It’s been quite a golf journey for Neal Shipley since he helped Pittsburgh Central Catholic capture the PIAA Class AAA team crown in the fall of 2018.
The latest installment of that journey will see Shipley teeing it up in this week’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, the William Fynn masterpiece on the eastern tip of Long Island.
Once a looper at Oakmont Country Club, it would have been quite the fairy-tale story if Shipley had made it to the Open at Oakmont a year ago, but he came up just short.
A year later, Shipley, who graduated to the PGA Tour this year after winning twice on the developmental Korn Ferry Tour in 2025, will play in his first U.S. Open as a professional after earning co-medalist honors in Final Qualifying at Springfield Country Club in Springfield, Ohio on “Golf’s Longest Day,” Monday.
The Springfield site included quite a few PGA Tour regulars due to its proximity to The Memorial, the PGA Tour stop at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio that was played last weekend.
It was a difficult test at 10 sites around the country and in Canada Monday, 36 holes against PGA Tour regulars, Korn Ferry guys, talented club pros and the top amateurs in the world. There are precious few spots available, but many players give it their best shot. It is what makes the U.S. Open open.
It is a test that Shipley passed with flying colors as he added a 5-under 65 in the afternoon to his opening-round 67, to share medalist honors with PGA Tour regular Zac Blair of Orem, Utah at 8-under 132.
Blair opened with a sizzling 6-under 64 before adding a 68 in the afternoon to join Shipley at 8-under.
Shipley had begun his college career at James Madison, but, after capturing the Pennsylvania Amateur in the summer of 2022 at Llanerch Country Club, he was headed for The Ohio State University and the Big Ten in an effort to challenge himself at a little higher level.
In the summer of 2023, Shipley made a huge splash when he reached the final of the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club, another Flynn design, before falling to Nick Dunlap.
That runnerup finish opened more doors for Shipley and he rushed through those open doors, earning low-amateur honors at The Masters and the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, the Donald Ross classic in North Carolina.
In between The Masters and the Open at Pinehurst, Shipley was part of Ohio State’s unlikely run to the semifinals of the NCAA Championship before the Buckeyes fell to eventual champion Auburn at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.
Heading a trio tied for third place at 7-under 133 was Billy Horschel, owner of eight PGA Tour victories. Horschel, whose best U.S. Open finish was a tie for fourth place in our backyard in 2013 at Merion Golf Club’s famed East Course in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township, opened with a 5-under 65 at Springfield before adding a 68 in the afternoon.
Joining Horschel at 7-under were former Northwestern standout Dylan Wu, who is in his first year on the PGA Tour, and former Illinois star Nick Hardy, who advanced out of Final Qualifying to the U.S. Open for a sixth time, all of them at Springfield.
Wu added a 4-under 66 in the afternoon to his opening-round 67 while Hardy matched Horschel’s splits, opening with a 5-under 65 and adding a 68 in the afternoon.
Looks like most of the local hopefuls headed for Final Qualifying at Woodmont Country Club’s North Course in Rockville, Md.
Medalist honors at Woodmont went to Jackson Suber, who starred collegiately at Mississippi and is in his second season on the PGA Tour. Suber opened with a 6-under 65 and added a 67 in the afternoon for a 10-under 132 total.
Suber built on that momentum and contended the whole week in the RBC Canadian Open before finishing in a tie for fourth place.
Braden Shattuck, the Philadelphia Section PGA’s reigning four-time Rolex/Haverford Trust Player of the Year and the director of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club, gave it a shot at teeing it up in a second major professional championship in 2026 at Woodmont.
Shattuck struck the opening tee shot in last month’s PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club as part of the Corebridge Financial Team after finishing in a tie for eighth place in the PGA Professional Championship at the Bandon Dunes Resort.
Shattuck got it going in the afternoon at Woodmont with a 2-under 69 after opening with a 2-over 73, but was well back of the qualifying cutline at even-par 142.
Carson Bacha, the 2019 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Central York and a member of Auburn’s 2024 national championship team, matched par in the afternoon with a 71 after opening with a 2-over 73 to finish with a 2-over 144 total.
Bacha, in his second year as a professional, is on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Chris Crawford, who starred scholastically at Holy Ghost Prep and collegiately at Drexel, has qualified for the U.S. Open three times out of Final Qualifying, but came up short at Woodmont.
