Daly City, California – The final match of the 125th United States Amateur Golf Championship didn’t provide the compelling drama we had hoped, but if it’s superb execution that that gets fired up, we had a gem.
Mason Howell of Thomasville, Georgia, dominated the match over Jackson Herrington of Dickson, Tennessee, to capture the 125th U.S. Amateur. He final tally was a 7-and-6 victory in Sunday’s 36-hole championship match at The Olympic Club’s Lake Course in San Francisco, Calif.
Howell became the third-youngest player ever to hoist the Havemeyer Trophy (18 years, one month and three weeks old), overtaking Tiger Woods 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 committed to the University of Georgia).
Howell got up early in the match, leading 2 up thru five. After they halved the sixth, Howell left no doubt – driving the Lake Course’s reachable seventh green to 15-feet – and drained the eagle putt to go 4 up… Herrington, who struggled all day, never would get closer. “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.
In the afternoon. Howell took his 4-up lead and expanded it by managing a conservative strategy with solid ball striking. around the recently renovated Gil Hanse designed Lake Course. “I just played terrible. Can’t lie,” said Herrington. “I hit some good shots like this one (on No. 12) that didn’t even end up close… I didn’t know what I was doing, and I couldn’t figure it out.
“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.
On hole #30 of the day, Howell calmly lagged his birdie putt to a foot. Herrington then conceded, and Howell became the Champion of the 125th U.S. Amateur.
Scoring: https://championships.usga.org/usamateur/2025/scoring.html
