Subpar - 2025 U.S. Amateur Champion Mason Howell breaks down his victory at The Olympic Club

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by 2025 U.S. Amateur Champion Mason Howell for an exclusive interview. The third-youngest player to hoist the Havemeyer Trophy talks the biggest moments from his win at The Olympic Club, how playing in the U.S. Open at Oakmont helped mentally prepare him for victory and what other schools were involved before he committed to play for the University of Georgia next year. --We're back with our friends at Fanatics Sportsbook and we wanted to tell you about their offer for new customers, the Gameday Guarantee. Every single football game day now until October, new customers get up to $100 back in FanCash if your football bet loses. Guaranteed. ⁠https://joinfanatics.com/subpar⁠ Must be 21+. GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, Connecticut residents call [phone],  Massachusetts residents call (800)-327-5050, New York residents call (877) 8-HOPENY, Maryland residents visit ⁠mdgamblinghelp.org⁠.--Want to join us for Ryder Cup week in New York City? Thanks to our friends at On Location, the Official Travel Package Provider of the 2025 Ryder Cup, you can now purchase an exclusive Daily Ticket Package. It includes Ryder Cup plus access, entry to the International Pavilion, and a special night with us at Five Iron Golf Grand Central.Spots are limited, so head to onlocationexp.com/subpar to secure your experience.Subpar is not directly affiliated with the PGA of America or the 2025 Ryder Cup. All packages and discounts mentioned in this episode are provided by On Location, the Official Travel Package Provider of the PGA of America and the 2025 Ryder Cup. 2025 Ryder Cup Daily Ticket Packages offered by On Location at onlocationexp.com/subpar are Subject to availability. Full purchase and privacy policy details are available at onlocationexp.com.--Carlisle, headquartered right here in Phoenix, is the professional contractor’s choice for innovative building materials for more energy efficient homes and commercial buildings. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠Carlisle.com⁠⁠⁠--Choose your style, pick your favorite Birdie Juice logo and shop from a line-up of top tier brands at ⁠shop.golf.com⁠ today!

All right, welcome back to another episode of Golf Subpar with Colt Nost and Drew Stokes. Brought to you by our friends at Fanatic Sportsbook. And so let us, how about this? Hey, guys, we're back with our friends at Fanatic Sportsbook, and we wanted to tell you about their offer for new customers. The game day, guarantee. Every single football game day now until October, new customers get up to $100 back in fan cash if your football bet loses.

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Massachusetts call 800, 327-50-50. New York call 8778 Hope N.Y. Maryland, visit MDGamblinghelp.org. Not available in all states. Terms apply. C-Fanatic Sportsbook app. Sleeze, the time has come. Tommy Fleetwood is now.

a PGA tour winner winning the tour championship and the FedEx Cup. Pretty dominating fashion, I would say. One by three. Looked great the entire week. But the whole question was, could he close on Sunday? Stretched it out to a three-shot lead very early. Made the turn with a three-shot lead. Then boom, all of a sudden, a two-shot swing on the 10th with Patrick Cantley.

And he was only up one with eight to play. I feel like most of the golfing world, most of the fans out of Eastlake were all rooting for Tommy Fleetwood. And it was a stressful nine holes. Yeah, I mean, going into the day, it's like, you got Scottie there, what, four backstart in Cantlay? When Scottie gets it out of bounds on his first tee shot of the day, followed by Can't Lay being three over through two, I was like, okay, this is the one right here. The two guys you're probably most concerned with Patrick Cantley and Scotty Sheffler just spotted you a few. You got to get this thing done and he looked good. I mean, but he looks good in a number of tournaments that you thought like this is the one.

This is the one Tommy's going to close out. You go back to the traveler. I mean, there's a million of them. And, I mean, ultimately it came down to like that 15th. you just got to avoid a disaster there. What a fucking monstrous hole that is, too, by the way, or can be. I want to talk to you about this 15-30. Okay, because on Saturday, I believe it was right around like 228 yards, 230.

We saw 11 of 30 guys hit it in the water. Yeah. Earlier today, we were talking on radio and you're like, that whole might be a little much. My point to you is this. So when you're at Eastlake and it's the Tour Championship, you want things to happen. And when you look at that back night at Eastlake,

there's really no hole. You go through the whole list on the back nine other than 15, we're like there can actually be a disaster. Yes, you can make bogeys. But there's not going to be any carnage like what we saw on 15. And it wasn't like people were making eights. It was hit in the water, go up, drop, make your five. Some guys made four.

And you get out of there. So therefore, with it being the only really dramatic hole in the back nine, like I kind of like stretching it out. I said on Thursday and Friday, when they played it from 150, I was like, this sucks. They're being so soft. This is the only hole where something can really dramatically happen. 150 doesn't have a lot of juice, but 2.30 also. Like, imagine if you set it up at

230 and then the wind starts blowing in the afternoon. I mean, that thing becomes impossible. When 11 of the best 30 on the planet are hitting in the water, they might be a little bit much. But the point being, like, he had to get through that without a disaster, which he did, ended up looking comfortable with three, even though I think on the last hole, like, it wasn't done until it was done. But there's other ways you can have drama on a golf course without having holes where you can make a 12, you know. You can have a whole, like drive-able holes and things like that. But that hole, I'm just, I'm glad I don't have to play it from, from 230.