Crawford, who is playing on the Korn Ferry Tour, bounced back from an opening round of 5-over 76 with a 2-under 69 in the afternoon for a 3-over 145 total.
Crawford came home for the GAP-administered local Open qualifier at Chester Valley Golf Club, where he captured the title in the Patterson Cup, one of GAP’s major championships, in 2015.
A couple of guys who battled it out for the PIAA Class AA Championship in 2023, former Lake Lehman standout Cael Ropietski and former Wyoming Seminary star Nick Werner, were in the field at Woodmont.
Ropietski, who finished tied for second place in that state Class AA tournament in 2023 and is a junior at Marshall, matched par in the afternoon at Woodmont with a 71 after opening with a 74 to join Crawford in the group at 3-over.
Werner, the back-to-back Class AA state champion in 2023 and 2024, is coming off his freshman season at Penn State. Werner opened with a 2-over 73 at Woodmont before adding a 76 in the afternoon for a 7-over 149 total.
Ropietski and Werner both emerged from the Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered local U.S. Open qualifier at Elmhurst Country Club.
Rij Patel, a Hunt Valley, Md. resident who plays out of the Country Club of York, added a 2-over 73 in the afternoon at Woodmont after opening with a 78 for a 151 total.
Patel earned his ticket to Woodmont by claiming medalist honors in a GAP-administered local qualifier on his home course.
David Hurly, who starred scholastically at The Haverford School and collegiately at Lehigh, added a 3-over 74 in the afternoon to his opening-round 77 for a 151 total.
Hurly, who plays out of Aronimink Golf Club, emerged from the GAP-administered local qualifier at Chester Valley.
John Curran, who finished in a tie for second place in the PIAA Class AA Championship as a senior at Devon Prep in 2024 and who is a Chester Valley member, also earned a spot in Final Qualifying in the local qualifier on his home course.
Curran, who will join the program at Penn State later this summer, added a 79 in the afternoon at Woodmont to his opening-round 81 for a 160 total.
Stephen Cerbara, the PIAA Class AAA champion in 2015 as a senior at Holy Ghost Prep, opened with an 80 at Woodmont before adding an 81 in the afternoon for a 161 total.
Cerbara, who finished up his college career at Drexel, was the medalist in the GAP-administered local qualifier at Medford Village Country Club with a sizzling 9-under 63.
Patrick McCrae, a talented amateur who plays out of Kennett Square Golf & Country Club, bounced back from an opening-round 84 at Woodmont with a 5-over 77 in the afternoon for a 161 total. McCrae also punched his ticket to Final Qualifying out of the local qualifier at Chester Valley.
The runnersup to Suber at Woodmont were Ben Kohles, who was coming off a victory a day earlier on the Korn Ferry Tour in the BMW Charity Pro-Am, and Auburn’s Logan Reilly, who, five days earlier, capped his freshman season by earning the clinching point in the Tigers’ victory over UCLA in the NCAA Championship’s Final Match at La Costa, as each ended up three shots behind Suber with a 7-under 135 total.
Kohles opened with a sparkling 6-under 65 at Woodmont North before adding a 1-under 70 in the afternoon. Reilly of Lovettesville, Va. added a 4-under 67 in the afternoon to his opening-round 68.
Jake Sollon, who starred scholastically at Peters Township, grabbed the final ticket to Shinnecock available in Final Qualifying at Woodmont as he survived a playoff after posting a 5-under 137 total.
Sollon played four years at Rider and then took a Covid year at Oregon before turning pro. He is active on PGA Tour Americas.
In Final Qualifying at Century Country Club and the Golf Club of Purchase in Purchase, N.Y., PGA Tour pro Kevin Roy, a native of the Syracuse, N.Y. who was a collegiate standout at Long Beach State, claimed medalist honors with an 8-under 134 total.
Roy carded a pair of 67s, first at Purchase and in the afternoon at Century.
PGA Tour pro Max Greyserman, a Short Hills, N.J. native who starred at Duke, opened with a 68 at Purchase and added another 68 at Century as he finished two shots behind Roy with a 6-under 136 total to punch his ticket to Shinnecock Hills.
Ben James, a Milford, Conn. native coming off a tremendous college career at Virginia, and James Nicholas, a PGA Tour pro who was a college standout at Yale, grabbed the last two available spots out of Final Qualifying in Purchase as each ended up with a 2-under 140 total.
James opened with a 68 at Purchase and added a 72 at Century.
