Masters Tournament: Amateur Neil Shipley is paired with Tiger Woods in the final round

Follow the presentation of the distinguished groups, in addition to a continuous broadcast of the event in the Amen Corner, via the webcast on the page RDS.ca.

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Neil Shipley will be able to boast two things after the 2024 Masters: being the only amateur to make it through the weekend's rounds and, above all, being paired with Tiger Woods during the Sunday session.

On Thursday, Shipley scored an impressive 71 points, one below par. This performance was good enough to allow him to participate in the weekend rounds. But the 23-year-old golfer struggled in the following days, serving plus-4 and plus-8 cards on Friday and Saturday respectively.

Shipley played 80 games on Saturday, which is not at all satisfactory. After making double bogey on the 18th, the amateur headed straight to the practice range. A few minutes later, the owner of the box came to see him to tell him the good news.

“Guess who we're pairing up with tomorrow?” asked his friend and bearer, Carter Pitkaren.

“No, not the tiger!” replied an excited Shipley.

As the Masters approached, Shipley surprised his old friend by asking him to be his caddy for the tournament. An event the two will not soon forget. After completing the second hole and throughout the round, Woods took a moment to walk next to the two young men and chat with them.

“We talked about golf, about Charlie (his son), about normal things,” Shipley explained in a press conference on Sunday. He's a pretty ordinary guy when you think about it. He was generous with us all day. It was great to experience this moment and see all the attention it was getting. »

Neil Shipley and Tiger Woods

The Ohio State University golfer qualified for the prestigious tournament last summer after finishing second at the U.S. Amateur Championship.

Shipley scored 72 points on Sunday. In the evening, he will receive the award for the best amateur in the tournament.