But it was, yeah, it ended up being a comfortable win, which I think is the way he needed it to be. And Scotty kind of looks not Scotty-esque, which probably, he's just set the bar so high that anytime he's not perfect on a Sunday, more or less, or a week, really. We kind of like, oh, what's wrong with Scotty? And you know, what he finished fourth? And it's tied for four. Yeah, fourth. And it's like, oh, what a bad week. Yeah, 14 straight top.

He's a victim of his own success in that regard. Yeah, 14 straight top eights. I believe now 22 straight rounds in the 60s. But he did not look like himself. I don't know what was going on. I don't know if there's something off the course. But even on Saturday, he showed up. He walked onto the T-box with one minute before his tea time,

which, hey, he's there in time. But that just seems like pushing it a little bit. He's a guy, if you know Scottie Shepler at all, not on his phone very often. He's a guy when you text him, happy birthday. He responds three months later and says, thanks. And the fact that he was like on his cell phone, heading to the first hole.

I was kind of surprised. So hopefully everything's all right. It was just kind of an off week. It was good to see Ted Scott back. They all wore yellow ribbons for his nephew, Joel. So we're also thinking about you, Joel. Hope everything's going to be okay there. But yeah, it just looked a little off.

And we say that, and he finished fourth. Yeah, it's like, what would we? He birded the 14th and looked like he was going to be right there. And then he hit it in the water on Sunday, which was just shocking between the out-of-bounds ball and that iron shot. I don't know which was weirder, but kind of crazy to see that happen. but still just another unbelievable run that Scottie Sheffler's on, and I don't see him slowing down anytime soon.

I'm on a text chain with a few guys that are playing. How do you feel about Tommy Fleetwood being the FedEx Cup champion? They're like, oh, so the whole narrative is the guy can't close. He never wins a golf tournament. Now all of a sudden he's our FedEx Cup champion when Scottie wins everything. And I'm personally just fine with it. I think you separate the regular season. No one's disputing that Scotty's not the best player in the world.

He won five times. He's head and shoulders the best. And he got rewarded all the way up to. We got 10 million at the end of the season, another five after the BMW. I think it's okay for the playoffs. Don't forget eight. He made 23 million in bonuses before the tour championship. Right.

Aon. Right? Was that the other one? There's Aon. There's, I mean, there's struggling money to him for being the best player. I think it's fine to go into a playoffs and have, oh, Scotty didn't win. He's like, that's okay. He's still the best player in the world.

I just think it adds so much more drama to it than just, hey, here's the handicap system. Let's go. Like, Scotty needs any more help. Give him all the money. Give him all the rewards. He's still going to win player of the year. He's the best. And now we got a quote unquote playoff, but they're still kind of in the middle with what they are.

Is this a season-long race or is this a playoff? But I did like the no handicapped start. I did too. I think you have a better chance for drama at the end. I just think you take away the season-long race thing. Like let's just get rid of that. The points list goes through the BMW of Scotty because he was leading got an extra $5 million after the BMW championship. This Tommy Fleetwood won the Tour championship.

It's a PGA Tour win. He now has won opposed to none like he did before. I think you say, if you change it to Scott or Tommy Fleetwood won the FedEx Cup playoffs. I mean, you're left to that. There's not a season-long race, nothing. I think people will be fine with it. I don't mind the point race going through the tour championship. Like, as a guy who watches every single week, back when Steve Sands was on the board all over the places, like, so-and-so makes birdie, this guy moves to first.

If so-and-so makes bogey, this guy moves to first. Like, I like that stuff. I'm fine with having two trophies being handed out. Or if the same guy wins both, if Scotty Shephyffler would have won the two, Tour Championship. He obviously wins both. I'm fine with that. I also would have been perfectly fine if the pitcher at the end was Tommy Fleetwood with the Tour Championship trophy and Scotty Sheffler with the FedEx Cup trophy. I don't mind that stuff. I'm fine with it. Because if you're going to say season-long race, there is no doubt who won that. Yeah, that's where it gets confusing.

And then you got the playoffs. And it's like, all right, well, which is which. I don't think it's ideal in terms of like, you and I, dude, we're golf dorks. We talk about golf. We play Like we consume more than 99% of the people out there. So we can keep pace with like what's going on. And oh, he's your season long winner. But this guy won, he's like, so he's your, you know, he won the tour championship. But for an average fan, if you're trying to draw him in and they turn on, like, what is this? There's two term is going on at once here.

