Winning the U.S. Amateur comes with a lot of perks: the Havemeyer trophy, a gold medal, and your name etched in history alongside greats like Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Arnold Palmer and Bobby Jones.
But perhaps the greatest perk of all is an exemption into three of the following year’s major championships: the U.S. Open, the Open Championship, and the Masters — as long as the player maintains his amateur status.
And for newly crowned U.S. Am champ Mason Howell, making the trip to Augusta in April is already top of mind. The U.S. Amateur champion is traditionally paired with the defending Masters champion for the first two rounds of the Masters. That means Howell can expect to tee it up alongside Rory McIlroy on Thursday and Friday at Augusta National. On this week’s episode of Subpar, Howell explained how that opportunity will have some additional meaning for him.
“I have one of his golf balls sitting in my room right now from the [2016] Tour championship up in Atlanta,” Morrow told Subpar hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz. “I went to watch and he gave me his golf ball on like the 4th hole, and I’ve kept it ever since, so it’ll be kind of a full-circle moment. He was like my favorite player growing up.”
Howell, of course, isn’t too far removed from his childhood. The 18-year-old is entering his senior year of high school this fall, and has verbally committed to play collegiately at the University of Georgia.
“Some people say, like, who do they look up to? Like Tiger and people like that,” Howell said. “Rory was my guy because he was the best golfer for me growing up.”
As far as the round itself, there’s only one thing Howell says he’s thinking about when it comes to playing alongside the World No. 2: “Just hoping his drives won’t be taking too much aerial photos of mine as his is flying past,” he said with a laugh.
For more from Howell, including an inside account of his experience at the U.S. Amateur, check out the full episode below.
