After penalty stroke, Mt. Lebanon's Neal Shipley shoots 71 in 3rd round of U.S. Open

Mt. Lebanon’s Neal Shipley is 4-over par after three rounds of the U.S. Open at Pinehurst.

If his ball hadn’t moved a matter of millimeters at an inopportune time Saturday, he’d be 3-over par.

Shipley was assessed a one-stroke penalty on the 13th hole when his ball, sitting on an upslope, moved slightly after he addressed it. He made a double bogey 6 on the hole and finished with a plus-1 71 for the round.

The USGA issued a statement about the penalty.

“Neal set the club down behind the ball and then adjusted the club when the ball then moved,” it read. “Because the ball had been at rest for some time and then moved immediately after he adjusted his club, it is virtually certain that he caused the ball to move.”

Shipley didn’t entirely agree.

“I don’t think I caused it to move,” he told golf.com. “But it doesn’t really matter what I think at the end of the day.”

“Tough one to swallow,” Shipley added. “I was 3-under and then to make a double, it definitely kills the momentum.”

Shipley is tied with Florida State junior Luke Clanton in the race for low amateur honors at plus-4. The only other amateur to make the cut, University of Kansas senior Gunnar Broin, shot an 81 Saturday.

Shipley is trying to become the first player to win low amateur honors at The Masters and U.S. Open in the same season since Viktor Hovland in 2019.

It was an eventful day for Shipley, who only made six pars. He made three straight birdies on Nos. 8, 9 and 10 to move to even par for the tournament before the penalty stroke on No. 13 and bogeys on 15 and 16 pushed him back a bit.

In a highlight of his round, Shipley drove the green at the 316-yard par-4 third and two-putted for a birdie.