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USA Today
20-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Don't let Neal Shipley's unpretentious vibe fool you — he's at Schwab Challenge to win
Don't let Neal Shipley's unpretentious vibe fool you — he's at Schwab Challenge to win Neal Shipley's devil-may-care approach to 18 holes can give the impression that the Ohio State product doesn't have a competitive temperament, that he's simply enjoying his walk around the golf course. For example, while en route to posting the low amateur round during the 2024 Masters, Shipley said repeatedly on "Full Swing" that his pairing with Tiger Woods was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but the final clip of this video from the Netflix show was a subtle reminder of his fire. " ... And I beat him," Shipley said. Shipley shined at Masters, U.S. Open Shipley, who hails from Pittsburgh but transferred to OSU, playing one season for the Buckeyes, gained notoriety by finishing as the low amateur at the 2024 Masters and U.S. Open. And he believes those experiences will help him plenty this week when he competes in the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. For his relaxed approach, Shipley has plenty of belief in his ability to compete with the world's best. "It's been massive knowing that I can compete at those biggest stages, so when I come out here, I know that I can beat most of the guys out here. I think that's something that a lot of young pros don't get out of college, so really grateful for those two experiences," he said. "I think, too, I learned a lot about how when we play really tough golf courses, my golf game is really suited for that. I'm excited for a really tough test this week, where you really have to have all of your game clicking to play well." Shipley currently fifth on Korn Ferry Tour Shipley, who was a recipient of the Champions' Choice selection, is currently ranked fifth on the Korn Ferry Tour and will earn his 2026 PGA Tour card if he finishes among the developmental tour's top 20 golfers. He also won his first pro tournament April 20, outlasting Seungtaek Lee in a five-hole playoff at the Korn Ferry Tour's LECOM SunCoast Classic at Lakewood National Golf Club in Lakewood Ranch, Florida. He also made the cut in the Valspar Championship in his only other Tour start this year. And as for the golf course, Shipley is impressed with the Gil Hanse redesign, something that gives all players a chance to compete for the title. "I think he did a phenomenal job with the golf course. I didn't get to see it before, but the way it presents right now is amazing. It definitely has a lot of that old-school characteristics with a lot of slopes in the greens even though they're small," he said. "I think it plays modern, though, where those slopes aren't so severe that you can't pin locations on the green. Hats off it him. Tee to green, it's phenomenal. Gives you a lot of options off the tee. You don't have to hit driver everywhere, but you certainly have the option to, which I think is great. If you hit great drives down the middle, it's going to reward you, but you can hit irons out there. I think that's reflected by the list of champions we have out here. "It's not always the longest players or the bombers. There's a lot of guys who dinked it around and were able to win here. So there's a big premium on iron play."
New York Times
15-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Scottie Scheffler's returning to form and remains the man to beat at the PGA Championship
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Randy Smith likes to joke that Scottie Scheffler, when on his game, does not need him much. Maybe a grip thought here and there. Perhaps a few swings to sharpen up. The 72-year-old coaching great, speaking in his Odessa, Texas, drawl, compared Scheffler's dominant 2024 Masters week to a pitcher throwing a perfect game. Don't say a word. Advertisement They were so dialed that week, they spent the Saturday night before Scheffler's historic win messing with the Golf Channel set. As Scheffler killed time waiting for physio treatment under the Augusta National practice center lights, Smith and caddie Ted Scott had Scheffler hit a few balls like he was grinding deep into the night. Smith and Scott motioned like they were filming Scheffler to analyze him. The Golf Channel was captivated by his perfectionism. In reality, they were watching 'I Love Lucy' clips. Fast forward one year to the same driving range, and you'd see an unfamiliar sight: Smith standing behind Scheffler on a weekend round morning, hands directing his swing and Scheffler groaning in frustration as his drives kept missing. They were working on something. That night, you'd see Scheffler as the last man at the course, hitting balls no longer as a joke but as a quest to fix something in his chase for Rory McIlroy. They walked off the range at 8:18 p.m. ET, and Smith told Golf Channel's Todd Lewis they were honing in on 'Basics! Basics! Basics!' After three years in uber-dominant golf zen, Scheffler had to search this spring. But how quickly we were reminded that Scottie Scheffler is still Scottie Scheffler. Tuesday morning on Quail Hollow's first tee before the PGA Championship, Hideki Matsuyama set up for his drive into the opening dogleg right. He loaded