Neal Shipley found another Pittsburgh native, Dan Koett, at the ISCO Championship this week. Koett is media relations director for the ISCO Championship.
Neal Shipley was the low amateur at the Masters as well as the U.S. Open this year after qualifying for both tournaments based on his runner-up finish at the 2023 U.S. Amateur.
Now Shipley, a Pittsburgh native who played three years at James Madison University before transferring to Ohio State, could now be on the verge of winning a PGA Tour event.
He shot a bogey-free, 6-under par 66 Saturday at the ISCO Championship at Champions at Keene Trace outside Nicholasville and trails leader Pierceson Coody going into today’s final round. Shipley is 18-under par after rounds of 67-65-66 and tied for fourth with Sam Bairstow and Johannes Veerman one shot behind Harry Hall and Rico Holey who are tied for second.
Shipley missed the cut at the John Deere Classic last week when amateur Luke Clanton, who is 12-under par and tied for 34th at the ISCO Championship, finished second.
Shipley is not going to let what might lie ahead today overwhelm him.
“I’m just trying to go out and play really good golf, take it one shot at a time. I know it’s really cliche. At the end of the day my career is going to be a marathon and not a sprint and whatever happens tomorrow isn’t going to define me, so I’m not too worried about it,” Shipley said after Saturday’s round.
Shipley said he “played really well” Saturday with a lot of good up-and-downs to save pars.
“Definitely need to work on a few things this afternoon to be sharp for tomorrow, but pretty happy with the round,” he said after his 66.
Shipley had to make an 8-foot par putt on the final hole after pulling his drive way left.
“I pride myself on being a really good ball striker, but if you look at the stats, I have one of the better short game’s out here and the scrambling percentage maybe hasn’t been as high as I wanted from putting this year, but we’ve been rolling the ball really well this week,” Shipley said. “I pride myself on getting up and down and playing some grimy, dirty golf when we have to.”
He also had an eagle on the par-five fifth hole that dramatically helped his round.
“Hit a really great drive there, got a huge bounce, ended up with like a pitching wedge in our hand, a touch downwind, maybe 160 (yards). Really hot so the ball’s flying. Hit a great one in there and just had a really good read on it and put it right in the center of the cup,” Shipley said.
Veteran PGA players like Lanto Griffin are already calling Shipley a star, something he admits is “great” to hear.
“From my performances thus far, I really feel like I belong out here and can play out here,” Shipley said. “My game’s really shown up and shown that I kind of belong. So it’s great to hear that from him (Griffin).
“I had a great day with him and he was awesome to play with, and got some good tidbits from him from a vet, some advice, so it’s great to play with him today.”
