Amateur wins 119th West Penn Open
Central Catholic graduate shrugs off double-bogey start to final round
The day did not begin the way Neal Shipley envisioned, not when he yanked his opening tee shot in the final round out of bounds and made double bogey. Oh well.
Nervous? Yes. Un-nerved? Not really.
“I’ve done that enough now that, unfortunately, it’s part of the game,” said Shipley, a 21year-old amateur who plays out of St. Clair Country Club. “You just step back and focus on hitting a good one on the second one.”
Shipley hit plenty of good ones after that. He followed his opening gaffe with a birdie at the second hole and an eagle at the par-5 third hole and never looked back. When he was done, his final-round 67 on Wednesday was good for a two-shot victory over Valley Brook mini-tour player Alec Stopperich in the 119th West Penn Open at the Club at Nevillewood.
Shipley, a Central Catholic graduate who has transferred from James Madison to Ohio State, finished at 8-under 208, two shots clear of Stopperich (69) and three ahead of TriState Open champ Brett Young and former two-time West Penn Open champ Mike Van Sickle (69).
It was Shipley’s third consecutive victory in a West Penn Golf Association event in which he was entered, dating to 2021.
“I know I have a game that can stand up against just about anybody,” he said. “It’s just about putting shots together. I knew I was going to have make some birdies and I made some eagles. Those eagles helped a lot.”
In addition to making eagle at the 553-yard third hole — he hit a 7-iron from 205 yards to 5 feet — Shipley also eagled the 555-yard 15th when he holed an unlikely 60-foot putt from behind the flagstick. “That was a nice bonus,” he said.
It capped an 18-hole stretch in which Shipley, who closed the second round with three consecutive birdies, was 8-under par. And that included his double bogey to start the day.
Shipley has played in the West Penn Open twice before, finishing tied for 31st in 2020 and 27th in 2018 when the championship was at Oakmont Country Club. Shipley said his performance at Oakmont enabled him to get a scholarship to James Madison, where he played the past three seasons. But, after earning his degree in three years, he has transferred to Ohio State and has two more years of eligibility.
“To win in a pro event, you have a lot of great players out here,” Shipley said. “It’s a real accomplishment. There so many good players it’s hard to win.”