Former Masters, U.S. Open low amateur mounts major comeback to win Korn Ferry Tour event

USA Today

15-07-2025

The annual Korn Ferry Tour event at TPC Colorado may have helped set the stage for a new PGA Tour star.
Rising pro golfer Neal Shipley put together the largest final round comeback in the event's history, firing an opening-nine 29 en route to a final-round 64 (8-under) to win The Ascendant presented by Blue on July 13.
Shipley earned his second KFT win this year, finishing at 18-under par to all but lock up a spot on the PGA Tour next season.
What a way to do it, too.
Trailing by seven shots through three rounds, the low amateur at the 2024 Masters and U.S. Open came out hot on a sweltering summer day in Berthoud.
Shipley birdied his first three holes and four of the first five before eagling the par-4 sixth and finishing with another birdie on No. 9 for a remarkable front-side 29.
That instantly vaulted him atop the leaderboard heading into the back nine. That's because 54-hole leader Ross Steelman faltered with a first-nine 40 and final-group partner Kevin Dougherty couldn't muster enough birdies in a closing 69.
Shipley cooled off coming home, surviving a double-bogey on the mammoth 773-yard par-5 13th hole to card a back-nine 35.
With a birdie (and a vigorous fist pump to punctuate it) on the 18th hole, he was in at 18-under.
But since he was in the fifth-to-last group nearly an hour before the leaders, Shipley had to await the final pairings for nearly an hour.
While Dougherty and Jorge Fernández Valdés had chances, neither could birdie any of the final three holes at TPC Colorado to finish in a tie for second at 17-under.
Shipley entered the event 10th in the Korn Ferry Tour standings this season. Three-time winners or top-20 finishers at season's end are guaranteed a promotion to the PGA Tour.
The former Ohio State standout shouldn't have to worry about that now. After this win and his April triumph at the LECOM Suncoast Classic, Shipley is up to fourth on the KFT points list and in commanding position to earn his tour card.
KFT money and points leader Austin Smotherman finished in a tie for fourth at 14-under, along with Steelman, Zach Bauchou, Cooper Dossey and Pierceson Coody.
Former Ascendant champion Zecheng Dou (2022 winner) tied for 12th at 11-under. Local favorite Tom Whitney, an Air Force Academy graduate and former Fort Collins resident, led after 36 holes but faltered over the weekend and finished tied for 37th at 7-under par.
Shipley's grand finale was indicative of a rollercoaster week at TPC Colorado. Despite his impressive final round, his four-round total of 17-under (270) marked the first time in The Ascendant's seven editions that the 72-hole event scoring record wasn't set or matched.
Not that it will matter much to Shipley, a popular winner well known among golf fans after his amateur success last year at Augusta National and Pinehurst No. 2 in major championships.
It's not hard to envision the 24-year-old rapidly ascending in the PGA ranks like Will Zalatoris, the 2020 TPC Colorado champ who parlayed that success to three runner-up finishes and seven top-10 finishes at major championships from 2020 to 2022.
Here are all seven winners to date in The Ascendant at TPC Colorado:
Chris Abshire covers high school and community sports for the Coloradoan, part of the USA Today Network.