MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 14, 2024

Neal Shipley

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to welcome Neal Shipley to the interview room for the first time. Neal, thank you for joining us. You enjoyed quite the week here at Augusta National, finishing as low amateur and playing alongside Tiger Woods today in the final round. What will be some of your lasting memories from this week?

NEAL SHIPLEY: Definitely just enjoying the amateur dinner and just the hospitality of all the members. They have been amazing this week to all of us, and just really appreciate the membership in general for having us here. It's been wonderful.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. I'll open it up to some questions.

Q. I know you've had an amazing week here, and you've still got the ceremony later, but is there a little tiny part of you that's kind of sad it's over?

NEAL SHIPLEY: Definitely. You know, playing with Tiger, Sunday at the Masters, the whole week, I think I have to win one of these things to kind of top this week. Definitely been a dream week, but looking forward to being out here soon hopefully.

Q. Obviously you are at Ohio State now, but before that you were at James Madison and kind of an unknown player in college golf. Can you describe what it's like to go from that guy a couple years ago or a few years ago to now, one of the best players in the country and low amateur at the Masters?

NEAL SHIPLEY: It's certainly been quite the journey. You know, it's been a lot of hard work put into that. And, you know, there's been a lot of lows along the journey, but I've been really proud of myself of how I've rolled with the punches throughout the years and kept working and striving for goals like this. Seeing all that hard work pay off has been unbelievable.

Q. What do you think was the biggest punch you faced?

NEAL SHIPLEY: Oh, gosh. I mean, one that was really tough after I made the U.S. Amateur in '21 at Oakmont and missed the cut there and went to qualifying and missed qualifying for the travel squad for our first tournament at James Madison. That was a pretty big blow for me.

You know, kind of got right back to it. But, you know, been a grinder for a long time. I've always known that I was talented and could compete, but I just needed to get my game where it should be. Just been working really hard at it, and I feel like making the cut out here in those tough conditions shows that I belong out here and can compete with these guys.

Q. You doubled the last hole yesterday. I imagine you were not super happy walking off. How quickly did you realize it was possible to play with Tiger? And what was it like out there? He seemed to be pretty chatty with you.

NEAL SHIPLEY: Yeah, obviously shooting 80 is never fun. Especially ending with a double. I wasn't too pleased after the round.

We went quickly to the practice facility to get some work in. 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.

You know, today being out there with Tiger, we were chatting. 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.

Q. Did you sleep last night? Did you eat?

NEAL SHIPLEY: I mean, we got some good sleep in last night. We were not too close to the lead, so I wasn't too nervous. But when we got here this morning and saw Tiger on the range, it was like, oh, my gosh, this is actually happening.

It was really cool.

Q. When you went out to the range, was that you going -- did he come over to you?

NEAL SHIPLEY: 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.

Q. The crowd seemed to gravitate towards you. We saw that at the U.S. Am and I think again this week. Why do you think that is?

NEAL SHIPLEY: Normal-looking dude with long hair. I don't really look like most golfers I think. I think I just have a great attitude on the golf course. I kind of show my emotion, and I think that's kind of why people like me.

Q. Did you stay in the Crow's Nest? What was that experience like if you did?

NEAL SHIPLEY: Yeah, I stayed on Monday night with Christo and Jasper up there. It was really cool to experience being out there with those two guys. It's a tight little room up there, but it was just really cool. We kind of watched the National Championship basketball game and got to hang out.

It was awesome.

Q. You basically got to live out a dream that just about any golfer in the world would kill for to be able to play a round with Tiger Woods. Did anything surprise you today? Just how comfortable you were in those conditions? Obviously huge crowds, but it seemed to be maybe one of your most relaxed rounds of the week, if that's true?

NEAL SHIPLEY: Yeah, 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.

Q. And what was one of the most random comments you had out there?

NEAL SHIPLEY: 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" (laughter).

Q. You have the U.S. Open coming up. What can you take from this week that you think will help you with your next major?

NEAL SHIPLEY: I think what's going to help me out a lot is just knowing that my game can compete out here and I don't need to do anything special to make cuts.

When I was just kind of doing my thing and not doing anything special, that was good enough to make the cut and compete out here and beat a lot of players that are on the PGA TOUR.

Q. Did you actually go in the transfer portal, and how did your buddy do as a caddie? Does he have much caddie experience?

NEAL SHIPLEY: Yeah, I was in the portal two years ago at James Madison and transferred to Ohio State. Finished my undergraduate at James Madison in three years and made that transition.

The question about my caddie, Carter is a childhood friend of mine. He's caddied here and there. He caddied for Austin Greaser in the U.S. Amateur at Oakmont. We had him in Cherry Hills at the semifinals because my caddie had a prior commitment and couldn't make it. That's a long story.

But, yeah, so this is kind of Carter's, you know, third time really caddying in a big tournament, and he has a lot of experience. But I think more importantly, he's a friendly face out there for me and kept me really comfortable all week.

Q. When Tiger was struggling today, did you find yourself rooting for him, and did you at all wish that you had caught him in his best at his prime?

NEAL SHIPLEY: I don't think anyone wants to catch Tiger at his best. No one is going to win when he's playing his best. Certainly rooting for him and rooting for good golf shots. He was awesome. Wish him nothing but the best.

I really appreciate all the work that he does to keep his body ready to come out here. He told me that he woke up at like 3:45 this morning just to get ready for the day, which is -- I got about three hours more sleep than him.

He's really grinding and making a big commitment to be out here for everyone. It's awesome to see the Patrons really appreciative of him and really enjoy having him out here.

Q. I saw on 8 fairway he wrote something and handed you a note. What was that about?

NEAL SHIPLEY: He didn't.

Q. I thought he wrote something and handed you a piece of paper?

NEAL SHIPLEY: No, no. That didn't happen.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for your time. Good luck and congratulations on a wonderful week.

NEAL SHIPLEY: Thank you very much. Appreciate you all.