into his backswing, pushed his weight forward and — 'Scottie! Scottie! Scottie!' Matsuyama sliced his drive right into the Charlotte pines and immediately raised his hand for another ball. Just behind him, Scheffler appeared atop the walking bridge and down the stairs to the first tee. The crowd, waiting eagerly for his arrival, shouted and cheered for the world No. 1, begging for autographs. The volunteers had to walk over and ask them to quiet down. Advertisement Yeah, McIlroy is the man of the moment. Yeah, Bryson DeChambeau is thriving. But do not be foolish. Scheffler still arrives at the PGA Championship as the man in black. The head honcho. The one who broke a glass into his hand, had surgery, started late and is already back to playing the best golf in the world. Two weeks ago at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, Scheffler immediately made the previous two months of questions feel so silly: 61-63-66-63. He shot 31-under par to win by eight shots. It immediately made everything before it read differently. Because as Smith is quick to remind people, Scheffler's 'down' stretches after surgery were still: T9, T25, T3, T11, T20, T2, 4, T8, WIN. He slammed clubs. He ranted to himself about how he was so desperate for a putt to fall that he'd kill for even a lip out. He was, for lack of a better term, grumpy. And then you remember that his anger was rooted in playing like only the second-best player in the world instead of the first. But don't get it twisted. He was indeed searching. His hand surgery delayed his season by more than a month. The time he normally spent training and building his body for the season was instead spent sitting at home, unable to train at all. He had to essentially restart. 'There was a bit of an issue early on with pulls,' Smith said. 'Now, granted, his pull goes into the rough by two, three steps, or goes to the left side of the green, but we were just working on some lines and a little bit better alignment.' Smith said Scheffler occasionally came across the line a little too much, the club dropping a hair more to the inside. His hands were always good enough to adjust, but they needed to find a better position at the top of his backswing. But in reality, Scheffler at his best doesn't practice like you or I practice. He practices so fine in the details that it will make you want to quit and give up. The key to everything for Scheffler is that the swing itself is so completely natural that practice is purely about specific tournament shots. Advertisement Hit this kind of shot. How much did you take off it? I took eight yards off. No, it was seven. OK, back at it. What do we get out of a draw here? 178. Nope. It went 177. OK, I'll work at it. 'That's what we do,' Smith said. These past four months for Scheffler have been about returning to that level of naturality where those details can return. It's about playing the tournament, not playing golf. Scheffler admitted that during the Masters, as he 'struggled' with his driver, he told his wife, Meredith, 'One of the hardest parts of today is, when I aim the golf ball this way, it either went that way or that way. It very rarely went that way.' He continued, 'It was a taxing week for me, but like I said, I haven't had my best stuff this year, but I feel like I'm learning a lot. Each week, I feel like I'm improving and continuing to learn.' And that learning seems to be returning Scheffler to his past form. In fact, according to DataGolf's strokes gained, he's still gaining 2.91 strokes on the field each round. That's better than his dominant 2022 and 2023 seasons. Maybe the best insight into Scheffler's spring is what happened two summers ago. In the midst of some of the best ball striking seen since prime Tiger Woods, he couldn't putt. From March 2023 to March 2024, Scheffler finished top five 11 times — twice as much as anyone else — but he didn't win a full PGA Tour event or major. His putting reached career lows, ranking 151st in putts within 10 feet. Still, he refused to do anything drastic. 'Scottie, he's not a magic pill guy,' Smith said. 'He always viewed it as a down-the-road thing. 'It's down the road. I'm gonna address this however I'm gonna address it. This will improve this. OK, this helps us get a little bit better. Now a little bit better.' It wasn't ever a search for magic bullets.' Advertisement So by March 2024, Scheffler's putting improved subtly enough to be above average, and he won the Masters and a historic nine tournaments worldwide. Now, believe it or not, Scheffler is one of the better putters on tour. He's gaining 0.62 strokes on the green in 2025. Get this: Of the 75 best ball strikers in the world according to DataGolf, Scheffler has been the best putter over the last year. So you are not wrong to talk about McIlroy's dominant three signature wins in three months, or how he's suddenly unleashed after ending his 11-year major drought. You're not wrong to point out McIlroy's and DeChambeau's incredible driving advantage at Quail Hollow this week, or Justin Thomas' great form considering he won the PGA Championship here in 2017. But do not forget who still sits at world No. 1. Do not forget who shot 31-under two weeks ago or finished fourth at the Masters with a bad driver. Scottie Scheffler is still the man to beat. He just had to work a little.
