Mason Howell’s Memorable USGA Year: In His Own Words

It’s hard to believe that my year as the 125th U.S. Amateur champion is coming to a close. Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was being handed the Havemeyer Trophy from USGA president Fred Perpall at The Olympic Club?

What a wild past 365 days it has been for me and my family. Last week, we took our final pictures with this trophy before sadly shipping it back to the USGA. Hopefully, the separation won’t last long. I’m hoping to play well this coming week at historic Merion to get one more year with this prestigious piece of hardware.

My remarkable 2025 summer campaign didn’t begin and end with my improbable run at The Olympic Club. It actually started in early June when I shot a pair of 62s ni Atlanta, to qualify for my first U.S. Open. Even though I missed the cut at Oakmont  the hardest course I’ve ever played, the week gave me so much confidence going forward.

Walking the fairways with the best pro golfers on the planet was a priceless learning experience. I was able to get an up close and personal look at how these guys prepare for a major championship. What 17-year-old high school senior wouldn’t want that? I played with  Georgia alum Harris English a couple of times in the practice rounds. I’m headed to Georgia this fall, so it’s always good to talk Georgia athletics with a fellow Dawg. I also played a few holes with Tony Finau and Tommy Fleetwood. Great guys.

It was such a cool week.

A month later I was in Dallas for my final U.S. Junior. Trinity Forest set up well for me and I played phenomenal golf in stroke play  to earn medalist honors. Unfortunately, I drew an extremely difficult No. 64 seed, U.S. National Junior Team member Henry Guan, who was headed to Oklahoma State a month later. At that time, my match-play experience was limited, and although I didn’t play poorly against Henry, I wound up losing, 1 down.

It also was a valuable match-play lesson: On any given day, anyone can beat you. Seeding or reputation doesn’t matter.

So, I had some extra motivation for the U.S. Am. Of course, I had to make match play, but I knew if I advanced into the draw, all it would take is winning that first  match to gain some momentum.

I didn’t make it easy on myself. After two rounds of stroke play, I found myself in a 20-for-17 playoff on the Ocean Course (the matches were on the Lake Course) for a spot in the draw. I liked my odds, but these things are never automatic. I wound up nabbing the second-to-last spot and the No. 63 seed.

Interesting enough, I went from being the No. 1 seed at the Junior Am, where I lost in the opening round, to the 63rd seed at the Am, where I somehow managed to take the title. How wild is that?

My first-round opponent: Texas All-American Tommy Morrison. We could have taken this battle to the basketball court. He’s like the tallest guy in golf at 6-foot-9 and I’m 6-4.

Because of the 2:45 p.m. start time, I went back to our Airbnb and took about a 90-minute nap. Then I came back to Olympic and went through my routine as if I had not played earlier in the day.

At the outset, it looked like Tommy would send me packing back to Georgia. I conceded the first hole – I would have probably made a 9 – and then he birdied the second for a 2-up lead. But I wasn’t flustered or angry. I knew a lot of holes remained if I just stuck to my game plan.

I never led the entire match until the 19th hole, when he made his second mistake. He bogeyed the 17th to allow me to tie it up and then he doubled the 19th, the 522-yard first hole.

Whew. Maybe that loss to Henry a month earlier subconsciously was still with me. I would say that I never let that bleed over to the Amateur.

Three rounds later in the quarterfinals, I faced Little John Daly, the son of the two-time major champion. The crowd was definitely with him. He was a bigger name and had golf pedigree. I played my best golf of the week that day. The golf course was playing the hardest it had all week. And he was really tough on me. Just when I thought I was going to wrap things up early, he answered, taking me all the way to the 18th hole. Then he stuffed his second to 5 feet, putting the pressure squarely on my shoulders. And I answered his great shot with an even better one to 2½ feet. Matching birdies meant I was headed to the semifinals.

Saturday was the most nervous I had been all week. People say the semifinal is the toughest match to win at the U.S. Amateur because of all the perks that go to the two finalists: U.S. Open exemption and an invitation to the Masters. As a Georgia kid, getting the chance to play at Augusta is the ultimate fantasy.

People say they don’t think about those things prior to the match, but they are lying. It’s impossible to totally block that out of your mind. You just try to stay as focused as possible.

My opponent was Oklahoma State standout Eric Lee. It was a wild match because he was hitting it everywhere and still managing to make remarkable pars. His short game was incredible. I tried not to let that fluster me. Staying in my own bubble and sticking to what I do best carried me past Eric, 3 and 2.

Remarkably, I slept well that Saturday night going into Sunday’s 36-hole final against Jackson Herrington. I knew there was still stuff to play for, namely the Havemeyer Trophy, plus a spot on the USA Walker Cup Team and an exemption into the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

Going into the summer, the Walker Cup – and winning the U.S. Amateur – was the furthest from my mind. I was nowhere near the radar of Captain Nathan Smith. I know Jackson, a lefty from Tennessee, didn’t have his best stuff that day, but I also stayed consistent throughout the 7-and-6 victory.

At the moment, it was difficult to process everything that was about to change in my golf life. Everything was so bang bang. I won the U.S. Amateur, went home to Thomasville, Ga., for about 10 days and started my senior year. There were a lot of media requests, so trying to normalize things wasn’t easy. But as soon as I settled into my classes and got reacquainted with all my friends, I was back on a plane for San Francisco.