It's hard to follow. I don't know if there's a perfect way for it. But all I know is at the end of the day, starting East Lake with everyone level up is 10 times better than the handicap system. Can I throw one change? I would like to see if they keep it this way going forward. Yeah. Because I think this is a big advantage. I know it's only 30 guys in the tea time window isn't like crazy spread out.

But Scotty goes last because he's in first. Okay, he plays well. So he's going last again the next day. Whereas since we're starting at zero, there's some guys that get to go earlier, playing the better conditions earlier. Maybe still on Thursday, Friday, we have an early late wave. That way everybody gets to play in somewhat the same conditions. Like Scotty going last every single day on soft, wet greens that are going to be chewed up.

obviously could be windier later in the day. Like, I think that's a disadvantage. Yeah, and maybe for TV coverage, like, we want Scotty to be on when we come on. So, like, we're going to put him last every day. But there's no doubt about it. I mean, every guy on the PJ tour would be like, yeah, early. I like to play early.

It's easier, you know? Conditions are perfect. And you have nobody on the greens and all this if you're first off. But, I mean, Scottie doesn't need any help. He's just, he's 14 straight top eights. Yeah, he's fine. But not starting him at 10 under, way better. If they'd done it the old way, Scotty would have won.

it would beat Fleetwood by a shot. Yeah. Which still would have been exciting coming down the stretch, but I like this. I don't like the handicapped situation. Straight up. That's how we're going to do. Also, some Ryder Cup situations happening.

What's going on there? Because this is our last show before Keegan Bradley makes his captain's selection. We got the top six on Europe decided as well. Rasmus Hoygard moved into that sixth and final spot. Our final six for Team USA has been set. But now the question is, who's going to get picked? He's got six of them. It's happening Wednesday at 11 a.m. Eastern.

So we will address this next week here on subpar. But I think it's getting very interesting. Let's project. Let's make some predictions. I felt very confident in who I thought he would pick until he didn't interview with Todd Lewis. And he said, there are several guys that think they're going to be on this team that are not going to be on this team. And I was just like, holy shit. What does that mean?

Yeah. There's certain guys that the public think is going to be on this team or the media think are going to be on this team that won't. It's that the guys themselves think, which I think is a totally different thing. But, I mean, let's go to it right now. Here's the guys that are bubble guys. I think they have a realistic shot. Keegan, obviously. Cam Young, Sam Burns, Maverick McNeely,

Brian Harmon, who's no one's even mentioned his name, I feel like. Ben Griffin is going to be a juicy debate there and Patrick Cantley. Yeah, I mean, you left out Colin Moracawa? Is he automatically on that team? We can talk about him. I don't know if he's automatic. He's a very interesting case study. on this.

Hasn't been great by calling more a call with standards. I was only has, what, one top 10 or something like that since the players that was at the Rocket Mortgage. If you're looking at recent form

and just put a, did a blind draw on all these guys that said, hey, who's playing the worst right now of the guys were considering probably be pretty easy to point to him.

I still think he's going to be on that team. Is that right or wrong? I don't know. But some of these other ones, I think Ben Griffin is a real juicy when there's some internet talk going around and,

hey, don't tell me Ben Griffin's going to be left off. Someone's, seems to have started that rumor or heard murmurs. I think that would be the wrong decision. I think he's earned it. I should say that. I don't know if there's right and wrong,

but I think he's done more than enough. His name wasn't Ben Griffin. If it was Jordan Spieth, it'd be a layup. Well, I'll address both things you brought up there. Colin Morcala, I know he hasn't played great as of late. When you're a player like that,

a two-time major champion, I think you can find form in a second. You can find something on the range of the putting green tomorrow. I know it hasn't been his typical year. He is still, I believe seventh in strokes game total on the PGA tour for the season. He's ranked seventh in the world. He finished eighth in the points.

His putter has not been good this year. That can still change. But you look at his numbers. I'm sorry, it's just really hard for me to see the seventh ranked player in the world getting left off this team. His experience, he went 3.0 and 1 at the Ryder Cup when it was at Whistling Stretch, which everyone had a good record. It was a blowout.

It would be very interesting for me if he was. left off this team. Now, a lot's been going on with Colin this year. You got the issues with the media earlier in the year. The caddy change. We've seen several of those. But I just, I don't see, like, I think there's a better chance of Ben Griffin getting left off than Colin Morcawa. I think Colin Morcawa will make the team. But I do think it's interesting if you're like, hey, what are the, why did we make it so you have six captains picks? Oh, we've got to have the guys that are in good form leading up. You can stock a bunch of points in the year before or in the early part of the season year of the Ryder Cup and play your way on that way, but you might not

be playing good when it rolls around, and now we're going to have a guy that kind of, I mean, even if you ask Colin Moore, I'd be like, yeah, it hasn't been a good last two-thirds of the year. I haven't been in good form. That being said, I think he's on the team. Ben Griffin is where it's going to get really juicy. He's been phenomenal this year. I thought he did enough a month ago to play his way on a team, and since then, all he's done is play good since then.

