Litchfield resident to compete in national Black representation tournament

Litchfield Park resident Ashley Shaw will compete in an elite eight-player national golf tournament Monday.

The John Shippen Cognizant Cup, which will be held at the Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, N.J.,  is an 18-hole stroke-play event. The winner will earn 10,000 and a play-in to compete in the LPGA’s Cognizant Founders Cup on May 9.

A win could get Shaw closer to her dream.

“My ultimate goal is to play on the LPGA Tour and eventually get to the PGA Tour. They make the most money there. After that, I would like to use the money I’ve made to give back to the community and help others who come after me,” Shaw said in a previous interview with Independent Newsmedia.

Shaw’s long-term goals can shake the foundations.

“My ultimate goal is to play on the LPGA Tour and eventually get to the PGA Tour. They make the most money there. After that I would like to use the money I’ve made to give back to the community and help others who come after me,” Shaw said.

Shaw told Independent Newmedia she played many sports in her earliest years, until her dad came home with a set of clubs when she was seven.

She later played in her first tournament at eight.

The John Shippen National Invitational is a landmark for competitions, a foothold for diversity in the golfing world. It was created to provide playing opportunities on the LPGA and PGA tours for the nation’s top Black amateur and professional women and men golfers.

The events are named after John Shippen, Jr., the first American-born golf professional and the country’s first Black golf professional. Since 2021, 90 of the nation’s best Black men and women golfers have competed in the event. The invitational has awarded sixteen playing opportunities on the PGA and LPGA Tour. 

Independent Newsmedia reporter Richard Smith contributed to this story.