Youth was served on Saturday afternoon as Jackson Herrington, 19, of Dickson, Tenn., and Mason Howell, 18, of Thomasville, Ga., won their semifinal matches to set up a teenage head-to-head in Sunday’s 36-hole championship match at The Olympic Club’s Lake Course in San Francisco, Calif.
Engulfed by both the foggiest conditions and the largest crowds of the week, Herrington, a rising sophomore at the University of Tennessee, took down hometown favorite Niall Shiels Donegan, 1 up, in one of the most dramatic matches of the week.
The Volunteer had a shaky start, going 2 down early after losing the first two holes with bogeys. 6-iron in hand, Herrington would drop a dart on the 223-yard, par-3 third and convert his birdie putt to cut the lead in half, then win hole Nos. 6 and 7 – the latter with another birdie – to take his first lead of the day, 1 up. Shiels Donegan, a Scottish-born resident of nearby Mill Valley, answered back immediately with a winning par on No. 9, sending the crowd into a frenzy as the match made the turn all square.
“I think I kind of feed off of it… There’s a couple of people out here that wanted me to win, but it was kind of me against everybody else,” said Herrington, who finished runner-up in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball a year ago. “Just stay in it and keep grinding, even if things didn’t go my way. I knew I could come back, and I did.”
Herrington’s composure was evident throughout the day, most notably when he notched a winning par on the tenth and a birdie at the eleventh to once again go ahead, this time with a 2-up lead. When Shiels Donegan saved his par at the par-5 sixteenth to go 1 down, Herrington shut the door on the Scot’s heroic week, stuffing his approach at Olympic’s stadium-style 18th green to six feet and converting the putt to advance.
“I played this hole pretty well this week. I knew I could do it,” Herrington said.
Howell, a 2025 U.S. Open qualifier and the medalist at this year’s U.S. Junior Amateur, took down Oklahoma State University standout Eric Lee, of Fullerton, Calif., 3 and 2. A University of Georgia commit, Howell was one of the 17 players to advance to match play through Wednesday morning’s 20-man playoff, earning the No. 63 seed.
On Saturday morning, he lost just two holes en route to securing his spot in the championship match. At the par-4 second, his drive found the rough. Failing to make it out of the long grass with his second, he failed to get up and down for par, and Eric Lee took his only lead of the day.
Howell took a 1-up lead with a birdie on the par-4 seventh, lost it after bogeying the eighth, and then took it back on No. 11 with his third birdie of the day. At the fourteenth he made a winning par to go 2 up, and on the Lake Course’s penultimate par 5, he drained a 15-footer to punch his ticket to Sunday and become the first playoff survivor to play in the championship match since 2017.
“I know I’m playing good golf this week, and match play is just different than stroke play,” said Howell, who is playing in his sixth USGA championship. “I don’t think the seed number matters at all. I knew, if I played the way I have been all week, I’d have a great chance today.”
What’s Next
The 36-hole championship match set to begin on Sunday at 10:15 a.m. PDT. The afternoon portion of the final is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. but could be adjusted by USGA officials. Tickets are available for purchase, and Golf Channel will have coverage from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PDT.
Notable
Both finalists are now exempt into the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills and will likely receive an invitation to the 2026 Masters Tournament. Both semifinal losers received bronze medals and are exempt into the next two U.S. Amateurs at Merion Golf Club (2026) and Oak Hill Country Club (2027).
Mason Howell’s caddie, Jimmy Gillam, is also the head coach of his high school golf team at Brookwood High School in Thomasville, Ga., and serves as the assistant pro and his short game coach at his home club, Glen Arven Country Club.
Mason Howell’s run to the championship match began before Wednesday’s Round of 64, when he survived the 20-for-17 playoff. The last time a playoff survivor made an appearance in the championship match was when Doc Redman advanced from a 13-for-8 at Riviera Country Club in 2017. He went on to beat Doug Ghim on the first playoff hole of the 36-hole championship match.
Jackson Herrington is the first left-handed player to compete in the final of the U.S. Amateur since Phil Mickelson took the title in 1990 at Cherry Hills.
Saturday’s semifinal round was the second-highest ever attended day on record for the U.S. Amateur.
The 1981 U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club featured a similar storyline to that of Niall Shiels Donegan this week, when eventual winner and San Francisco native Nathaniel Crosby triumphed over Brian Lindley on the first playoff hole of the 36-hole championship match. Crosby is the son of famed American entertainer Bing Crosby, who was also a devoted golfer and competed in the 1940 U.S. Amateur at Winged Foot.
Quotable
“Can't lie. Probably got a little too tired. Body wasn't feeling too great. Wasn't able to hit the shots that I normally do. Mason played great too. He was just keeping it pretty tough for me today.” – Eric Lee on coming up short during his semifinal match.
“It was funny. Everyone was yelling Niall, and some guy said Jackson, and I had to give him a little pump. It was awesome.” – Jackson Herrington, on his interaction with the fans on the 18th green
”It is a lot of golf. We always have something to talk about. He's really good at making me commit to my shot, trust my line. Before I get over a ball, make sure I have a number in my head. He's just calming me down. Somebody to talk to, somebody to laugh with all week. We've had a good time. Tomorrow should be fun.” – Mason Howell on his relationship with his caddie going into the 36-hole finale.
“I I think it’s just a lot of it is down to the experience of being in those holes and not clawing your way back, learning from those, I guess you could call them failures. I call them just little steps along the way. I think it’s just a big learning experience.” – Niall Shiels Donegan on his week at Olympic
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