When Neal Shipley, making his TGL debut, stepped up to the virtual par-3 5th “Set In Stone” hole, his teammate, Luke Clanton, uttered eight words.
“Give me a hole in one here. Please,” hot mics caught Clanton saying.
Then, that’s exactly what happened.
Shipley hit a wedge into the green, and with spin on the ball, it kicked back and trickled into the hole.
It was a banner moment Monday night for the tech-infused golf league in its second season, because it was the first ace in TGL history.
FIRST HOLE-IN-ONE IN TGL HISTORY pic.twitter.com/MviUbjrcRW
— TGL (@TGL) February 10, 2026
“I hit that shot in practice a bunch and I think I missed the green five or six times in a row,” said Shipley, who was serving as an alternate for the Bay GC in its 11–5 win over Los Angeles GC, “so I think the boys were a little nervous about it, and I was, too.
“We aimed a little right of the pin and I tugged it a hair but right on top of it, and it went in, and it was pandemonium after that. Just went crazy.”
And his teammates’s reaction was indeed priceless, swarming the 25-year-old. Though, it could have been even wilder.
“We went bananas,” Shipley said. “I was like, ‘I’ve got to throw the club.’
“I promised some of my friends at home that I’d take my shirt off if I made an ace, but I just couldn’t hold up that promise; I’m sorry, boys.”
Shipley, the former Ohio State golfer who made the cut as an amateur at the 2024 Masters and U.S. Open, is in his rookie season on the PGA Tour. In four starts, he has made one cut.
Now, he has an ace to his year, too. But considering it’s virtual, does it really count?
“No doubt. I think so,” Shipley said. “I’m going to count it. That’s better than a hole in one, man.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘We Went Bananas’: Neal Shipley Makes TGL History With One Shot.
