Mason Howell, 17, will undoubtedly remember qualifying for the 2025 golf tournament, the U.S. Open as “one of the greatest moments” of his life
Players competed for 36 holes at seven U.S. Open Final Qualifying locations in the United States and one in Canada on Monday, with a total of 47 berths up for grabs. The United States Golf Association received a record 10,202 entries for the tournament, and many competitors had to first advance from local qualifiers.
Who is Mason Howell as high school junior golfer qualifies for US Open, bio, age, parents, girlfriend, golf ranking and Instagram
One of the better performances you'll ever see on Golf's Longest Day… and it was from a high schooler!
17-year-old Mason Howell is heading to Oakmont. pic.twitter.com/S0PSKOsMIN
— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 2, 2025
Several amateurs, including Mason Howell, were making progress. Matt Vogt, a full-time, amateur dentist from Indianapolis, won his qualifier in Walla Walla, Washington.
During one of six qualifying events throughout the nation on Monday, “Golf’s Longest Day,” high school junior Mason Howell shot 18-under par at Piedmont Driving Club in Atlanta, earning him the chance to compete in the third major of the season.
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“It was a roller coaster all day,” the Georgia-based teen said after shooting a pair of 63s in two rounds. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was nervous, but just hugging my mom and my dad walking off the 18th green is just a feeling I don’t know if I’ll feel again, but that was one of the greatest moments of my life.”
17-year-old Mason Howell from Thomasville, Georgia, will be one of the youngest competitors at the prestigious tournament after he shot 63-63 back to back (18 birdies, 18 pars) at Piedmont Driving Club today to qualify for the US Open. He is currently dating Sellers Newman with the two often posting each other on their Instagram profiles. Details about his family members and parents aren’t known though.
Howell first picked up a golf club at age three and has played in tournaments since he was six-years-old and last month, he was part of the boy’s golf team that won the Georgia state championship, the program’s fourth title in five years. Howell won the low medalist at the state championship, winning the honor in a playoff.
In his amateur career, he won the 2023 Billy Horschel Junior Championship and has 11 top-10 finishes in his young career and also won the Future Masters Tournament in Alabama in 2023. He entered the US Open qualifiers as the 496th ranked amateur.
Howell, who ranks 126th in Data Golf’s amateur rankings, committed to play college golf at Georgia in September 2024 and while qualifying for a U.S. Open at 17 years old is an impressive feat, Howell is old compared to the youngest player to ever qualify for the major championship, as Andy Zhang managed to do so at just 14 years old back in 2012.
After graduating from Brookwood High School in 2026 where is he currently a high school junior, Howell, who is ranked No. 8 in the American Junior Golf Association rankings for males, will eventually play collegiately at the University of Georgia, according to USA Today.
Jackson Buchanan, with whom he tied for first Monday, Jackson Koivun, Tyler Weaver, and Will Chandler, who completed the top five in the qualifier and punched their tickets to the U.S. Open, will join Howell when he competes at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania next week for his first major championship start.
More than a dozen LIV Golf players were at a qualifier in Rockville, Md., with the league playing a tournament later this week in Gainesville, Va. In a 3-for-2 playoff in which teammate LIV golfer Sebastian Munoz was the odd man out, Marc Leishman was the only LIV player to advance.