Neal Shipley left Tiger Woods speechless by revealing how he was treated during their rounds together

Neal Shipley could scarcely believe it when he found out he would be partnering Tiger Woods wearing his Sunday red for their fourth and final round at the Masters.

The 23-year-old, who finished runner-up to Nick Dunlap at the 2023 US Amateur Championship, heralds from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

And on Sunday he got the chance to walk side-by-side with 15-time major winner Woods at Augusta National.

Woods laboured once again, shooting 77 and finishing the tournament 16-over. Shipley, however, had a better day of it and handed in a scorecard of 73. Both players could be seen talking at times.

And after a mighty fine tee shot on the 16th from the amateur, both he and Woods walked together up to the green.

Speaking after the round, naturally much of the focus was on how he found playing with Woods – and he opened up with how he found out.

After a round of 80, disappointed with his performance on Saturday, Shipley went to the range to put in some work. That’s when he was told. “We went quickly to the practice facility to get some work in,” he said. “My caddie came up to me and said, ‘Hey, guess who we are going to be paired with tomorrow?’

“I was just like, ‘No way it’s Tiger.’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’ “I got pretty excited, and that’s when the emotions turned around.”

Pushed for what he talked about with Woods, Shipley said much of the conversation was quite casual. “We talked a lot about just golf, Charlie and just normal things. He’s such a normal guy and really cool.

“He was great to me all day. Couldn’t be more appreciative of him just being awesome today, and it was just really cool to be around him and just the attention he gets and the roars. The crowds were phenomenal.”