Neal Shipley lit up a cigar on October 13, 2025, and the golf world lit up with him. Brentley Romine’s viral X post captured the 24-year-old Pittsburgh native celebrating with “a well-deserved stogie” at French Lick, Indiana, where the Korn Ferry Tour Championship had just concluded. The image garnered over 202,400 views as fans and analysts flooded social media with congratulations for Shipley’s official graduation to the PGA Tour.

The stogie moment marked something significant. While Shipley had mathematically secured his 2026 PGA Tour card back in August, the formal awarding ceremony for all 20 graduates took place on October 13. The season-ending celebration at the Pete Dye Course brought the journey full circle—from conditional status to confirmed PGA Tour membership.

The tradi

See Full Page