OAKMONT, Pa. — When Mason Howell was 4 years previous, he dressed up as a golfer for Halloween.
Not a contemporary famous person like Tiger Woods or Rickie Fowler, however Nineteen Twenties champion Bobby Jones, full with knickers, tall socks and a flat cap.
“It truly is all he desires to do,” mentioned Robb Howell, his father. “He’d relatively do that than eat or sleep, definitely relatively do that than go to highschool. He desires to play golf.”
The 17-year-old will get to play on one in every of golf’s greatest levels this week on the one hundred and twenty fifth U.S. Open at Oakmont Nation Membership. He is the youngest golfer within the 156-player area.
“It form of simply reveals that the arduous work does repay,” Howell mentioned “All the times in the course of the summer time down within the south Georgia warmth, sweating, simply beating balls and attempting to make putts, and simply a number of arduous work. This expertise is not like one thing I’ve ever completed earlier than, so it is completely loopy.”
Howell’s dream come true begins at 8:46 a.m. ET Thursday when he tees off on the tenth gap at Oakmont with Chris Gotterup and DP World Tour participant Joakim Lagergren.
Howell did not precisely sneak into the sphere. On Could 8, he was the co-medalist in native qualifying at Hawkstone Nation Membership in Gainesville, Florida, by posting a 7-under 64.
In ultimate qualifying at Piedmont Driving Membership in Atlanta, Howell did not make a bogey in 36 holes whereas posting a pair of 9-under 63s. He was co-medalist with former Illinois star Jackson Buchanan, a 2024 U.S. Beginner semifinalist.
That area additionally included previous main champions Zach Johnson and Jason Dufner and PGA Tour golfers Will Chandler, Hayden Buckley, Greyson Sigg and others.
“I am stunned he did it in that atmosphere, however I am not stunned he could make that many birdies,” Robb Howell mentioned. “I’ve seen him do {that a} bunch. I’ve seen him shoot 60 or 61 at our course a number of occasions.”
Actually, Howell recorded a 13-under 59 at Glen Arven Nation Membership in his hometown of Thomasville, Georgia.
He was 14.
Robb Howell and his spouse, Lauren, gave Mason his first set of golf equipment when he was 5. He competed in his first match the following 12 months. When Mason was 12, he give up enjoying tennis and baseball to give attention to golf.
Howell competed on the varsity workforce as a sixth grader on the Maclay Faculty in Tallahassee, Florida.
“He was 12, enjoying in opposition to these highschool youngsters,” Robb Howell mentioned. “They might stroll to the primary tee, and a few 18-year-old would take a look at this child and say, ‘Gosh, I’ll kill him.’ Then he’d be shedding by 4 photographs after three holes.”
Howell has competed on the varsity squad on the Brookwood Faculty in Thomasville for the reason that eighth grade. In April, Brookwood Faculty captured its fourth Georgia Impartial Athletic Affiliation state title previously 5 years; Howell was the person state champion after surviving a playoff.
Howell was ranked the 470th-best golfer within the World Beginner Rating earlier than U.S. Open qualifying. He received his age division on the 2022 Future Masters in Dothan, Alabama, the identical match Masters champions Bubba Watson and Scottie Scheffler captured as juniors. Howell additionally completed first within the 2023 Billy Horschel Junior Championships and superior to match play within the 2024 U.S. Junior Beginner.
“He is an unbelievable expertise, and he loves it,” mentioned Brookwood Faculty coach Jimmy Gillam. “He works his ass off, and that is what I really like most. He does not get wrapped up within the success. He squashes it after which seems to be ahead to the following match.”
Gillam, who’s an assistant educating professional at Glen Arven Nation Membership, recalled Howell calling him on a chilly December morning a few years in the past, wanting a chipping lesson. Gillam instructed him there was a frost delay and he’d have to attend till it warmed up.
“I am on my approach,” Howell instructed him. “I am prepared now.”
Gillam is caddying for Howell this week. A local of Altoona, Pennsylvania, Gillam received the 2018 Western Pennsylvania Open at Oakmont. He competed on mini-tours till a again harm ended his profession.
Gillam known as Howell “probably the greatest putters I’ve ever seen.” Howell carries his drives so far as 305 yards and hits a 7-iron about 195.
“It is like enjoying a online game,” Gillam mentioned. “Everytime you’re working with him, he can simply decide it up so quick, and it is going to be an superior check for him. He will study a lot about himself. He will learn to play very disciplined golf, as a result of if you happen to attempt to get grasping out right here, you are going to actually get bit.”
Howell performed apply rounds with five-time PGA Tour winner Harris English on Monday and Tuesday. English spent a part of his childhood in Thomasville and performed as a junior at Glen Arven.
“He is nice,” English mentioned. “He is approach higher than I used to be at 17. I could not think about enjoying this occasion going into your senior 12 months of highschool. He is acquired all of the instruments: He is lengthy, he can flight it, looks like a great wedge participant. He is acquired all of the instruments.”
A rising senior on the Brookwood Faculty, Howell has dedicated to play golf on the College of Georgia in 2026, English’s alma mater. Howell’s sister, Meg, is a rising junior at Georgia, and his mom is a UGA graduate. Robb Howell attended Georgia’s regulation faculty.
“As I instructed him this week, it is nearly gaining expertise,” English mentioned. “He will be enjoying in a number of these, and the earlier you’ll be able to change into comfy out right here, enjoying in entrance of those crowds, enjoying golf programs like this, the higher. For him, simply the expertise is unimaginable, and simply soak it in and never be too arduous on your self. I imply, he is nonetheless younger.”
Howell understands that Oakmont Nation Membership’s 5-inch tough and lightning-fast greens will problem even the perfect golfers on the planet. His purpose is to make the 36-hole lower and win low beginner honors, as Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Viktor Hovland and others have completed.
“I do know he desires to compete,” English mentioned. “I do know he desires to make the lower. He desires to have an opportunity to win, however that is the toughest check now we have in golf. We do not see it a complete lot, and that is his first time seeing it. So he will study lots about himself, lots about his recreation, and seeing this type of stage of golf is an superior expertise for him.”
Reigning U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau additionally supplied phrases of recommendation for Howell: “Simply be grateful, that is one factor.”
“I used to be so targeted once I was 17 on being the perfect participant I could possibly be, I overpassed how cool it was to be touring the nation at the moment and enjoying golf,” mentioned DeChambeau, who competed in his first U.S. Open as a 21-year-old in 2015. “I misplaced slightly little bit of that.”
If Howell makes the lower, he would change into the third-youngest golfer to do it within the U.S. Open since World Struggle II. Beau Hossler (17 years, 3 months) tied for twenty ninth as an beginner in 2012; Michael Thorbjornsen (17 years, 8 months) was 79th in 2019.
Howell turns 18 on June 28.
“It is fairly cool for a guardian to look at a child’s dream come true, you realize?” Robb Howell mentioned. “That is what my spouse and I are attending to do proper now in entrance of our eyes, which is fairly particular. All he is ever needed to do was play golf, and he is needed to be an expert golfer his entire life.”