I think he's finished, what was it? He's finishing the top 14, like 10 of his last 12 events or something like that. He like rarely plays bad. If you're Ben Griffin, other than making the top six, coming from where he has, I don't know what else more you want him to do. I know one of those wins was a team event. Hey, by the way, the Ryder Cup was also a team event. So he's done well in those formats. He won at Colonial.

He's top 10 at the PGA, I believe the Open Championship. like he's playing great golf. It would be very hard for me to see him left off this team, but with Keegan's comments, and also I read the tweet from No Laying Up, just like you did, who said they're hearing rumor that Ben Griffin's going to be left off this team.

That's going to be shocking. That's going to be a very tough phone call for Keegan to make. Yeah, I just, I don't know. You can always say, oh, we need guys with experience and things like that, but how do you get experience? Everybody's got to be a rookie. You got to play at some point. Got to be a rookie at some point.

If you look at this year and be like, that's not enough. I just think the only reason he wouldn't be on this team is that his name is Ben Griffin and it's not a brand name like some of these other guys. I mean, we're trying to make arguments for, you know, people were trying to make arguments for Jordan Spieth and some of these guys that are way down the list. And I'm like, dude,

Ben Griffin, you don't need to make an argument for him. He's made the argument. It's just, are you going to go ahead and take him? So, I don't know, Patrick Cantley. Do you think that was it? Do you think that did it? I mean, he's been a bubble guy. He's still outside the top 12, but was that enough? I mean, he's rounding into form nicely. Play good at

BMW. Playing fast, too. He's not playing fast golf. Oh, please shit. The shuffling of the feet just needs to go away. It's pretty frustrating to watch. I know he's catching a lot of grief for that. But I do think he's done enough to be a pick, especially with what he did in Rome over there in a hostile atmosphere.

Like, he was one of the very, very few. He was the dog over there. Him and Max Lama. Yeah. And if you tell me both of those guys are going to be left off when that finished up two years ago, I'd be like, you're crazy. I do think Patrick gets picked based on his experience and, the form he's rounding into. Cam Young, another one. He's playing some great golf.

Came out and said, he's like, I think recent, recency bias plays a big part of this. I'm playing great. It's New York. I'm from there. It's one of my favorite golf courses. It's a major championship course. My major championship record's really good. Like, he threw a lot out there saying, like, I should be on this team, which I found a little interesting. Did you think, though, when Kagan made his comment that, hey, there's some guys that think throughout the team that are going to be disciplined. He was the first name that came to Just based on what he'd said recently for everything you just said. Yeah.

I was like, that sounds like a guy that thinks he's on the team. And this is a guy who finished eighth a couple of years ago in the point standings and got left off. Can you do him back to back dirty like that? I don't know. I think he's on the, I think he's going to be on the team. I think with his length,

and he has turned into a phenomenal putter. His putting stroke has changed. It looks great. I mean, we're talking to his recently as Memorial, where he was a disaster on the Greens. Now he's one of the best putters on the PGA tour. I think it would be really hard to leave him off.

The biggest question at all this. I think it would be easy to pick the six if we knew if Kegan was playing or he wasn't playing. Let's go to that then. Yeah, he just finished top 10 tour championship. He was up there all week long. I've said this all along. If anyone else is the captain, they're 1,000 percent. It would be very hard for me to find somebody that would be in that captain's role

and not take Kegan Bradley with how he's played this year. completely agree. So the question is, just Keegan Bradley. I think he's one of the 12 best Americans. Take Keegan Bradley. He's in a very tough spot.

He's been put in a very bad spot, in my opinion. I mean, being a captain at 38 years old, it was, it's a great honor. It was, we both loved it when it happened, but I believe we both also thought,

like, he's not going to play his way onto that team. You could make, I mean, it's possible, but I also thought I was like, there's no way he's named captain if he gets picked for the last one either.

So, like, yeah, it's just a tough spot. If they win, everything's great. if they lose, he's going to be questioned about whether he played or whether he didn't play. If he plays and they lose, oh, you couldn't focus on being captain, all this. If you don't play, how the hell would you not pick yourself?

You're the fifth highest ranked American on the team. Like, you should have been on that team. It's a very difficult situation. As Al Davis always said, just win, baby. At the end of the day, and I don't think this is necessarily the right way to judge it, but your decisions are based on the outcome. If you go out and win, whatever decision you made, even if it stinks, it's right. Because you won.

If you go out and lose, it was wrong, right? Keegan Bradley, I think, the more I think about it, I think he's going to play and I think he's going to stay captain. Tell me you couldn't, all the little off-the-course stuff, like how many vice captains you have. You can't just pass that off. You can't outsource that out to all those guys. Ultimately, what's the biggest role of the captaincy, I think?

The pairings, right? Dinner. Yeah, uniforms. You tell me he couldn't go out. out and play the best ball in the afternoon, both the first two days, watch the morning matches. You're going to have more or less kind of your pairings, at least vaguely set up for that. Take inventory in the morning, go out, play the afternoon, reassess in the evening, do the same thing again and go out and do all that, and then pass off all the other stuff for this.

