Howell Runs Over Herrington in U.S. Amateur Finals

If you're a Minnesotan, one way to look at the result in the U.S. Amateur final would be that the guy who beat the last survivor from Minnesota got beat by the guy who won the tournament.

But that last surviving Minnesotan, Jimmy Abdo, made it to the quarterfinals, which is pretty impressive, and the guy who beat him (4&2), Jackson Herrington, went all the way to the final before he lost on Sunday. That was further evidence of how well Abdo played. 

The U.S. Am is an ordeal for those who get deep into match play. Herrington, who won an emotional 1-up victory over local favorite Niall Shiels Donegan on Saturday in the semifinals, after beating Abdo on Friday, was playing his eighth round in seven days, and he looked like an exhausted golfer in the final on Sunday against Mason Howell. He wasn't the same guy who had beaten Abdo on Friday. Herrington got down early in the title match, stayed down and wound up losing 7&6 to Howell. 

Of course, Herrington was the old guy in this contest. He's 19. and will be a sophomore at the University of Tennessee this fall. Howell is a high school senior from Georgia, where he was absent from the first week of classes last week. (He is committed to the University of Georgia for 2026.)

At 18 years, 1 month and 3 weeks old, Howell is the third youngest winner of the Am, four months younger than Tiger Woods was when he won the first of his three U.S. Am titles in 1994. (Woods was the youngest winner of the Am at the time.) Byeong Hun An now has the distinction of being the youngest U.S. Am champ, having won the 2009 Am at 17 years and 11 months. (Woods, for anyone who might be wondering, will officially become eligible for the Champions Tour when he turns 50 on Dec. 30.)

Both Howell and Herrington stumbled a bit coming out of the starting blocks Sunday, with bogeys on the  524-yard, par-4 first hole. Herrington won the second when Howell bogeyed it, as well. But Howell won the 220-yard, par-3 third, the fourth and the 496-yard and the par-4 fifth.

A little while later, Howell hit what would almost certainly have to be considered the best tee shot of the day at the 309-yard, par-4 seventh. It ended up 15 feet from the cup, and he made the putt for an eagle 2. That put him 3 up, and he made it 4 up when he won the 187-yard eighth with a par. 

Herrington cut the deficit to 3 down by winning the 10th with a birdie, but any chance he might have had to reverse the momentum of the match took a hit when he lost the 11th to Howell's par. 

The next four holes were halved with pars. Howell, who was the No. 63 seed in this tournament -- he was part of a 20-man playoff for the last 17 spots in match play -- went 5 up by making his first birdie of the day at the par-5 16th. 

(Abdo, who played high school golf for Edina and is a sophomore to be at Gustavus Adolphus, was also in the playoff and was the No. 61 seed.) 

There weren't too many sub-standard shots by Howell on Sunday, but he hit an errant wedge shot at the short-but-tricky, 355-yard, par-4 18th, and it cut his lead back down to 4 up as the two players turned their attention to lunch. 

Any confidence Herrington, the No. 37 seed, might have gained from winning the 18th hole of the morning round, disappeared pretty quickly once the match resumed. He lost the first hole with a bogey; so he was 5 down again. 

Then, at the second hole, -- the 20th hole of the match -- Howell plugged his second shot in a greenside bunker. Here was another chance for Herrington, who had only a wedge into the green, to gain some ground, and maybe start a comeback. After all, Tiger Woods came back from 6 down to beat Trip Kuehne and win the Am in '94. 

But Herrington shoved his wedge approach into the long, gnarly rough to the right of the green, and wound up having to 1 putt for a bogey that halved the hole. 

So he was still 5 down, and he then lost the 21st hole (the 220-yard par 3) to go 6 down. 

Herrington, who said after the match "I just played terrible," won four holes Sunday, and each time he lost the next hole, which made it virtually impossible for him to gain any traction in the uphill climb that he was facing, almost from the start. It happened again when he won the 24th with a par and lost the 25th, which was that short seventh, the one Howell had eagled earlier in the day. This time he made a birdie, which got him back to 6 up

Two holes later, he was 7 up, and three holes after that, the match was over.

By making their way through the first five rounds of match play, Howell and Herrington earned spots in the 2026 Masters. That's guaranteed for the champion, and the runner-up has traditionally been invited to play at Augusta in April, as well.    

The Olympic Club -- Lakes Course
Par 70, 7,185 yards
San Francisco, Calif.

Stroke-play qualifying (top 64 advanced to match play)
1.    Preston Stout                 67-65--132
2.    Tommy Morrison            66-67--134
3.    Miles Russell                  70-66--136
4.    Logan Reilly                   67-70--137
T5. Nate Smith                      69-69--138
T5. Reed Greyserman           69-69--138
T5. Bryan Kim                       70-68--138
T48. Jimmy Abdo                 72-71--143
What it took -- 143 (20-man playoff for 17 spots)

Andrew Ramos                     73-73--146
Matthew Armstrong             79--76--145
Nate Stevens                         80-75--155  

Match play
Round of 64 (seedings in parentheses)
(61) Abdo def. (4) Reilly 1 up

Round of 32
(61) Abdo def. (29) Wolfgang Glawe 4&3

Round of 16
(61) Abdo def. (13) Daniel Svard 1 up
(37) Jackson Herrington def. Caleb Bond 20 holes
(49) Niall Shiels Donegan def. (1) Preston Stout 1 up
(56) Jacob Modleski def. (57) Paul Chang 2 up
(63) Mason Howell def. Max Herendeen 2&1
(26) John Daly II def. Daniel Bennett 3&2
(3) Miles Russell def. (19) Mahanth Chirravuri 2&1
(11) Eric Lee def. (38) Josh Duangmanee 2 up

Quarterfinals
(37) Jackson Herrington def. (61) Abdo 4&2
(49) Shiels Donegan def. (56) Modelski 19 holes
(63) Howell  def. (26) Daly II 1 up
(11) Lee def. (3) Russell 1 up 

Semifinals
(37) Herrington def. (49) Shiels Donegan 1 up
(63) Howell def. (11) Lee 3&2 

Final
(63) Howell def. (37) Herrington 7&6