again in the final group on a Sunday, at the 2015 PLAYERS, where Fowler notched a dramatic victory. Perhaps a few years down the road, Shipley and Clanton will meet again on the game’s biggest stage as well.