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Mason Howell has one year back from high school, but he will be able to tell his classmates that he was playing in the US Open before graduating.
17-year-old Georgia High School Junior qualified for the 2025 US Open at the Piedmont Driving Club in Atlanta Monday after shooting an impressive 18-under-pair through two rounds. He is also one of the highest ranked junior golfers in the country and enters No. 8 on the American Junior Golf Association list. However, his achievement was remarkable considering that he was the 496th. Ranked amateur who went into Monday’s qualification.
“It was one of the greatest moments of my life,” Howell said after his two rounds.
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Mason Howell sees his shot during the American junior amateur championship in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., On July 23, 2024. (Raj Mehta/Getty Images)
“Golf’s Longest Day” is what the amateur qualifier is called, as golfers have to play two full rounds to determine who will participate in the 125th edition of Major Tournament held at the Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania this year.
It was definitely a violent day, but Howell breached through his 36 holes without putting a bogey on scorecard and shooting 63 in both his rounds to earn his place in the US open field.
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Howell finished tied to first with Jackson Buchanan, a 22-year-old University of Illinois golfer who also qualified for the tournament.
Mason Howell plays a shot during the American junior amateur championship in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., July 23, 2024. (Raj Mehta/Getty Images)
But there were not just amateurs in the field of qualification. The Masters winner in 2007, Zach Johnson, was among the PGA Tour veterans trying to enter the field. Only the top-five finishers on the leaderboard can enter Oakmont, and Howell now has plenty of momentum on the way into the tournament next week.
Mason Howell from the United States plays his shot during the American junior amateur championship in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., July 23, 2024. (Raj Mehta/Getty Images)
Howell comes from Thomasville, Georgia, where he plays for Brookwood High School Boy’s Golf Team, who won the program’s fourth state title in the last five years last month. Despite still having one more year before the exam, he has already committed to staying in the state for the next chapter of his golf career and playing for the Georgia Bulldogs.
