Neal Shipley fired a career-best 62 to take the Biltmore Championship lead, giving his difficult rookie PGA Tour season a badly needed jolt.
Neal Shipley picked an ideal time to produce the best PGA Tour round of his career.
The rookie surged to the top of the Biltmore Championship Asheville leaderboard Friday with a bogey-free, 9-under 62 at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, reaching 15 under through 36 holes and taking a one-shot lead over Ben Kohles.
For Shipley, the timing could hardly be better.
He entered the FedExCup Fall opener ranked No. 183 in the FedExCup standings after missing 11 cuts in 19 PGA Tour starts this season.
With only the top 100 retaining full status for next year, Shipley arrived in North Carolina needing something dramatic.
Friday certainly qualified.
Shipley began birdie-birdie before attacking the par-5 third, where he stuffed his second shot to roughly 10 feet and converted the eagle.
He made the turn in 6-under 29 and added three more birdies on the back nine without dropping a shot.
“I feel like a lot of that work is finally showing,” Shipley said. “Golf is one of those sports where you don’t get instant gratification.”
His scoring on the par 5s has been particularly devastating. Shipley has played them in 9 under through two rounds, taking advantage of a course where length can create significant scoring opportunities.
“I feel like I’m seeing kind of the fruits of that labor,” Shipley said. “And really pumped about where we are right now.”
Kohles made sure Shipley won’t have much breathing room.
He shot 8-under 63 and finished with a flourish, making eagle at the par-5 17th before rolling in a 15-foot birdie at 18 to reach 14 under.
Kohles has come painfully close to his first PGA Tour victory before, and he knows opportunities like this can’t be taken for granted.
“I keep putting myself in these positions,” Kohles said. “That’s all I can ask for.”
Ricky Castillo matched Shipley’s 62 and moved into a tie for third with Max Greyserman at 11 under, four shots off the lead. Eric Cole sits another stroke back at 10 under.
The stakes go well beyond a trophy for Shipley.
A victory would give him a two-year PGA Tour exemption and completely change the trajectory of a rookie season that had been drifting toward a return to the Korn Ferry Tour.
With 36 holes remaining, Shipley suddenly has something far more attractive to think about.
Instead of fighting simply to keep his job, he’s playing for his first PGA Tour victory.
Fact-check sources: PGA Tour’s official second-round report and leaderboard coverage confirm Shipley’s 62, 15-under total, Kohles at 14 under, Castillo and Greyserman at 11 under, and Shipley’s FedExCup position entering the week.
