Fiercely competitive Central Catholic grad Neal Shipley makes cut in Masters debut

Central Catholic graduate Neal Shipley stepped onto the tee box at the first hole at Augusta National — a 445-yard par-4 named “Tea Olive” — about to embark on the most high-profile round of his golfing career Thursday afternoon.

He promptly launched his drive deep into the woods to the right of the fairway.

“I was so nervous,” Shipley told TribLive on Friday evening. “I heard my name announced, which was really cool. Luckily, I recovered. I punched out into a greenside bunker and got up and down for par. It was a memorable first shot, but recovering and making par set me up. It calmed me down.”

With his nerves soothed, the 22-year-old fifth-year senior at Ohio State proceeded to make the cut at The Masters after shooting a two-day score of 3-over 147. He followed a 1-under par 71 Thursday with a 4-over 76 in windy conditions Friday.

“I played pretty well,” Shipley said. “Friday was brutal because of the winds. I think the average score was 75.”

Shipley earned the coveted Silver Cup as the tournament’s low-scoring amateur. He was the only amateur to make the cut.

“Playing Augusta is like playing around Pittsburgh, very hilly,” the Mt. Lebanon native said. “So I was prepared. The course is unbelievable. Now the goal is to keep playing well.”

One supporter who isn’t surprised by Shipley’s success in Augusta is his high school golf coach, Corey O’Connor.

After leading the Vikings to the 2016 PIAA boys golf championship, O’Connor explained that he put Shipley in the team’s No. 1 slot “because he likes to battle good golfers.”

“I think this (week) shows it rings true,” O’Connor said Friday. “He likes competing against the best, and, obviously, this is the best in the world.

“That gets you to where you’re standing on the first tee at Augusta. You want to compete. You are not afraid of it.”

O’Connor, who saw Shipley help his Central Catholic teams win three WPIAL and two PIAA championships, watched first-hand Friday as he was competitive with some of the sport’s legends of the past and biggest stars of today.

“He’s kind of found a good rhythm this week,” said Jay Moseley, the men’s golf coach at Ohio State, where Shipley is in his second season. “And the strengths of his game are his driving and his putting. He loves fast greens, so it’s no surprise to see him thriving on those really quick surfaces in Augusta.

“And he believes in himself as much as anyone I have ever been around.”

One of the golf legends Shipley met in Augusta was 2000 Masters champion Vijay Singh. Watching Singh win the 2004 PGA Championship on television with his father as a young boy was a pivotal moment in his golfing career.

“The next day, I took his golf clubs over, which were dusty and probably never used, and started swinging around,” Shipley told reporters in Augusta. “I decided to get me my own little set and kind of took off from there. I kind of credit Vijay for getting me into it, which is pretty cool and I think a different story.”

Shipley met Singh before a practice round at Augusta National this week. For rounds both Thursday and Friday, he was paired with another former Masters winner, Mike Weir (2003).

“Mike Weir’s caddie asked me, coming up 18, ‘How did you get to know the golf course so quickly?’ ” Shipley said Friday. “Well, I just took some good notes, and also talking to Jack Nicklaus doesn’t hurt.”

Shipley said Nicklaus offered “really good stuff … little tidbits for every hole.”

Central Catholic grad Carter Pitcairn, a sophomore at Wisconsin, is also offering tidbits of advice as Shipley’s caddie.

Because he is an amateur, Shipley won’t receive any prize money after qualifying for the weekend. There are other benefits, however.

He has earned an exemption to play in PGA Tour Monday qualifiers, and at PGA Tour Q-school, he gets to skip Stage 1 and go straight to Stage 2.

“Even though I won’t earn a paycheck for advancing to the final two rounds, there are other perks,” Shipley said. “Now that I made it to the weekend, the goal is to play well and climb up the leaderboard.”