(Editor’s note: Golfweek’s Cameron Jourdan is following all the action from Olympic Club. Check out his updates from the championship match here.)
Mason Howell thought his first U.S. Amateur had come to an end.
He was a part of a 20-for-17 playoff Wednesday morning to get into match play at The Olympic Club, and after a par on the opening hole, he stepped to the tee of the par-4 10th. It was now a 17-for-16 playoff, and but when Howell’s putt for bogey dropped, his head and body slumped over. He thought he would have to grind it out on another playoff hole.
That’s when a fellow competitor and fan in the crowd told him he was going to be OK. A player before him made a double bogey. Howell was into the match-play bracket.
And the rest is history.
Howell, the 18-year-old high school senior, won the 125th U.S. Amateur on Sunday at The Olympic Club, topping rising Tennessee sophomore Jackson Herrington 7 and 6 in the 36-hole final. Howell led 4 up at the lunch break and then took control right off the bat in the afternoon, winning the first hole and cruising to his first USGA title.
“It’s been a long week,” Howell said. “It feels like I’ve been here a month.”
Howell, who won medalist honors at the U.S. Junior Amateur three weeks ago and qualified for the U.S. Open by shooting a pair of 63s in his Georgia qualifier, is the third-youngest champion in the 125-year history of the U.S. Amateur. The youngest U.S. Amateur champions are Byeong Hun An, who won in 2009 at 17 years, 11 months, and 13 days old at Southern Hills, and Danny Lee, who won in 2008 at 18 years and 1 month old at Pinehurst No. 2. Howell is 18 years, 1 month and 20 days old. It’s also the youngest championship matchup in the history of the U.S. Amateur.
As if that history wasn’t enough, Howell is the second 63rd seed to win the U.S. Amateur, joining Steven Fox in 2012 at Cherry Hills.
And in three weeks, he’ll be a part of the United States Walker Cup team at Cypress Point Club. All of this before starting his senior year of high school.
In match play, he took down second-seed and world No. 6 Tommy Morrison in the Round of 64 before taking down world No. 2 Ben James in the Round of 32. Then he took down Max Herendeen, John Daly II and Eric Lee before his matchup with Herrington in the final, and now, he’s a USGA champion.
In that championship match, Howell was nearly perfect. Herrington only won four of the 30 holes played, and every time he won a hole, Howell bounced back and won the next. Herrington led 1 up after two holes, but Howell responded by winning five of the next six holes and was 4 up at the turn.
Going to the lunch break, Herrington won the 18th hole to shrink the deficit to 4 down, but Howell again had a response. He won the 19th and 21st holes to go 6 up, and after Herrington managed to win his first hole of the afternoon on the 24th, Howell won the 25th and 27th to take his 7-up advantage at the turn.
The duo then tied the next three holes, but that’s all Howell needed. He was a U.S. Amateur champion.
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