Golf amateur Neal Shipley saw his 2024 Masters come to a strange end, after being asked a question regarding his playing partner Tiger Woods which prompted a highly awkward response.
Shipley was in dreamland on Sunday morning, after not only making the cut and progressing to the final day of the Masters, but also being paired with living golf legend Woods.
The duo battled the arduous test that is Augusta National and each slipped down the leaderboard, with Shipley carding a final total of 12-over-par, beating Woods by some four shots.
But both golfers were well off the pace of the leading pack. Nonetheless, crowds and cameras swarmed to Shipley and Woods due to the gravitas the sporting icon holds on the course. Yet this led many to believe they had spotted a rather puzzling moment.
While walking to their tee shots on the 9th hole, Woods appeared to jot something down on his notepad and hand it to the 22-year-old Shipley.
When later queried on this by an eagle-eyed reporter duing his post round press conference, Shipley appeared a little taken aback and froze up in his response.
After looking momentarily across to an Augusta National moderator, wearing a green jacket and seated at the press conference table, Shipley replied with much hesitation: “He didn’t.”
When further pushed by the reporter, who added that it appeared some form of exchange had been made, Shipley added: “No, no. That didn’t happen.”
At this point, with things quickly getting awkward in the room, the moderator interjected to bring the press conference to an abrupt end, saying aloud: “Thank you for your time. Good luck and congratulations on a wonderful week.”
It took little time for the video of the press conference to go viral on social media, with fans quickly speculating regarding what – if anything – had possibly occurred.
Shipley was making his maiden appearance in the Masters, and battled through the cut to make the full weekend of play at Augusta National.
Woods likewise gave a good account of himself, given his most recent long lay-off due to injury rehabilitation.
The 48-year-old started brightly and made the cut with relative ease – setting a new record for making 24 consecutive cuts in a row – before going on to struggle in tough conditions.
Woods would go on to card his worse ever score at Augusta National with an 82, and was honest about his all round game after walking off the 18th green.
Woods said: “The fact that I was not hitting it very good or putting well.
“I didn’t have a very good warmup session, and I kept it going all day today. Just hit the ball in all the places that I know I shouldn’t hit it.
“And I missed a lot of putts. Easy, makable putts. I missed a lot of them.”
