Neal Shipley Breaks Down What It Was Like Becoming An Instant Meme At The Masters

It's not often that the low amateur in the Masters steals the spotlight during the green jacket ceremony inside Butler Cabin at Augusta National, but that's exactly what Neal Shipley managed to accomplish over the weekend.

Shipley, who qualified for the Masters as the 2023 U.S. Amateur runner-up, was the lone amateur in the 2024 Masters field to make the cut, and the Ohio State grad student had himself a Sunday.

Not only did Shipley get to play the final round paired alongside Tiger Woods and beat him by a comfortable four-shot margin, he became a social media sensation as Scottie Scheffler put on the green jacket for the second time in his career.

Shipley was caught looking at something inside Butler Cabin during the green jacket ceremony, and the combination of his epic lettuce and top-tier side eye took over Golf Twitter for a solid 24 hours.

Pat McAfee was one of many, many people who caught the Shipley meme dominating social media, so when the amateur joined his show on Tuesday afternoon he had to bring up the picture.

Shipley even re-made the meme to the camera before revealing what it was he was actually looking at during the now-viral moment.

"I was so nervous, the last thing I wanted to do was swear on national TV or say something stupid," Shipley said. "I also didn't want to speak out of turn so I was trying to look at the teleprompter to know what was going on so I knew my cues. Dumbass."

"We go back to our party house, I've had a few icy lights, and all the sudden my family is like ‘have you seen these memes of you’ and start absolutely roasting me for the next three hours."

You can't blame the young 20-something-year-old trying to figure out when to speak, or more importantly when not to speak, as he's sitting in one of the most iconic rooms in golf alongside Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, and Jim Nantz.

Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for us looking for a laugh, Shipley was still in frame when he decided to give the side-eye to the teleprompter. Now, he's an internet legend among all golf circles.