At the age of 17, Mason Howell is the youngest player in the US Open Field

Oakmont, Pa. – When Mason Howell was 4 years old, he dressed as a golfer for Halloween.

No modern superstar like Tiger forests or Rickie FowlerBut 1920 champion Bobby Jones, complete with knickers, high socks and a flat cap.

“It’s really all he wants to do,” said Robb Howell, his father. “He would rather do this than eating or sleeping, definitely do this rather than going to school. He wants to play golf.”

The 17-year-old will play this week in one of the largest stages of Golf in the 125th US Open at Oakmont Country Club. He is the youngest golfer in the 156 players field.

“It simply shows that the hard work is bearing fruit,” Howell “said every day in the middle of the summer in the heat of South georgia, sweating, just beating balls and trying to make puts, and just a lot of hard work. This experience is different from something I have ever done before, so it’s absolutely crazy.”

Howell’s Dream Come True starts with 8:46 am et Thursday when he leaves On the 10th hole near Oakmont with Chris Gotterup and DP World Tour Player Joakim Lagergren.

Howell did not sleep exactly in the field. On May 8, he was the co-medalist in local qualification at Hawkstone Country Club in Gainenville, Florida, by posting a 7-under 64.

In the final qualification at Piedmont Driving Club in Atlanta, Howell did not make a bogey in 36 holes while placing a few 9-under 63s. He was co-medalistic with the former Illinois star Jackson BuchananAn American amateur semi -finalist.

That field also included large champions Zach Johnson And Jason Dufner and PGA Tour -Golfers Will Chandler” Hayden Buckley” Grayson Sigg And others.

“I am surprised that he did it in that area, but I am not surprised that he can make so many birdies,” said Robb Howell. “I have seen him do that a couple. I have seen him shoot 60 or 61 on our course several times.”

Howell even registered a 13-under 59 in Glen Arven Country Club in his home town of Thomasville, Georgia.

He was 14.

Robb Howell and his wife, Lauren, gave Mason his first set of clubs when he was 5. He participated in his first tournament the following year. When Mason was 12, he stopped playing tennis and baseball to concentrate on golf.

Howell participated in the Varsity team as the sixth class at the Maclay school in Tallahassee, Florida.

“He was 12 and played against these high school children,” said Robb Howell. “They would walk to the first tee, and an 18-year-old would look at this child and say,” Gosh, I’m going to kill him. ” Then he would lose with four shots after three holes. “

Since the eighth grade, Howell has participated in the Varsity team at the Brookwood School in Thomasville. In April, Brookwood School won its fourth Georgia Independent Athletic Association State Title in the past five years; Howell was the individual state champion after the survival of a play -off.

Howell was ranked on the 470th best golfer in the world amateur ranking list for US Open qualification. He won his age division at the Future Masters in 2022 in Dothan, Alabama, the same tournament masters champions Bubba Watson And Scottie Scheffler taken prisoner as juniors. Howell was also the first in the Billy Horschel Junior Championships 2023 and went ahead to match the game in the US Junior Amateur 2024.

“He is an incredible talent and he thinks it’s great,” said Brookwood School coach Jimmy Gillam. “He finishes his ass, and that’s what I love the most. He is not packed in success. He squanted it and then looks forward to the next tournament.”

Gillam, an assistant -lessons in Glen Arven Country Club, remembered that Howell called him a few years ago on a cold December morning and wanted a chipping lesson. Gillam told him that there was a prince delay and he would have to wait until it warmed up.

“I’m on the road,” Howell told him. “I’m ready now.”

Gillam Caddying for Howell this week. Gillam, born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, won the Western Pennsylvania 2018 open in Oakmont. He participated in mini tours until a back injury ended his career.

Gillam called Howell “one of the best putters I have ever seen.” Howell wears his discs up to 305 meters and touches a 7-iron around 195.

“It’s like playing a video game,” said Gillam. “When you work with him, he can just pick it up so quickly, and it will be a great test for him. He is going to learn so much about himself. He will learn how to play very disciplined golf, because if you try to get greedy here, you will really get a little bit.”

Howell played practice rounds with five times PGA Tour winner Harris Engels On Monday and Tuesday. English spent part of his youth in Thomasville and played as a junior at Glen Arven.

“He’s great,” said English. “He is much better than I at the age of 17. I could not imagine that I played this event in your last year of high school. He has all the tools: he is long, he can flee, seems like a good wedge player. He has all the tools.”

Howell is an emerging senior at the Brookwood School and promised to play golf in 2026 at the University of Georgia, Alma Mater van Engels. Howell’s sister, Meg, is a rising junior in Georgia, and his mother graduated from Uga. Robb Howell went to the law school of Georgia.

“As I told him this week, it’s only about gaining experience,” said English. “He goes in many of these games, and the sooner you can become comfortable here, playing for this bustle, golf courses such as these playing, the better. For him, only the experience is incredible, and just to be and not too hard for yourself. I mean, he is still young.”

Howell understands that the 5-inch raw and lightning-fast green of Oakmont Country Club will even challenge the best golfers in the world. His goal is to cut the 36-hole and to win low amateur awards, such as Jack Nicklaus” Phil Mickelson” Viktor HOVOLAND And others did it.

“I know he wants to compete,” said English. “I know he wants to make the cut. He wants to get the chance to win, but this is the most difficult test we have in Golf. We don’t see it very much, and this is his first time it sees. So he is going to learn a lot about himself, a lot about his game, and this kind of golf is a great experience for him.”

Reign our open champion Bryson Dechambeau Advice also offered words for Howell: “Just be grateful, that’s one thing.”

“I was so focused when I was 17 when I was the best player I could be, I lost sight of how cool it was to travel through the country and play golf at that time,” said Decchambeau, who participated in his first US Open as a 21-year-old in 2015. “I lost a little bit of it.”

If Howell makes the cut, he would become the third-jongest golfer who has been opening it in the US since the Second World War. Beau Hossler (17 years, 3 months) Bound for 29th as an amateur in 2012; Michael Thorbjornsen (17 years, 8 months) was 79th in 2019.

Howell will be 18 on June 28.

“It’s pretty cool for a parent to look a child’s dream come true, you know?” Said Robb Howell. “That is what my wife and I can now do before our eyes, which is quite special. The only thing he ever wanted to do was golf, and he wanted to become a professional golfer all his life.”