James was making his professional debut at the RBC Canadian Open. If you tuned in on The Golf Channel Friday, there was James at the top of the leaderboard. Nobody who followed college golf the last four years is surprised in the least.
Chronicled Nicholas’ journey from his earning the individual crown and leading the Yalies to an Ivy League title in the conference championship on a chilly weekend at Stonewall’s Old Course in 2018 to the Korn Ferry Tour a year ago when he earned a spot in the field in the U.S. Open at Oakmont in Final Qualifying.
Nicholas, a Scarsdale, N.Y. native, matched James’ splits, opening with a 68 at Purchase and adding a 72 at Century to earn a second straight trip to the U.S. Open.
In another Final Qualifying site in Ohio at the Lakes Golf & Country Club in Westerville, former Georgia star Davis Thompson claimed medalist honors with an 11-under 133 total.
Thompson opened with a 6-under 66 before adding a solid 67 in the afternoon. He will be playing in his fifth U.S. Open at Shinnecock. He finished in a tie for ninth place two years ago at the Pinehurst Resort’s No. 2 Course.
The trio that survived a four-man playoff for the final three tickets to Shinnecock included J.B. Holmes, a five-time winner on the PGA Tour who appears to have limited status these days and a couple of college players who recently completed their sophomore seasons, Vaughn Harber at Ohio State and Arni Sveinsson of LSU.
The long-hitting Holmes, who starred collegiately at Kentucky, added a sparkling 7-under 65 in the afternoon at Lakes after opening with a 2-under 70 to finish with a 9-under 135 total.
Harber and Sveinsson had identical splits, each opening with a 5-under 67 before adding a 68 in the afternoon to join the foursome tied at 9-under.
There won’t be many more intriguing figures at Shinnecock than Miles Russell, the 17-year-old from Jacksonville Beach, Fla. who is No. 10 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).
With future Florida State teammate Charlie Woods – yes, that Charlie Woods – on the bag, Russell birdied the second hole of a playoff to earn the final ticket to Shinnecock out of the Final Qualifier at Ballenisles Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
The little left-hander rallied in the afternoon with a 5-under 67 after opening with a 71 to get into a three-man playoff for the final two U.S. Open berths available at 6-under 138.
Golf fans in southeastern Pennsylvania should get two chances to watch the wunderkind play this summer. Russell will be one of the favorites when the U.S. Junior Amateur tees off July 20 at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem.
Pretty sure Russell will be in the field when the U.S. Amateur tees off Aug. 10 at Merion Golf Club’s iconic East Course in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township.
Russell was one of two 17-year-old Floridians to punch their ticket to Shinnecock at Ballenisles as Guiseppe Puebla, playing not far from his Royal Palm Beach, Fla., earned a share of medalist honors with veteran pro and Ballenisles member Ben Silverman, each landing on 7-under 137.
Puebla added a 4-under 68 in the afternoon to his opening-round 69 while Silverman, a native of Canada, opened with a sparkling 5-under 67 before adding a 70 in the afternoon.
The other survivor of the playoff was Ryder Cowan, coming off a solid junior season on a pretty good Oklahoma team. Cowan matched Russell’s splits, adding a 5-under 67 in the afternoon to an opening-round 71 to join him at 6-under.
At the risk of turning this into “Golf’s Longest Blog Post,” I’ll mention one more name of interest from Final Qualifying.
I mentioned earlier that Auburn’s Logan Reilly, who had earned the final point for the Tigers to nail down a national championship, advanced out of Final Qualifying to Shinnecock at Woodmont Country Club.
A year earlier it was Eric Lee who earned the clinching point in Oklahoma State’s victory over Virginia in the NCAA Championship’s Final Match at La Costa.
Lee, a senior-to-be for the Cowboys, finished in a tie for second place in the Final Qualifier at Del Paso Country Club in Sacramento, Calif. with a 6-under 136 total.
Lee added a sparkling 4-under 67 in the afternoon to his opening-round 69 to join Matthew Robles, a junior-to-be at Santa Clara at 6-under. Robles closed with a 5-under 66 after opening with a 1-under 70.
Medalist honors at Del Paso went to Taylor Montgomery, a touring pro from Las Vegas, Nev. who added a 5-under 66 in the afternoon to his opening-round 69 for a 7-under 135 total. Montgomery has had starts on both the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA Tour in 2026.
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