Mason Howell didn’t have much time to celebrate winning the 125th U.S. Amateur. 

Three days after hoisting the Havemeyer Trophy at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, the 18-year-old attended his first day of senior year in Georgia. Obviously, he’s no ordinary high schooler. After starting classes a week and a half late, because of the Amateur, he wasn’t doing homework once he got home. Instead, Howell was doing a series of post-victory media interviews, with childhood pictures behind him. 

That’s not the only thing that separates him from his peers, though. At the Olympic Club, he achieved feats in the same conversation as multiple major champions—including the GOAT. 

His 7-and-6 triumph in the final match was the most lopsided since Bryson DeChambeau’s win in 2015. Plus, Howell is the first high schooler to win the Amateur since Matthew Fitzpatrick in 2013, and is now the championship’s third youngest winner, surpassing Tiger Woods. 

“I didn’t know that I had taken Tiger’s spot as one of the youngest players to ever win the Am,” Howell told Sports Illustrated, “but when I found that out, that was an incredible confidence booster. I was completely shocked by that news.”

Of course, Howell, who will play next year at the University of Georgia, was the one who hit the shots. But what were the clubs that powered him to the winner’s circle? He shares his equipment and mindset on the course. 

Sports Illustrated: Could you take me through your bag?

Mason Howell: So, starting with driver, I’ve got a Ping G440 LST with a vintage blue shaft, I think it’s 7X or 7TX. And then, I’ve got a Ping 340 3-wood, a Ping iDi 3-iron. Obviously, you can tell, I’m Ping throughout the bag. Ping i230s 4-iron through pitching wedge and then wedges, I’ve got the Ping S159s and then I have a Ping Ally Blue 4 putter. So that’s throughout the bag for me.

SI: Which club’s your favorite?

MH: Driver or putter, depends on which one’s cooperating at the time. 

SI: Which club do you think powered you to your victory at the Olympic Club?

MH: Honestly, that was probably the best I’ve ever hit my irons in competition. My putting was O.K. I drove it pretty good, but I was hitting my irons almost; I felt like I could pinpoint them a lot. And my distance was down with them. 

SI: Do you have any gear or equipment superstitions? 

MH: So if I started to play bad, I’ll change ball markers or something, or change balls. But once I got rolling throughout match play, after I won my first match using the same ball marker, I used it and I used the same number golf ball: Titleist 1. I used it all week and then I used the same nickel throughout the entire match play portion. So those are superstitions.

SI: Do you remember the first club, or set of clubs, you ever owned and who gave it to you?

MH: So, I had plastic clubs when I was 3 years old that my parents gave to me. My first set of clubs were a gift for my birthday, and they were actually Pings. So, I’ve played them pretty much my entire life.

SI: How did the Ping partnership come about?

MH: The head pro at Glen Arven Country Club in Thomasville [Ga.], he has a really good connection, he’s a Ping rep himself, or he helps fit Ping clubs, he’s a ping fitter, and he knows my Ping rep, Jeff Brown, really well, and I had a connection even all the way back from [five-time PGA Tour winner] Harris English. So he got me in contact, I think, when I was like 12 or 13, and then I joined their team and I’ve never looked back and [have] no plans on changing.

SI: Have you ever received any advice from a PGA Tour player or anyone in the professional game regarding equipment or just in general? 

MH: I would say the biggest—I played with Harris English in a couple of practice rounds at the [2025] U.S. Open and he was very big on just saying, ‘What you’re comfortable with. Even though something new might come out, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to switch to it,’ and he’s big on that. He’s got some clubs from years back in his bag and yeah, I definitely believe in that. 

SI: What’s the best golf advice you’ve ever received?

MH: Some of the best golf advice I’ve ever received is honestly from my dad, who plays golf, but not too much. He’s just really big about—and he played collegiate tennis, so he knows about competition as well—but one of the biggest advice I’ve ever gotten is the second you go negative playing any sport, like mentally or physically, like you’re throwing clubs, things like that, like it just translates to such bad golf.

So just trying to keep a positive mindset, positive attitude, laughing things off, laughing bad shots off, I think it just translates to better golf.

SI: What advice would you give to somebody who’s just starting to play the game? 

MH: Keeping it fun. Everybody, when they get into golf, they’ll play for two weeks straight and they’ll drive themselves crazy. Especially when you’re first getting into it, you’ve got to take baby steps. It’s not something that you’re going to perfect the first time you go out there. I’ve been playing golf my entire life and that’s what helped me get to the point I’m at. But there are people that it takes them five to six years to be able to break par. So, it’s just one of those things where it doesn't come quick.


This article was originally published on www.si.com as When the U.S. Amateur Champion Got on a Roll, He Didn’t Change a Thing.