Ohio State alum Neal Shipley finishes runner-up at 123rd US Amateur

It has been a great summer of amateur golf for recent Ohio State graduate Neal Shipley, who just put an exclamation mark on it with a runner-up finish at the 123rd U.S. Amateur Championship at Cherry Hills Country Club in Cherry Hills Village, Colo.

Shipley made a run to the final match of the Championship, ultimately losing to Alabama standout Nick Dunlap.

At the U.S. Amateur, the field starts with 312 golfers and, after 36 holes of stroke play, is cut to 64 golfers for a round of 64 match play.

Shipley finished 1-under through the 36-hole stroke play portion and tied for 38th place. He was the No. 47 seed. He defeated the 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur Champion, Wenyi Ding. He then defeated Calum Scott of Scotland in 20 holes in the Round of 32.

Shipley beat Cooper Jones in the Round of 16 and Andi Xu in the Quarterfinals. He defeated John Marshall Butler 2 and 1 in the Semifinals to meet up with Dunlap in the 36-hole championship match.

However, even though they were tied after the first 18 holes, Dunlap won four of the next nine holes and pulled away from Shipley for good.

“You shoot 5-under [in the morning round], and you would think you’d be at least 1 or 2 up,” Shipley told the USGA. “Nick played great, and he just made a lot of putts on me this afternoon. That’s what it takes to win these things. He has what it takes, obviously, and I just didn’t really play my best. I got outdueled today.”

Maxwell Moldovan, another Ohio State standout, lost to Cooper Jones in the Round of 64 in 22 holes.

Moldovan and Shipley were named the first and second alternates on the 2023 United States Walker Cup team, set to take place from September 2-3, 2023, at the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland. It will be the 100th playing of the Walker Cup.

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