BERTHOUD >> Neal Shipley admitted afterward he thought he had no chance of winning The Ascendant after entering the final round Sunday seven strokes behind the leader.

Throughout his round at TPC Colorado, the 24-year-old Ohio State alumnus and winner of the 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills slowly worked his way up the leaderboard.

When he reached the 18th hole, he sank his birdie putt and celebrated, but with four groups still left to finish, he had to wait to find out his fate.

“I kind of knew, knowing from the leaderboards and everything, I knew that putt was huge,” he said. “I figured it would give me a chance to win, if not, lock up a solo second. And I knew if I could get a solo second, my PGA Tour card would pretty much be locked up or close to it.

“So, yeah, it was great to dodge those two guys coming in the clubhouse and not have to deal with the playoff.”

Those two guys Shipley was trying to dodge were Kevin Dougherty and Jorge Fernandez Valdes. Both were one shot behind Shipley with four and three holes still to play, respectively, thus forcing Shipley to wait, which he did on the practice green in case one of those chasing him forced a playoff.

Fernandez Valdes had a chance on 18 to tie Shipley and force at least a two-person playoff, but his birdie putt stuck on the lip of the cup and didn’t fall in.

When Dougherty got to 18, he also missed a birdie putt, which clinched the victory for Shipley, completing an seven-stroke comeback with a 64 on the day and a 270 for the tournament.

“I thought I had absolutely no chance,” he said. “It was nice to be able to chase some of those guys down.”

Shipley had a phenomenal front nine. He made birdie on the first three holes and four of the first five. He made eagle on the par-4 sixth and another birdie on nine to go out with a 29.

He birdied 10 but lost two strokes with a bogey on 13. He bounced back with a birdie on 14, and then made three straight pars before his birdie on 18 that gave him sole possession of the lead and pressure on the golfers still on the course.

That bounce-back on 14 gave him the confidence to finish his round strong.

“It was kind of unlucky,” he said of the bogey on 13. “I caught a really bad lie after my third shot. It just kind of came out hot on us and we ended up with an even worse low on our fourth, green side. I gave it a solid run. But I knew I had been hitting the ball well and came up to 13. I had great number for my 3-iron, and then I hit a nice little 18-, 20-footer and got it to go. It was good to get that bounce back from the double, and it was definitely huge for us today.”It was Shipley’s second Korn Ferry Tour victory of the season. He also won the LECOM Suncoast Classic in April.

He won $180,000 for winning The Ascendant and moved up to fourth in the Korn Ferry points standings with his win.

Dougherty and Fernandez Valdes ended up one stroke behind Shipley.

The leader going into the final round, Ross Steelman, had a rough round. He was even-par through his first five holes before going bogey, bogey, double-bogey on 6,7 and 8. He finished with a 75 for the round and 274 for the tournament, finishing in a tie for fourth place.

Other notable finishers included Korn Ferry points leader Austin Smotherman, who made a run at the course record in his final round.

Smotherman, who was 6 under going into the final round, was 8 under with two holes remaining but bogeyed 17 before making birdie on 18 to finish with a 64 on the day and a 274 for the tournament. He finished tied for fourth place as well.

Air Force alumnus and former Fort Collins resident Tom Whitney shot a 73 in his final round to finish with a four-day total of 281, good for a 37th-place tie. Former Colorado State Ram Connor Jones shot a 71 on Sunday to finish with a 279 and 24th-place tie.

Former Ascendant champion Zecheng Dou finished the tournament with a 69 in his final round to finish with a 277 total and 12th-place tie in the tournament.