Daily Mirror
30-04-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Mind-blowing John Higgins response after Mark Allen's 'sad' comment and retirement threat
Four-time world snooker champion John Higgins bowed out of the Crucible following defeat to Mark Williams, but he has proved one of his doubters wrong nonetheless Snooker icon John Higgins has been playing like a man possessed since Mark Allen suggested he was "sad" watching 'The Wizard of Wishaw' struggle for results. Allen made the comment after beating one of snooker 's greatest servants in the first round of the 2024 Masters, at which point Higgins was three years removed from his most recent ranking title. The 49-year-old Scot ended that drought this past March when he beat Joe O'Connor to clinch the World Open title. And although his 2025 World Snooker Championship ended with a quarter-final defeat to Mark Williams on Wednesday, his displays in Sheffield have proved he's not to be discounted just yet. "I know that John had his chances and I feel for John. Not out there I didn't, I wanted him to miss every shot he played, but I feel for him now," said Allen almost 18 months ago. "He's a really good guy, and he looks like someone who is just struggling to get over the line. If he just believed in himself a bit more, he'd be winning tournaments again." While those remarks may have been intended as encouragement towards his peer, it wasn't long after that there was talk of Higgins retiring from the sport. And the veteran himself appeared to hint at a permanent exit after losing to Allen once more at the 2024 Tour Championship, just a few months after his rival's "sad" comments. "I've always said to myself I'd love to still be a seed and in the top 16 competing at the Masters when I'm 50," said the Scot, who will turn 50 in May. "Staying in that bracket throughout my whole career would be a good milestone. "If I reach that one, then I'll maybe be looking to see where my life is at that moment. Not my snooker life but my personal one." Fast forward to today, however, and it's evident Higgins' place is on the World Snooker Tour competing with the best in the business. The finest of margins kept him from reaching a 12th World Championship semi-final after a clutch miss on the blue saw him succumb 13-12 to Williams. Despite the end result, the performance was the latest in a list of impressive showings this season. And there appears to be at least some overlap between Allen's pointed remark on Higgins' confidence and the recent pick-up in his play. It wasn't long after his win at the World Open that Higgins followed up with another major win at this year's Tour Championship at the beginning of April. In fact, the Lanarkshire legend has made it to at least the last eight of the last five consecutive ranking tournaments. As well as Allen's comment possibly acting as motivation in itself, it seems too coincidental that results have picked up for Higgins in the year or so since he started consulting a sports psychologist. It was at the start of 2024 that The Wizard of Wishaw revealed he was receiving aid on the mental side of his game to dispel some "negative thoughts". "I'm speaking to someone because there has been negative thoughts," he told Metro in February last year. "There's no beating about the bush, obviously in the last week while I've lost some big matches, and they would always surface, every time, so I'm trying to speak to someone about that, having more positive thoughts and who knows?" The snooker world at large now has at least some idea following his pick-up in results this season. Ronnie O'Sullivan is another firm advocate for employing a mentality coach after his work with Dr. Steve Peters, with 'The Rocket' on the verge of reaching the World Championship semis himself. "I've had a good season, the atmosphere out there was incredible, a standing ovation walking in," Higgins told the BBC following his agonising defeat to Williams, choosing to focus on the positives of the day. "There's no better place to play, win or lose."
USA Today
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
What's the real story behind Neal Shipley's side-eye with Jim Nantz?
