Two weeks after Maxwell Moldovan earned his first professional win on PGA Tour Americas, his former Ohio State teammate Neal Shipley earned his first professional win on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Shipley won the LECOM Suncoast Classic on Saturday, outlasting Seungtaek Lee in a playoff to win the tournament with a birdie on the fifth playoff hole.
Let it out, Ship!
— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) April 19, 2025
Neal Shipley birdies the 5th playoff hole from DEEP to win the LECOM Suncoast Classic pic.twitter.com/eGdnB0GrEG
Shipley, who established himself as one of golf’s emerging young stars when he earned low amateur honors at both The Masters and the U.S. Open last year, is now ranked third on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List after this week’s win. If Shipley finishes the year in the top 20 on the points list, he would earn a PGA TOUR card for the 2026 season.
Prior to Moldovan’s win at the Brazil Open two weeks ago, an Ohio State golfer hadn’t won a professional tournament since Bo Hoag won the WinCo Farms Portland Open on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019. Now, both Moldovan and Shipley can call themselves winners in the professional golf ranks.
Their success comes in tandem with back-to-back successful weeks for the current Ohio State men’s golf team, which won its second straight tournament on Saturday as it finished first in the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate at the OSU Golf Club. It’s the first time since the 1997-98 season that the Buckeyes, who also won the Buckeye Classic at Columbus Country Club last week, have won back-to-back stroke play events.
Buckeyes win again!! Robert Kepler Intercollegiate Champions #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/a1ITTRAUd5
— Ohio State Mens Golf (@OhioStateMGOLF) April 19, 2025
