Georgia teenager Mason Howell produces feats and big moments in a summer he won't forget

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Mason Howell goes back to Georgia for his senior year of high school, and he might have a hard time digesting just what transpired in a most astonishing four months.

Howell's lone victory on his World Amateur Golf Ranking ledger was two years ago in the Billy Horschel Junior Championship.

He returns to school having been co-medalist at the U.S. Open local qualifying (64), medalist at U.S. Open final qualifying (63-63 at Piedmont Driving Club in Atlanta), medalist at the U.S. Junior Amateur, U.S. Amateur champion at Olympic Club and unbeaten in his Walker Cup debut.

“I couldn’t even tell you what’s been going on these last two months,” Howell said after the Americans' 17-9 victory over Great Britain and Ireland. “It’s been so much fun, and to do it with my family by my side the whole way, yeah, I look forward to keep going. ... So much to look forward to next year, and just keep working hard, keep getting better, and hopefully some good results will keep coming.”

He went 2-0-1, and what stood out was not so much the feats but the moments.

He had an albatross on the par-5 second hole at Cypress during a practice round. He closed out a single victory on Saturday with birdies on two of the most famous holes at Cypress, the par 3s along with ocean, making a 45-foot putt on the par-3 16th over the ocean and unleashing a fist pump of sheer joy.

And then on Sunday, he closed out a foursomes victory by one-hopping a wedge from the fairway into the hole for an eagle on the par-4 17th along the coast.

“I saw Mason earlier this summer shoot 63-63 to get in the Open, and that turned my head,” U.S. captain Nathan Smith said. “Then I watched him at the Olympic Club and I watched him later in the summer, and it was like I had found Superman.”

Howell, who is No. 143 in the amateur world ranking, would not have been on the U.S. team if not for winning the U.S. Amateur. And the Walker Cup wasn't on even on his mind at Olympic.

“It’s definitely been a roller coaster, but I’ve been playing really good golf. I didn’t know the winner of the U.S. Am got on the Walker Cup until about my quarterfinals match,” he said. “It’s been such a fun week. I’m just super blessed to be here.”

And the year isn't over. Howell will join the Oklahoma State duo of Preston Stout and Ethan Fang in Singapore on Oct. 8-11 for the World Amateur Team Championship.

He has committed to play at Georgia when he graduates high school.

“Just this week through our practice sessions, you get to see everybody’s game, and I really couldn’t believe it up close,” Smith said. “Just an incredible young man, mature beyond his years, and I think we’re going to be treated to some incredible golf by him for the next decades.”

The PGA Tour offered a subtle reminder about what's different about the fall season. Winners get the full allotment of FedEx Cup points. They get into The Sentry to start next year, The Players Championship and the PGA Championship.

Gone are the automatic invitation to the Masters.

Augusta National recently decided to remove the invitation to the PGA Tour's fall events, instead creating a category that offers a spot to winners of six national opens it identified along with the R&A.

A year ago, all eight winners of the fall events were not already eligible for the Masters. None was among the top 50 in the world ranking. Three of them were not among the top 250 in the world ranking.

The lack of Masters invitations isn't the only big change. Some players will spend the next two months trying to finish among the top 100 in the FedEx Cup to keep full status for 2026. That's down from 125 players a year ago as the PGA Tour tries to get leaner and more star-driven.

On the leaner front, the tour already has lost Las Vegas from the schedule. This is the final year of sponsorship at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi. And it is negotiating with Procore with hopes of extending its sponsorship of this week's event in Napa, California.

This might as well be Ryder Cup training camp for both teams. All but one player from Europe is at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. All but one PGA Tour member is at the Procore Championship in Napa.

Both are home with newborns.

Xander Schauffele confirmed Tuesday that his wife recently gave birth to their first child, a boy they named Victor.

European captain Luke Donald said last week in Ireland that Sepp Straka is home with his wife, who recently gave birth prematurely. Straka had withdrawn from the BMW Championship, though he did play the Tour Championship in his home state of Georgia.

“Everything is going extremely well with their baby. He just doesn’t want to be so far away. I think that’s only fair,” Donald said, adding Straka would be joining the European team during a scouting trip to Bethpage Black next week.

The Americans also are missing Bryson DeChambeau, who has been suspended since joining LIV Golf in 2022. DeChambeau said he would be at the team dinner Tuesday night but not on the golf course. “The last thing I want to be is a distraction,” he said.

Larry Nelson, the first American to go 5-0 in the Ryder Cup and one of golf's most inspiring figures by going from the Vietnam War to a three-time major champion, is finally getting back to the Ryder Cup.

He won't be a captain — the PGA of America overlooked him throughout the 1990s — but as an ambassador to the U.S. team.

Golfweek reported that U.S. captain Keegan Bradley reached out to Nelson during the Tour Championship to ask him to be a guest of the team and be among the other past captains in attendance.

“It was really special to me,” Nelson told Golfweek. "I haven’t been to the Ryder Cup since 1987, but I’m thrilled to be going this year and it meant a lot to me that Keegan went out of his way to include me.”

Niall Shiels Donegan had quite a memorable month. The Scot raised in the San Francisco Bay Area reached the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur at Olympic Club, went 2-1 in his Walker Cup debut at Cypress Point and threw out the first pitch for the San Francisco Giants on Monday night. ... The PGA Tour announced general admission tickets are now on sale for the Presidents Cup next year at Medinah outside Chicago. It won't be quite as pricey as the Ryder Cup, where competition tickets are $750. The Presidents Cup goes from $100 early in the matches to $155. “Due to tickets being dynamically priced, fans are encouraged to secure their spot early to lock in the best rates,” the news release said. ... The Walker Cup ran out of merchandise on the weekend, but spectators in attendance got a treat when the shop was kept open and replenished only with Cypress Point items.

Patton Kizzire has not finished in the top 10 since winning the Procore Championship last year.

“It's a great place to be and it's an enjoyable place to be. But it was a little bit tough on the brain today.” — Thomas Bjorn on winning a playoff for his first individual title on the PGA Tour Champions.

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