He became an Augusta National meme. Here’s what that was like

Neal Shipley was nothing in need of spectacular on the 2024 Masters.

The tremendous senior from Ohio State gained entry into the sector courtesy of his runner-up end ultimately 12 months’s U.S. Amateur, and he made probably the most of his alternative. As the lone newbie to make the reduce, Shipley posted rounds of 71-76-80-73, ending T53 and wrapping up his week sitting alongside Scottie Scheffler in Butler Cabin. Oh yeah, and he performed alongside Tiger Woods on Sunday — and beat him by 4 strokes.

“I think I have to win one of these things to kind of top this week,” Shipley mentioned. “Definitely been a dream week.”

Coming into Augusta, nobody besides the true golf diehards knew who Shipley was. A couple of days later, he was one of many largest feel-good storylines of the week.

“It’s been a little crazy,” Shipley mentioned on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar.

Some of Shipley’s fame may be attributed to a meme that popped up on Twitter within the wake of his Butler Cabin look. While sitting subsequent to Scheffler, Rahm and Ridley, Shipley saved seeking to a teleprompter off display screen. When the web snapped a pic of him at simply the precise time, Shipley was meme’ified.

“My brother comes up and he’s like laughing at me,” Shipley mentioned. “He’s like, ‘Look at this meme that Paige Spiranac just posted [of you].’ I’m like, ‘What?’ … I saw the picture and was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m such an idiot.’”

As Shipley additional defined on the the Pat McAfee Show: “I was so nervous, the very last thing I needed to do was swear on nationwide TV or say one thing silly. I additionally didn’t need to converse out of flip so I was attempting to take a look at the teleprompter to know what was occurring so I knew my cues. Dumbass.

“We go back to our party house, I’ve had a few icy lights, and all the sudden my family is like ‘have you seen these memes of you’ and start absolutely roasting me for the next three hours.”

For rather more from Shipley’s look on GOLF’s Subpar, take a look at your entire episode beneath.

Zephyr Melton

Golf.com Editor

Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com the place he spends his days running a blog, producing and enhancing. Prior to becoming a member of the group at GOLF, he attended the University of Texas adopted by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all issues instruction and covers newbie and ladies’s golf. He may be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com.