Ohio State golfer Neal Shipley right in the hunt after first round of his first Masters
Ohio State golfer Neal Shipley believes he can hold his own against the best players in the world. On Thursday at the Masters, he proved it.
Shipley is tied for 17th after shooting a 1-under-par 71 in his first-ever competitive round at Augusta National Golf Club. He birdied holes 3, 7 and 13, bogeyed 5 and 15 and parred the rest. He is low amateur through the first 18 holes.
“Augusta fits my game well. It favors the guy who hits great iron shots and is really a good driver of the golf ball,” Shipley said last month in preparation for the Masters, which he qualified for by finishing runner-up at the U.S. Amateur last summer. “Putting is really important there, but the bottom line is you have to hit a lot of greens to score. I feel like my ball striking is right up there with some of the guys on tour.”
Such was not the case Thursday. The 23-year-old graduate student from Pittsburgh hit only eight of 18 greens in regulation, compared to 60% for the field, but his putting was top-notch, which runs counter to the conventional wisdom that Masters rookies struggle to read the undulating greens. Shipley needed 1.39 putts per hole, better than the field average of 1.64.
Shipley is playing the first two rounds with 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir and Ryo Hisatsune of Japan.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Masters Tournament rookie, Ohio State golfer Neal Shipley in the hunt