We got fitted for our Walker Cup uniforms at Olympic , the same place where I had just secured my biggest title less than two weeks earlier.

Then it was off to Cypress Point, one of the coolest places I have ever played. What a place. So special being around the other nine guys who accepted me immediately, even though I was much younger than most. During the final practice round, I made an albatross on the par-5 second hole, setting the stage for a memorable weekend on the Monterey Peninsula.

Captain Smith held me out of the Saturday foursomes session, so I was chomping at the bit to play my singles match that afternoon, where I beat  Luke Poulter (3 and 2), the son of European Ryder Cup stalwart Ian Poulter. Then the next day in foursomes with Jacob Modleski, I closed out our 2-and-1 victory by holing out from the fairway for an eagle 2. I couldn’t have scripted a better ending. Such a cool moment on one of the best holes on the course.

I tied my afternoon singles match against Connor Graham, but we had basically clinched the match at that point. Just an unbelievable week. I hope I can get back there to play the course someday.

But I didn’t have too much downtime. The celebration had barely ended when I was back on a plane from Atlanta to Singapore for the World Amateur Team Championship with Preston Stout and Ethan Fang, a pair of Oklahoma State All-Americans who also played the Walker Cup with me. It was a 5-hour flight to San Francisco and then another 14 hours to Singapore. Thanks to the USGA, we flew first class.

Unfortunately, we struggled the first day and wound up tying for 10th. Still an incredible experience outside of the heat. That week, the Formula 1 race was in town so we were able to take that in. Otherwise, it was just golf and the hotel, although I wasn’t brave enough to try the local food. I’ll stick with what I enjoy eating.

The reality of playing in the 2026 Masters came to fruition when I officially received my invitation just before Christmas. It’s a little surreal. Between January and the start of the Masters, I made five trips to the club, including once with my dad (Robert) and a member who invited us. Otherwise, you are only allowed to bring one non-playing guest. In this case, my caddie Jimmy Gillam, the assistant pro at my home club (Glen Arven Country Club) and my ex-high school coach.

During Masters week, I sought a couple of the Georgia guys, but also my idol Rory McIlroy. Ever since I started playing the game, I have always admired Rory for his ability and class. Because Augusta always pairs the U.S. Amateur champion with the defending Masters champ, I got to play the first two rounds with him and Cameron Young.

How cool is that?

These guys are so inviting to young amateurs like myself. Earlier in the week, I picked the brain of Justin Rose and Jacob Bridgeman. Everybody I played with was definitely willing to show me around.

On Monday night, I attended the annual Amateur Dinner hosted by Augusta Chairman Fred Ridley and stayed in the famous Crow’s Nest atop the clubhouse with two other amateurs. We didn’t check out much of the clubhouse, but we found an employee who gave me some lemonade and watched the NCAA title game between Michigan and UConn on a little TV in the Crow’s Nest.

Wish I would have played better on Thursday and Friday to make the cut, but that didn’t spoil the week. That’s kind of your next goal when you get to a major like the Masters. You want to be low amateur and get invited to Butler Cabin for the informal prize ceremony with CBS’ Jim Nantz and Chairman Ridley. Hopefully, another chance will come my way sooner than later.

Next was the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills which was much different than the previous year at Oakmont. I had been through it before, so I wasn’t a fish out of water. But I was struggling a bit with my game. At least I got a Wednesday afternoon practice round with Rory. I know sometimes he gets a bad rap by members of the media, but he’s such a genuine guy. To see his ball striking up close was really cool.

Then I got paired the first few days with defending champion J.J. Spaun and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, two great guys. My putting was not very good on Thursday and after I made a slight adjustment, I played much better in Round 2. It just wasn’t good enough to play the weekend.

My final major of the year would take place in England at Royal Birkdale. My dad and two of my best friends from high school, Shep and Stafford Davis, went over about 10 days early to get adjusted to links golf. Shep is a rising sophomore at Cornell and Stafford is hoping to play at the college level somewhere in 2027. We played Southport & Ainsdale, Hillside and Royal Lytham & St. Annes, which just hosted the AIG Women’s Open. We had a blast. Playing those venues helped me prepare for Royal Birkdale.

The courses were baked out because of the dry summer, but for me the adjustment to that style of golf wasn’t too difficult.

This time, I came within a hair of making the cut. Bogeyed my final hole to miss by one, despite shooting 69. But I edged one playing partner (Tom Kim), and matched my other (Billy Horschel). Tom was coming off a solo third in the U.S. Open at Shinnecock.

Birkdale was an awesome place. The crowds were massive. They really love their golf in the U.K.

The last thing I need to figure out is how to make a cut in a PGA Tour/DP World Tour event. I have now played in 10. I’m not that far off. I know my game is good enough to compete at that level.

That’s what I’ll be looking to improve upon as I enter the next phase of my golf career at the University of Georgia. I’ll be rooming with Hamilton Coleman, a fellow Georgian and 2025 U.S. Junior Amateur champion, and Drew Woolworth from Oregon.

We report to campus on Aug. 17, which is the day after this year’s U.S. Amateur concludes.

It sure would be nice to decorate the place with another nice piece of hardware.