Seventeen year old golfing sensation Mason Howell is making waves after securing his spot in the US Open with a remarkable qualifying performance that has left the golfing fraternity abuzz.
The Thomasville, Georgia native and high school junior stunned onlookers at Piedmont Driving Club by outperforming 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson by an astonishing 10 strokes.
Howell took on the formidable “Golf’s Longest Day” challenge in Atlanta, where he had to endure two exhaustive rounds of golf in just one day.
While seasoned professionals like Max Homa and Rickie Fowler have found the task daunting, Howell sailed through with flying colours, posting an astounding 18-under-par total.
He delivered consecutive rounds of 63, remarkably completing the qualifier without dropping a single shot, and capped it off with a birdie on the par-5 18th hole to clinch first place.
Despite being only 17 and still attending Brookwood High School with a graduation year of 2026, Howell’s prodigious talent has already earned him a verbal commitment to the University of Georgia’s prestigious golf program.
Howell’s passion for golf started at the tender age of three, and by six, he was already competing, marking the beginning of what promises to be an illustrious career.
His trophy cabinet has swelled with a string of impressive accolades since, including no fewer than 11 top-10 finishes, alongside victories at the 2023 Billy Horschel Junior Championship and the Future Masters Tournament in Alabama.
“Tournament golf has been a big part of my life,” Howell once said in an interview in 2022. “I would encourage kids to start playing golf and get it into it because it’s one of the greatest sports you can play.”
Further proof of his talent came to the forefront just last month when he led his high school team to an impressive fourth Georgia state championship in just five years, and he also took the low medalist honour in a nail-biting playoff at the state championship.
With Howell primed to do battle with the notoriously treacherous Oakmont course, his awe-inspiring display in qualifying bodes well and proves he is more than worthy of rubbing shoulders with the sport’s elite amateurs.
This trajectory from competing in local junior tournaments to one of the grandest platforms in golf is a testament to both his innate prowess and his relentless progress. The 2025 US Open will undoubtedly present a stiff challenge, and the attention of the golf world will be firmly fixed on this teenage sensation as he makes his eagerly-awaited major debut.