He's been two years, dude, he's been the captain. He's gone through all the media stuff. Every interview, every question. There is not a time that he's been on the broadcast where they don't bring up that he's the Ryder Cup captain. Like this is his baby. This is everything. I don't think he passes this off and says, oh, I'm just to be vice captain.

And now someone slides in. By the way, if you're the guy that slides into that, you're like, does this count as my captaincy? What if it's Jim Furrick? Does this count as me? I get it for two weeks? Well, he's already done. You know what I mean? Excuse me.

Yeah, anybody. Would I get it for two weeks? This is it? No, you want like the full thing. I think he's going to end up doing both. That's my guess. It might be wrong. I think he's going to do both.

I don't think you can just pass it off because that was, like you said, that would suck for somebody that got it and be like, oh, cool, I get to experience this for two weeks. Like, Kagan, every T-Box he stepped on for the last two years, the place goes nuts. USA chance all over the place. He's fist-pumping everybody. That wouldn't be right. It's a tough decision. I don't envy him because I think this, he came out and said this is the biggest decision of my life.

But I can't wait for Wednesday. I'm actually going to be there in Frisco, Texas, during the picks. I hope, I don't know if I hope, like, I want it just the best team possible. but I have a feeling just on his comments like at some point my jaw is probably gonna hit the ground be like holy shit he took him and didn't take him.

I didn't think that until his interview where he said there's some guys that think they're on that aren't gonna be on and I was like oh shit he could also just be toying with everybody it could be and do you think do you think like with what Roy McRoy said

and like there's been some other comments come from the European side like you can't possibly play and be captain it's impossible it's impossible and King comes back and says how do you know which by the way I love it's like what do you know about doing it

dude you've never done it Arnold Palmer, unless you're talking to him, he's the only guy that can speak on this. You know what I mean? I think at this point, he's like, dude, I can make history. I can do both. And I don't think it, he's going to not play five matches, even if he plays. I think he plays three at most. If he does it the way, like I said it, I think it's very doable.

It's a hundred percent doable. How about, too, at registration at the Tour of Championship there at Eastlake? Yeah. Arnold Palmer's golf back from that year he was a playing captain was there in the trophy game's right at registration. and, like, if you believe in signs at all, it's just kind of like, oh, I got to do this. But you have a chance to make history, too, which is also pretty cool. That's what I'm saying.

Like, from now on, whenever this happens, if it ever happens again, people aren't going to be saying Arnold Palmer was the last playing captain's. Keegan Pradley was the last playing captain. And if you win, you'll be celebrated forever. Forever. And it's like we said before, when you take those six auto qualifiers and you're in there, all right, boys, we got some decisions to make every single one of them is going to say, we want you to play, in my opinion.

I don't think they'll be anybody being like, eh, you're off right now. There's nobody just jumping off the page that is way better than Keegan at this point. And I think also they're going to say, dude, you're our captain. You've been our captain. You've been the one leading this charge for the last two years, basically. Like, don't bow out now. You've got a bunch of great people around you. Use them and be the captain.

Yeah. Just make sure you're not playing that morning session. Be out there. Get the crowd going. See all your guys come to the first tee. Pump them up. That's part of what being a captain is. And that first T on Friday is one of the greatest moments in all of golf.

So I hope he's out there enjoying that. All right. Well, speaking of the Ryder Cup, Slee's, the FedEx Cup playoffs are over. All we have left now is to see who Keegan Bradley is going to pick for his captain's selections. And then the Ryder Cup will be ready to rock. And as we get closer to the Ryder Cup at Beth Page Black, there's one way to make sure you're in the middle of it all. We've teamed up with on location, the official travel package provider of the PGA of America and the 2025 Rider Cup. and they've put together an incredible way

to experience Rider Cup Week in New York. Check out the Rider Cup plus daily ticket packages. You'll get official access to the tournament grounds plus hospitality access to the international pavilion. And here's the kicker. These packages also include access to a special night event at Five Irons Golf Grand Central location where we'll be there in person

along with some other special guests, recapping the day, hanging out with fans, and teeing it up on the simulators. The event also includes a Callaway Club fitting, great food, drinks, and a vibe that's perfect for Rider Cup Week in the city. It's going to be a blast, and you can be a part of it. Just head to on locationexp.com slash subpar to see the exact ticket packages that include access to the Five Iron Events that we will be at.

Everything you need to know is right there. Packages are limited and selling quickly as Rider Cup energy builds with every FedEx Cup playoff. Again, that's on locationexp.com slash subpar to secure your spot. Subpar is not directly affiliated with the PJA of America or the 2025 Rider Cup. All packages are provided by OnLocation, the official travel package provider of the PGA of America and the 2025 Rider Cup. Full details and policies are available at OnLocation, EXP.com. All right, the playoffs are in the books. Tommy Fleetwood, your champion.

