A teen golfer from Arizona is in New Jersey this week to compete in an LPGA tournament! Ashley Shaw, 15, will make her LPGA Tour debut tomorrow after winning THE JOHN SHIPPEN Cognizant Cup on Monday and earning an exemption.
She will be golfing alongside the world’s best female golfers in the LPGA Tour’s Cognizant Founders Cup at Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, starting on Thursday, after shooting 1-over par 73 on the same course Monday to earn a two-stroke victory in the SHIPPEN event.
THE JOHN SHIPPEN National Invitational is a series of competitions created to provide playing opportunities on the LPGA Tour and PGA TOUR for the nation’s top Black amateur and professional women and men golfers. The series includes THE JOHN SHIPPEN Cognizant Cup, THE JOHN SHIPPEN Women’s Invitational and THE JOHN SHIPPEN Men’s Invitational. The events are named after John Shippen, Jr., who was both the first American-born golf professional and the country’s first Black golf professional.
Ashley’s mom Sylvia is serving as her caddie this week and had a front-row seat as her daughter came out on top of an elite eight-player field in which she was the only amateur. After a bogey on the eighth hole and a double on the ninth left her three over par at the turn, she birdied the 10th and 11th holes, then parred her way in while the players chasing her failed to make ground.
Because Ashley is an amateur, she is not eligible for the purse – but she did have her travel costs covered.
Since 2021, 90 of the nation’s best Black men and women golfers have competed in THE JOHN SHIPPEN. The tournament has awarded sixteen playing opportunities on the PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour and donated $340,000 to local charities, scholarships and fellowships. SHIPPEN alumni continue on to the PGA TOUR Champions, PGA TOUR Americas and Ladies European Tours.
Following THE JOHN SHIPPEN Cognizant Cup, the 36-hole women’s competition in THE JOHN SHIPPEN National Invitational will be held June 4–5 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the 36-hole men’s tournament will be June 22-23 at Detroit Golf Club.
The tournament in New Jersey runs through Sunday, May 12. Get your tickets here.
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