Age is but a number, and Mason Howell – the youngest player in the field at 17 years old – intends to embrace the experience of competing at Oakmont.
Howell, from Georgia, was hugely impressive in navigating his way through the final qualifying in Atlanta, hitting back-to-back bogey-free 63s). He has his school coach Jimmy Gillam on the bag.
“I have total belief that he’s going to be able to hold his own,” said Gillam of the teenager. “I’m basically a jockey on a racehorse, a thoroughbred, and I’m really looking forward to it.”
That his coach had experience of playing Oakmont was also a bonus for Howell, who explained: “We play together all the time. I really needed an adult [on the bag] to calm me down because I know it’s going to get crazy, it’s going to be insane out there.”
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Howell has been grouped with European Tour player Joakim Lagergren and PGA Tour rookie Chris Gotterup for the first two rounds.
Cross-handed chipping catches on
Former US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick was one of the first to popularise the art of cross-handed chipping. Now, he has company.
Indeed, the trend is catching and a fourball of them got together for the final practice round at Oakmont. Fitzpatrick was joined by Justin Rose, Matthieu Pavon and American Chase Johnson, who plays on the developmental PGA Tour Americas.
Johnson earned a spot in the field for his first Major after coming through qualifying. His decision to chip cross-handed came out of desperation.
Johnson said: “There’s a word that golfers stay away from. It couldn’t get any worse. I remember the first time I did it, I was with my dad at a course that I grew up at, Spring Hills in Ohio. I tried it and I was seven for seven with two chip-ins that day. I was like, ‘I think we’ll stick with that’.”
Of his goal for the week, he added: “Just keep it in play. It’s one of those courses where you’re better off having a four-iron in to hit the green. If you bomb it up there, maybe Bryson (DeChambeau) could get it out, but I know I’m not strong enough to get it through this stuff unless you miss it big and you’re in the trampled down grass from the gallery.
“It’s just keep it in play . . . you’ve just got to grind.”
Quote
“Do you go for this par-four or do you lay up?” – Collin Morikawa to his caddie Joe Greiner on first standing on the par-three eighth hole.
US Open champions to take home cool $4.3m
The upward trend of recent years for US Open prize money has stopped. This year’s championship remains at $21.5 million (€18.7 million), the same as last year. The winner will take home $4.3 million, just as Bryson DeChambeau did at Pinehurst.
Explaining the decision not to increase the prize money, USGA chief executive Mike Whan said: “We didn’t raise our purse this year. When I started at the USGA just four years ago, our purse was $12.5 million, so I feel comfortable that we’ve been a leader in moving fast and bigger. We’re not really a fan of small, but when we go, go a little bit bigger.”
The US Open, nevertheless, remains the biggest purse of any of the four Majors in the men’s game.
Mickelson leans on Bryson for YouTube help
Bryson DeChambeau’s success on YouTube – where he has over two million subscribers to his channel – has led to a number of other professionals tapping him for advice. Among those seeking his words of wisdom is Phil Mickelson.
DeChambeau revealed the advice he gave to his fellow LIV golfer: “First off, I said, ‘you can be yourself’. You have that creative control to be yourself and I think that’s what’s so beautiful about it. You hire the right team around you that understands you, and it frees you up to be yourself.
“I said, ‘you can do the content that you want to do. Anything you want to do, you can do it’. Then, ‘listen to the people in the comments section. Go through, read them all, see what they want from you. Those are the things that we look at the most’.”
Number: 10,202
This year’s US Open had a record 10,202 entries, which beat the previous record of 10,187 players who entered for the 2023 tournament at Los Angeles Country Club. The 10,202 was whittled down to 156 players, which included 87 fully exempt golfers. The field was completed by those who came through qualifying.