Over on the live side, John Rom's Legion 13 beat Bryson DeShambos crushers in a playoff. It was actually very exciting coming down the street. stretch. A lot of birdies being made. I did have a problem with that soft as hell, 18th hole they played where everybody just drove it up there and chipped it from 40 or 50 yards. Everybody was making birdie. But pretty exciting finish. And John Romp gets the individual title and the team title.

Yeah, I watched the last few holes in the playoff. There's a bunch of people out there. I know there was everybody on property was on that hole. But hell of a good finish. And by the way, when they ended up tapping in to win, Legion 13, like there was like no applause. I think the whole place there was rooting for Bryson. but there's another couple of euros

that add them with Tommy Fleetwood that are coming off a dub and playing good. In my opinion, the main event of the weekend was the Big Iron, up at Pine Canyon. Well, three-man team event, we played it up there. Pro, somewhat of a scratch, somewhat of a scratch. Scratches, scratches. Yeah, Shambal event, which we teed it up in.

And you, Ricky Barnes and Andrew Medley, were the champions. Shock the world. Yeah, really big shocker. Shock the world. There were some good teams, dude. James Hahn had a good team with Peter. Thomas Sulo, Nate Lashley.

You're not going to give George Sare any love? George Sarah is a great player. Calbear. Who else was up there? They were two of pros. Ryan Moore, Aaron Badley. There were some good teams up there. And we ended up going shamble, shamble both days,

as opposed to shamble and then two best balls. That's because the only people that thought we were playing fast would have been Patrick Cantley. It was not quick, but it was an awesome time. Shout out Pine Canyon. I thought they did a phenomenal job with that. It was really, really fun. Dude, we only won by a point. The team that finished runner-up

Made an ace the first day Which when you are playing a shamble And you get to play from the best t-ball Guess what happens when you make an ace You get two of them Which means I feel like you should have to buy drinks Back to Back to Back taste You should.

Good time to do it though being that those were included With the interview but 16 points in one hole I mean that's more than five birdies That's tough to catch up from them They were two groups in front of us I was like that's a shitload of points boys So we got to go It was a lot of fun congratulations to y'all

I want to give my squad a little love here because I was trying to get with the old parimutual thing, bet on who finishes last because I thought there was a pretty good chance we might finish last. Is that a bet you can make? No, it's not, but I was trying to get it because there was three teams in my opinion that I thought would battle for last because, look, I brought up my buddy Chris Deeman, who's a working man, he's a businessman. And then Ben Marsh did play at the University of Arizona, but not quite the level of

you and Andrew Medley and Ricky Barnes. But it was awesome, man. We finished eighth. Almost got inside the money there. But my man, Chris Deeman in the Shamble, the second day, had eight birdies, which was phenomenal. Squad. But we had a lot of fun, man. It was awesome.

I can't wait to do it next year. Yeah, that was a hell of a good time. The first annual, great trophy, by the way. Six shooter with six bullets inside there. Can't give enough props to Pine Cannon. Cool event. And I expect that to get bigger and bigger as it goes on. That was fun.

All right. Well, quickly before we get to our interview with the young Mason Howe, the U.S. Amateur champion, let's make some picks for, we're going to do some fun. Football. How did you do this week? I sent it. On some shit, I shouldn't. Well, I have a better thing.

Yeah, but I do want to say that my man, Ben Griffin, did cash top 10 plus 160 last week. That's correct. In the season on a high note. That's right. You were just trending. Just not enough weeks in the golf season to really get going to next year. To really get going. Harris English, what, he finished two out, two out of the top ten.

But I still think a plus, think of winning season. All right. Ultimately, the sleighs on all picks. It was cool to see Ben Griffin. and get in there. He birded the last to finish T-9. Thank you. See, that's how you show up. That's a guy you need at the Rider Cup, telling you. All right, well, we're going to move on to some college football here. Week 1, Texas, Ohio State.

Yeah, good one. What a way to start off. Lee Corso's final game day. If you haven't checked out the Lee Corso special on ESPN, not so fast, my friends. Phenomenal, you will cry. So get some tissues ready. But it was awesome. I cannot wait for college game day this Saturday.

And my first pick, I think the Colorado Buffaloes are going to have a massive letdown this year. They lost Shudor. Let's hope so. I think the hype with them is bye-bye and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are coming into Boulder. They're favored by four and I think they just

smash Colorado. Okay. Coming into Boulder. Haines King, great quarterback. I looked at this whole slate. It's hard because you got a couple great games. You got Clemson.

Who's Clemson playing first week? What am I doing? LSU. Thank you. LSU. You got Texas Ohio State. And then you got like some of these other teams are like minus 45.

You know, I'm playing podunk you. Yeah, that's what they do. So I'm going somewhere in the middle. I wanted to take TCU. We don't play until Monday against North Carolina. But I'm going to go with the hometown, Arizona State Sun Devils. A lot of hype around the Sun Devils this year. It's like playoffs or boss.

