Americans Keefer, Shipley turn up heat at Manitoba Open

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Sunday’s forecast is calling for heat, humidity — and a red-hot race to the finish line at the CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open.

A pair of talented American rookies are setting the pace for the rest of the crowded field at Southwood Golf & Country Club.

John Keefer, 23, leads the way at 21-under par after rounds of 63-61-71. The Baltimore product is looking for his first professional victory after four close calls on PGA Tour Americas — second-place finishes earlier this summer in Alberta, New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan.

“It wasn’t quite as good as I’d hoped, but I still played really solid,” said Keefer following his third round Saturday afternoon. “Sometimes the putts don’t drop, sometimes you don’t hit the best shots and sometimes it’s a tough day like today. It was windy. It was more penalizing for not-so-great shots.”

Right behind him is 23-year-old Pittsburgh native Neal Shipley, who has become an instant sensation in the golf world after making the cut earlier this year at the Masters and U.S. Open — winning low amateur at both majors — and then turning pro in late June. He’s at 20-under par after rounds of 63-64-69.

“I’d like to get off to a hot start (Sunday),” said Shipley. “A little better start than today. Didn’t make a birdie until five. Had a lot of great looks but didn’t have anything drop. Maybe put the pressure on Johnny there early.”

Keefer and Shipley will be paired in the final group on Sunday, teeing off at 1:20 p.m.

“Any time you have a chance to win, any time you’re in the last pairing, it’s always a good thing,” Keefer said. “I’m really happy to be here, happy to be in this position again. Let’s see what we can do.”

A large gallery was following their group on Saturday, and Keefer is looking forward to more of the same for the final 18 holes.

“The crowd was great,” he said. “Hopefully they have more to clap and cheer for on (Sunday).”

Keefer and Shipley have played together several times while in college and clearly enjoy each other’s company given the amount of chatting and joking around they were doing despite the high-stakes.

“At the end of the day, winning out here is great,” ” said Shipley. “It can be life-changing. But we’re just playing golf. I think it’s really important to enjoy it. We’ll have a fun around, even though there is a lot of stress. It might get a bit more tight-lipped coming down the back nine, but I’m sure we’ll be having some fun and poking at each other a little bit.”

Two Canadians are also in the hunt, attempting to become the first homegrown talent to win in Manitoba since Graham DeLaet did so in 2009.

Brendan MacDougall had Saturday’s low round, shooting an eight-under 64 to sit alone in third place at 18-under. The 26-year-old from Calgary clearly didn’t mind winds that gusted to near 50 km/h at times and made for the toughest scoring day of the tournament.

He punctuated his round with a 35-foot for birdie on the final hole in front of a large public gallery that erupted with cheers.

“It’s funny, my girlfriend always jokes with me that I love putting on a show for the crowd,” said MacDougall, who is coached by Winnipeg’s Derek Ingram. “It’s one of the coolest feelings for us, being on this tour, because we don’t always have huge crowds.”

MacDougall’s round included two eagles, both on par-five holes which were downwind. He’s shaved two strokes off every round — 68, 66, 64 — which begs the question of whether a 62 might be in store for Sunday?

“I’m not going to promise anything, but I’m going to try,” said MacDougall, who is admittedly surprising himself with his play.

“This was not expected this week. Haven’t played super great as of late. Missed a few cuts and made the cut on the number last week and ended up finishing near the bottom of the leaderboard.”

Quebec’s Joey Savoie is tied for fourth at 17-under par after rounds of 67-66-66 and will be in the second-last grouping with MacDougall on Sunday beginning at 1:10 p.m.

“Great to see Canadian guys playing well,” said MacDougall. “There’s a really good contingent of all of us Maple Leaf-wearers out there. We’ve had three winners so far (this year on tour) and there’s going to be more to come.”

Andres Gallegos of Argentina (65-65-69) and Ryggs Johnston of Montana (66-64-69) are also five shots behind Keefer and tee off together at 1 p.m.

Another six golfers are at 16-under and will need to go extremely low — in addition to plenty of help — in order to have a shot at winning.

Keefer, who recently graduated from Baylor, actually played 22 holes on Saturday. He was among a few dozen golfers who were unable to complete their second round before darkness set in Friday night.

He returned to the course at 7:45 a.m. to put the finishing touches on his 11-under 61, which tied the course record set by Will Gordon in this event back in 2019.

“A 61 is really nice to be able to sign your name next to,” said Keefer with a grin. “I was proud of myself to kind of hang in there overnight and finish off really well.”

Shipley, who recently graduated from Ohio State University, had played the first 41 holes of the tournament without making a bogey until that streak came to an end on the sixth hole Saturday, courtesy of a three-putt from about 25 feet.

He’d make two more — on the 10th and 11th holes — and suddenly was five strokes behind Keefer, who was playing in the same group as him.

“Those mistakes are just going to happen over a long tournament, especially with the wind blowing like this,” said Shipley. “But that’s something I was able to shake off rather quickly.”

Indeed, as birdies on 13, 14 and 16 combined with Keefer playing the final seven holes at one-over par brought Shipley right back into the mix, cutting the deficit to just one.

“That was a really good turnaround. Pretty happy about it,” he said. “I knew I just needed to make a couple birdies and keep plugging away, keep chipping away at that little lead he had.”

Shipley has enjoyed his time so far in Winnipeg, which included attending Friday night’s Blue Bombers game. His caddy is from Hamilton and was cheering for the Tiger-Cats, who lost in heartbreaking, last-minute fashion.

“I got recognized a number of times there, which was surprising to me, to be honest,” he said. “I had a lot of fun there. Being out here in Winnipeg, it’s a great opportunity to build some momentum going into the rest of the season and some of the events I’ll have in the fall here. I’m really excited about the way my game’s trending.”

The tournament began with 156 players, with the field cut to the top 60 and ties after 36 holes. That number ended up being 72 players advancing at seven-under par or better, which is the lowest mark in Manitoba Open history.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

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Mike McIntyre
Reporter

Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. Read more about Mike.

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