What's the real story behind Neal Shipley's side-eye with Jim Nantz? Neal Shipley continues to make waves in the all-too-often stuffy world of professional golf. Offering a rapidly improving game and a relatable personality, the former Ohio State golfer is making quite a name for himself in golf circles. His latest foray into the media side of pro golf is a Q&A with Skratch reporter Dan Rapaport, who stars on the Netflix series 'Full Swing,' which features Shipley in its third season. Rapaport released a video clip of the 'rapid fire' Q&A on April 20. It was another demonstration of Shipley's 'off the cuff' persona, including the backstory on his viral 'side-eye' glance during an interview at the 2024 Masters with Jim Nantz, then champion Scottie Scheffler, 2023 champion Jolkn Rahm and Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley. 'I am in there and I am like what in the (expletive) am I doing here?' Shipley said. 'The only thing I could think of is like, 'Let's not speak out of turn,' so I am looking at the teleprompter, and it's like, 'Jim Nantz is speaking about Neal.' I am looking for that line, and I am like, 'Okay, when's it coming? When's it coming?' And then I made a fool of myself. So that was hilarious.' Shipley, who's from Pittsburgh, lists Vijay Singh as his favorite 'not-Tiger Woods' golfer to watch when he was young and picked a variety of pros when asked to 'build a player." After transferring to OSU and playing one season for the Buckeyes, Shipley gained his biggest notoriety by finishing as the low amateur at the 2024 Masters and U.S. Open, and then appearing in "Full Swing." On Sunday, Shipley won his first pro tournament, outlasting Seungtaek Lee in a five-hole playoff at the Korn Ferry Tour's LECOM SunCoast Classic at Lakewood National Golf Club in Lakewood Ranch, Florida. He's ranked third on the Korn Ferry Tour and will earn his 2026 PGA Tour card if he finishes among the developmental tour's top 20 golfers. Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@ and @
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
After first Korn Ferry Tour win, OSU alum Shipley continues to make waves in pro golf
Neal Shipley continues to make waves in the all-too-often stuffy world of professional golf. Offering a rapidly improving game and a relatable personality, the former Ohio State golfer is making quite a name for himself in golf circles. His latest foray into the media side of pro golf is a Q&A with Skratch golf insider Dan Rapaport, who stars on the Netflix series 'Full Swing,' which features Shipley in its third season. Neal Shipley kisses the trophy after winning the LECOM Suncoast Classic at Lakewood National Golf Club on April 19. Rapaport released a video clip of the 'rapid fire' Q&A on April 20. It was another demonstration of Shipley's 'off the cuff' persona, including the backstory on his viral 'side-eye' glance during an interview at the 2024 Masters with Jim Nantz, then champion Scottie Scheffler, 2023 champion John Rahm and Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley. Advertisement 'I am in there and I am like what in the (expletive) am I doing here?' Shipley said. 'The only thing I could think of is like, 'Let's not speak out of turn,' so I am looking at the teleprompter, and it's like, 'Jim Nantz is speaking about Neal.' I am looking for that line, and I am like, 'Okay, when's it coming? When's it coming?' And then I made a fool of myself. So that was hilarious.' Shipley, who's from Pittsburgh, lists Vijay Singh as his favorite 'not-Tiger Woods' golfer to watch when he was young and picked a variety of pros when asked to 'build a player." After transferring to OSU and playing one season for the Buckeyes, Shipley gained his biggest notoriety by finishing as the low amateur at the 2024 Masters and U.S. Open, and then appearing in "Full Swing." Neal Shipley is ranked third on the Korn Ferry Tour and will earn his 2026 PGA Tour card if he finishes among the developmental tour's top 20 golfers. Sunday, Shipley won his first pro tournament April 20, outlasting Seungtaek Lee in a five-hole playoff at the Korn Ferry Tour's LECOM SunCoast Classic at Lakewood National Golf Club in Lakewood Ranch, Florida. Advertisement He's ranked third on the Korn Ferry Tour and will earn his 2026 PGA Tour card if he finishes among the developmental tour's top 20 golfers. Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@ and @ This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State alum Neal Shipley continues to make waves in pro golf