They went from like not having a team at all to all of a sudden it's like playoffs. Or it's a lost season. One of my favorite coaches in football, by the way, Kenny Dillingham. They're playing the boys up north where we just were Northern Arizona, which they should have. have their at home, place is going to be sold out. They got a lot of hype behind them. They're given 29, but this should be a game.

Sam Levitt, dude, one of the best quarterbacks in the country. This feels like a 45 to 10 type of scenario or something like that, or it should be. So 29 ASU at home against the lumberjacks. That would be enough. That would be a cover. Good to be in football season where we actually talk about what we know, that all this golf stuff. I really made some shitty bets this first week, dude, some second half. First halfs.

I didn't even know what I was doing. By the way, the game in Dublin, Iowa State, Kansas State, can we just stop shipping games overseas? There's football stadiums, the soccer stadium. There was no hash marks. You couldn't see any of the yards. There was nothing. And it came down ultimately to a spot at the end of the game.

Oh, and by the way, we only had one camera angle. You couldn't see where the actual ball was. You could only see the back of the ball carrier. If that was my team, I would have, I would be freaking out. Clean it up. All right. Go download the Fanatic Sportsbook app. Follow us along for some more football picks.

and then we'll get into some more golf picks. We'll have a lot of Rider Cup bets, which I can't wait. But this week, our guest, we might have a future rider-couper because he just won the United States Amateur. He'll be teeing it up for Team USA at the Walker Cup. He is Mason Howe on Golf Subpar. All right, folks, it is a privilege to be joined by the third youngest winner in the history of the United States Amateur,

winning the final seven and six just two months after playing in the U.S. Open. It has been a hell of a summer for this man, and we are thrilled to have him. Mason Howell joins us. How are we doing pods? Doing well. How about you all? Phenomenal. Thank you so much for joining us. It was awesome watching you.

That week out there in Olympic, man. It was cool walking with you. Yeah, a hell of a lot of game. But before we get to golf real quick, I want to know, how are the studies going there at Brookwood High School? Because you missed part of school because of the U.S. Amateur. Now you're going to be missing a lot of school because of the Walker Cup.

How the grades are looking? Grades are looking actually okay. Missing the first week of school is not the biggest problem. But, yeah, missing the third or fourth week of school next week for the Walker Cups, it's going to kind of suck. But, no, it'll be the teachers are really good at working with me, fortunately. I'm fortunate to have that because, you know, there are some teachers out there that don't handle athletes well. But, yeah, no, the school has been really great in working with me. And grades are kind of cruising right now.

I just got to keep them there. Yeah, nothing to can't catch up on. Exactly. That's valuable information. More importantly, how was the return when you came back home with the trophy? What was that like? Oh, no, it was, yeah, Thomasville as a city and a town, just super welcoming back. I've been out to the country club and everybody's a lot of support there. And then, yeah, but sitting in a classroom after a red eye flight, that was no fun. Yeah. Yeah, that's got to be a little rough. But hey, made it a little better knowing that you got that U.S. Amateur trophy at home. and everything that comes with it. Walker Cup, three major champions next year, which we'll get to.

But I want to go back to the start of the week because like everybody, you have to go through stroke play, top 64 getting to match play. You find yourself in a playoff, or 20 guys for 17 spots, and you just snuck through there to get to the 63rd. So take us through that playoff and kind of what your thought was, you know, going into the week and through stroke play, were you worried like, hey, I might end up missing match play here? Yeah, no, exactly.

But after the first round of stroke play, I was in a good spot. I shot even on Lake. And I was 300 through nine that round. So I gave a couple back coming in. Then I went over to the ocean course and just did not have it off the tea and kind of scrambled my butt off. And it made some good pars coming in to get to that three over number. And yeah, the next morning we were supposed to play hole one on ocean, which is normally a par five. And it's like 525.

And they threw a curveball at us and changed it to hold. nine on Lake that morning. But, I mean, I made a par on the first playoff hole. I figured that would be good enough within 20 to 17. You figure three people will make bogey. But it wasn't. We had to go to another hole. And after I made that bogey, I had my head down a little bit.

I was like, man, that was a wasted opportunity. But I was gearing up to go to another playoff hole. But fortunately, somebody was one stroke higher. So I got my seed and looked at my bracket. decided it was game time. Yeah, what hole was that second playoff hole on? Second, it was on hole 10 on Lake, which really isn't that hard. It's just a driver and a wedge.

And I three putter from like 50 feet, and it wasn't pretty. Well, the good news is you got in, but you mentioned you saw your bracket. And your bracket was not easy. I'm just going to go through the guys that you took down here. You had Tommy Morrison, one of the best AMs in the world, who you'll be teaming up with at the Walker Cup as well as Ben James, Max Herringeen, John Daley, the second, and Eric Lee, and I believe other than John Daley the second,

all of the other ones were in the top 21 in the Wagger in the world amateur golf rankings. So you see that bracket. What kind of your thoughts? I mean, especially having to start off with a guy like Tommy Morrison who was finished second stroke play. Yeah, no, that's what I get for being 63rd seed. So no, everybody I played was super nice.

