Photo credit: Chris Keane/USGA
Special from Adrian Godoy/USGA
Mason Howell of Thomasville, Ga., took down Jackson “The Fridge” Herrington of Dickson, Tenn., to capture the 125th U.S. Amateur with a commanding 7-and-6 victory in Sunday’s 36-hole championship match at The Olympic Club’s Lake Course in San Francisco, Calif.
At 18 years, one month and three weeks old, Howell became the third-youngest player to ever hoist the Havemeyer Trophy, overtaking Tiger Woods, who won the first of his three when he was 18 years, seven months old, in 1994.
“My name next to these other names on this trophy is unbelievable. To be next to somebody named Tiger, that’s an unreal feeling,” said Howell, who had to play through Wednesday morning’s 20-for-17 playoff to secure a spot in the match play bracket. “To be ahead of Tiger in something, that’s something that not a lot of people can say.”
The young Georgian stumbled early, bogeying the first and second holes of the morning 18 to go 1 down after Herrington, a rising sophomore at the University of Tennessee, made a winning par on No. 2 to take his only lead of the day.
The University of Georgia commit answered back immediately, notching three consecutive pars against bogeys from Herrington to stack a 2 up lead through five. After halving the sixth with another pair of par putts, Howell laced a statement drive on the Lake Course’s drivable par-4 seventh green to 15-feet.
He converted the eagle putt to go 4 up and didn’t look back, making par or better on every remaining hole during the morning round until an errant wedge on the iconic uphill 18th lost him the last, and he headed into the lunch break 4 up.
“I wanted to keep my foot on the gas, but I didn’t want to do anything dumb. I knew if I hit it to a lot of the center of the greens and two-putted, that would be good enough,” Howell said.
Howell showed no signs of slowing down upon the continuation of the match in the afternoon. With a 4-up lead and 18 more holes to go, Howell played steady, smart golf around the Lake Course, capitalizing on Herrington’s mistakes by finding fairways and greens each time Herrington was long, short or out of position.
“I just played terrible. Can’t lie,” said Herrington, who also finished runner-up a year ago in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball. “I hit some good shots like this one [on No. 12 in the afternoon 18] that didn’t even end up close… I didn’t know what I was doing, and I couldn’t figure it out.
Howell won the 19th hole, and then the 21st, to go 6 up – both with pars once again. Herrington would grab one back after a Howell bogey at the 24th (No. 6), but the Georgian was quick to recover. He drove the green again in the afternoon, this time rolling into the greenside rough just behind the back-right hole location.
Herrington struggled to hit the green after pulling his tee shot into the left fairway rough, and Howell got up and down for birdie to go 7 up.
After an emphatic fist pump from Howell following a left-to-right breaking par save on the 29th hole (No. 11), Herrington responded with a par save of his own, extending what was ultimately inevitable.
Only needing a tie on the 30th hole to win the match, Howell calmly stepped up to his birdie putt, rolling it to a foot. Herrington conceded, and Howell was crowned champion.