He’s one of the rarest U.S. Open golfers. Just ask…another 17-year-old

OAKMONT, Pa. — M’s are loopy, as are H’s, so Mason Howell needed a pen on Sunday at his Airbnb and a whole lot of ink.  

Folks were soon gonna want his autograph at Oakmont Country Club, and the current version was tougher to read than the greens there. 

“I had to do a little bit of practice,” he said.

By Tuesday morning, either he’d found his groove, or no one seemed to mind. Hats came. Flags. Giant rubber golf balls. To the victor went the merch. As to what the faithful here actually were getting, besides a M-a-s-o-n H-o-w-e-l-l? Then and there, a memento from a rarity. At 17 years old, he’s the latest in a short list of golfers under the age of 18 to play a U.S. Open, now toasting its 125th birthday. Of course, all that should tell you something.     

The 17-year-old’s good. 

Damn good.

Stand a par-5 away, and you’d swear he was a Tour pro. His swing is an exercise in efficiency — to, fro, boom, repeat, be it on the start of a hole, its finish or somewhere in the fairway, a most frequent hangout. More facts and figures bear that out. In early May, he co-medaled at his Open local qualifier. Nine days ago, at his final qualifier, he shot a pair of 63s to co-medal again. He’s a state champ, playing out of the Brookwood School in Thomasville, Ga., which is also his hometown. He’s a University of Georgia golf recruit, though he won’t be in Athens until the fall of 2026; Howell’s just a junior. 

Believers in him are everywhere. Mom Lauren is. She tells you about photos. 

Media types, she says, have been calling for some good snaps, and her search has somehow been both annoying and fruitful. 

“The thing that I keep finding,” Lauren said, “is so many are almost dark or almost the sun is rising. And it’s just the work that he has put in. Sometimes he has a round that we’re just like, what a great day or whatever, but he knows more about his game than we do, and he had something that didn’t go quite his way in his mind, and he’ll go back out in the wee hours. 

“We’ve picked him up at the course before he could drive in the moonlight because he was still out there chipping and putting.” 

Mason’s father, Robb, has seen that. He said he picked up golf in law school. Before dad and young son watched on TV, young son gave things a go with a plastic club, young son asked to go to the course — and then he was off. “It’s all he wants to do,” Robb said. “He doesn’t want to eat. He doesn’t even really want to sleep. He definitely doesn’t want to go to school.” But he’ll fish. And play poker. Robb has a story here. His son’s gang plays Texas Hold ’Em. Cash games. Tournaments. The cards fly. Eventually Robb will get in. But even here, there’s golf. 

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“I like to keep a poker face on the course,” the 17-year-old said. 

“I like to so people can’t tell if I just made a bogey or a birdie. Keep the same face no matter what throughout the interview.”

His disposition, the inner circle says, is his strength. Here, Robb has another story, though it takes him a sec to finish it. Last Monday, after he’d qualified for a U.S. Open, at dripping-with-history Oakmont, the kid greeted mom and dad near the 18th green with two words. 

“He said thank you,” Robb said.

He paused. You know why. 

“He’s always recognized that he didn’t do this by himself. And his family and friends were all a big part of his journey. He’s always quick to give credit where credit is due. He’s a good, good young man.”

Thursday, the 17-year-old starts his first round at 8:46 a.m. off hole No. 10, and Friday, he’ll play his second round starting at 2:31 p.m. on hole No. 1, and the hopes are what you’d expect — reach Saturday and Sunday, then go from there. Win? Why not? At least be low amateur. You shouldn’t shy away from lofty goals. He said he has the game. You shouldn’t say you don’t. 

But he’s also 17. Robb remembers those days, and he answers quicker than his son’s swing when asked if he could do what his son is about to try when he was a teen. 

“Absolutely not,” he said. “I don’t have the talent and the ability.

“Nor do I have the nerves.” 

Lauren? 

“I know I couldn’t,” she said. “Because I would be just a ball of nerves and would hit it probably two feet in front of me.”

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What about Jimmy Gillam? He’s Mason’s high school coach, his short-game coach out of his base at Glen Arven Country Club, also in Thomasville, and this week, he’s working as his caddie. He’s won an event at Oakmont. Through some friends, he’s helped set up the team’s nearby house this week. 

“Yeah, no chance,” he said of duplicating the task.

Naturally, the inner circle also believes that their 17-year-old can, for all the reasons above. The good head. The good game. Talent’s also cropping up earlier in golf. Squint, and a junior event looks like a Tour stop, complete with polos, khakis and 350-yard missiles. “They are playing at a professional level,” Robb said. “I know the margin is not quite, but they have all the shots.”

You wonder, though: What would another 17-year-old say? Maybe one who’s watched the U.S. Open’s 17-year-old — and wondered, like the U.S. Open’s 17-year-old, about homecoming. Talk about an authoritative source. You don’t have to look far — one just so happens to be his standard bearer during his practice round on Tuesday afternoon. One 17-year-old holding a sign with the name of another 17-year-old is a sight. They both have hair that pops out from underneath their hats. The volunteer says he’s played Oakmont. He says he’s about a 1- or 2-handicap. 

He says he couldn’t do what Mason’s doing. 

He also said he’s never anyone like Mason.

At least not at his age. 

“It’s absolutely amazing,” the standard bearer says. “It’s truly spectacular what he’s doing, the work he’s put in and how he stays cool, calm and collected under pressure is just amazing to watch.”

Minutes later, Mason was signing more autographs.