Neal Shipley has earned his PGA TOUR card and is the last player to play with Tiger Woods during the final Masters round at Augusta National in 2024
16:17 ET, 13 Oct 2025Updated 16:19 ET, 13 Oct 2025
Upcoming PGA TOUR star was last person to play with Woods during Masters 2024(Image: Getty Images)
Neal Shipley climbed his way up the leaderboard at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship over the weekend, but it probably wasn’t the most nervy round of his young career.
The 24-year-old Shipley happens to be the last person to play alongside Tiger Woods at Augusta National, paring with the legend for the final round of the 2024 Masters. Over the weekend, Shipley made a run for the Three-Victory promotion, which grants immediate PGA Tour Status to three-time winners in a Korn Ferry Tour season, but fell just short with a T2 finish.
Shipley, however, already clinched earning a PGA Tour card for 2026 in August, thanks to both of his wins at LECOM Suncoast Classic in April and The Ascendant presented by Blue in July.
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Shipley is one of 20 players joining the PGA Tour from the Korn Ferry Tour for 2026, but he is the only one who can say he played with Woods during his final Masters round. Shipley was the runner-up at the 2023 US Amateur Championship and then found himself playing alongside Woods during the final round at Augusta National last year.
After a round at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship this weekend, he commented on those moments for him and when he realized he was just as good as others.
“I think before my experience at the Masters and U.S. Open last year, I didn’t know if I was good enough,” Shipley said Friday.
PGA Tour star Neal Shipley was last person to play with Tiger Woods in final round of 2024 Masters
“And then after I played those two events and a few events on tour, I kind of found out that these guys are superhuman. They’re really good at golf, but I’m almost as good as they are.”
Shipley and Woods chatted about various topics during their time together at the Masters, and Shipley said that Woods was just another average guy.
“We talked a lot about just golf, Charlie and just normal things. He’s such a normal guy and really cool,” said Shipley after the 2024 Masters.
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Shipley is preparing for the PGA Tour and talked about what he needs to work on after his round on Friday.
“I learned a lot about what I needed to improve on.
Shipley earns PGA Tour card and was also last person to play with Woods at final round of Masters
“I’m really excited about next year where I feel like a lot of those courses suit me really well. They’re difficult, tough tracks, and I like playing hard golf courses,” added Shipley.