Ashley Shaw, a 15-year-old amateur golfer from Litchfield Park, Arizona, made her LPGA Tour in May at the LPGA Tour’s Cognizant Founders Cup.
THE JOHN SHIPPEN National Invitational is a series of competitions created to provide playing opportunities on the LPGA Tour and PGA TOUR for the nation’s top Black amateur and professional women and men golfers. The series includes THE JOHN SHIPPEN Cognizant Cup, THE JOHN SHIPPEN Women’s Invitational and THE JOHN SHIPPEN Men’s Invitational. The events are named after John Shippen, Jr., who was both the first American-born golf professional and the country’s first Black golf professional.
Shaw, the only amateur in the field, came out on top of an elite eight-player field. Atlanta native Mariah Stackhouse and Georgia Oboh, from Manchester, England, tied for second, while Palm Beach, Florida native Janelle Johnson finished fourth and defending champion Paige Crawford was fifth.
For the first time THE JOHN SHIPPEN National Invitational features prize purses for all three of its events this season. A total purse of $60,000 will be distributed across three events: THE JOHN SHIPPEN Cognizant Cup, THE JOHN SHIPPEN Women’s Invitational and THE JOHN SHIPPEN Men’s Invitational.
Since 2021, 90 of the nation’s best Black men and women golfers have competed in THE JOHN SHIPPEN, which has awarded playing opportunities on the PGA and LPGA Tours and donated $340,000 to local charities, scholarships and fellowships. SHIPPEN alumni continue to see success beyond the National Invitational through player-earned memberships on the PGA TOUR Champions, PGA TOUR Americas and Ladies European Tours.
The 36-hole women’s portion of THE JOHN SHIPPEN National Invitational will be held June 4–5 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the 36-hole men’s tournament will be June 22-23 at Detroit Golf Club.
For more information on THE JOHN SHIPPEN, visit www.TheJohnShippen.com.