But when I looked at my bracket, my caddy and I, Jimmy, we just looked at each other. I was like, well, you got to play them at some point. Might as well go and take him down now. So, yeah, that was kind of our mentality, but the talent just kept coming. And we just stuck to our plan. And, yeah, at the end of the day, in match play, their rankings, numbers, seating, none of it matters. You're on the first team. You're tied.

You have 18 holes to see who's a winner. Yeah, walk us through that final few holes with Tommy Morrison, because I believe you were, like, one down with a few to play. And then you had that disgusting up and down on 18, I believe. But walk us through the last few of that. Yeah, no, I was like, I lost the first two holes. I started like double bogey. And I was like, that's not how you want to start against the top ring hammer in the world. But, no, I was two down for a lot of the match and called my way back to, I think, one down with two to play.

And he got in some trouble in hole 17. So I tried to play a smart hole. And yeah, got it to hole 18, which was big. And we both hit it in the fairway, like two feet away from each other. And I did the one thing you can't do. And one hopped it long onto a side. of a mountain it feels like. And, you know,

made one of the best up and downs of my life. And we went to a hole one as the extra hole, and that hole's brutal. And fortunately, I was able to get it done there just to go home and gear up to play Ben James at like 9 a.m. the next day. Yeah,

it didn't get much easier from there on out. But the Tommy Morrison one, going to extra holes, would you say like that was the match that you felt like looking back at it? Like, oh boy, I kind of got away with one there. Oh, absolutely.

because honestly neither of us had like as the week went on i feel like my game got better and better um Tommy and I neither of us had our best stuff if pars were winning a lot of holes and in the extra hole now I won with a bogey so it was just one of those things that um you know that's just match play yeah you know if it was stroke play we probably would have finished middle of the pack but um it's one of those things you're just playing your opponent and not the field and but uh props to Tommy he was a really nice guy I'm looking forward to uh team up with him at cypress next week and uh yeah no but that that match that match was key for me because coming off the u.s junior i i kind of needed a win in match play did you feel like after that first day being that you went

through the playoff and you thought you were in tough shape after the bogey but a guy makes a double then you get in and then you close out that match the way you did with tommy like after that day you had to go home like dude like it's all lining up for me yeah no exactly i i i just needed to win one match. That's all I needed. I had been kind of a match play funk in some past tournaments. And all I needed to do was get past one. And once I was able to move on to the round of 32, I knew I could take it all the way. What do you think throughout the week, the most nervous you ever were? Oh, um, probably, either probably against Tommy or in that semi-final match. Or maybe actually, actually against little John. Um, yeah.

We were tied going into 18, and we had both tied with birdies, but the golf course was playing so hard that day. And he had just made an incredible up and down on 17 to push us going tight. I was one up going at 18, but no, against Little John, because that was the best golf I played all week. He was putting the hammer down all day. That's awesome to hear me. I know, and he gets a lot of support out there being John Daley's kid.

That would be really cool playing against him. But I want to just your thoughts on Olympic Club. When you first showed up, what were your thoughts on the golf course? Obviously, you know the history of their U.S. Open, multiple U.S. amateurs. It's a monster of a golf course for just over 7,000 yards. No, yeah, absolutely. I love a golf course that puts a premium on fairways where you can't just whack it all over the place and still find your way on the green. Yeah, the thick, rough, fast greens, it's a U.S. Open venue.

That's how it feels like kind of how Oakmont was just a little shorter. But, no, Olympic Club is awesome. looking for we're going back this coming Saturday. So that's that's going to be a lot of and yeah, that that golf force is so pure and I don't think it gets enough recognition. Is that the whole Walker Cup team's going out or you just make it a return trip? Yeah, we're we all leave this Friday and I think we have a team retreat there or something on Saturday. So I'm awesome. Is that going to be awkward at all being that you beat a few on the way there? Remember this where I closed you out? This is where I closed you out. I've talked to some of them.

I think it might be a little bit better that they lost the eventual champion that maybe puts a little better taste in their mouth. But, no, I'm fine with Ben James on Saturday or Friday. So, yeah, we'll be good. We'll be good by Saturday. Let me ask you about that Walker Cup, though, because you're the only high school kid on it. Most of them are college and you got Stewie, who's the grown-up of the group. But what's your relationship like with those guys?

Do you get a chance to interact with them prior to the U.S. Amder, or will you be meeting some of these guys for the first time? I'll be meeting a lot of them for the first time. Obviously, I met Ben and Tommy briefly. We chatted a little bit during our matches. But I've known Coyvin. I took a visit to Auburn, and he's super nice. He reached out yesterday to me, and we've talked a little bit.

And then, Stuart, he called me right after I won, and we had a long chat. And, yeah, he was super nice as well. So I'm looking forward to meeting these guys and growing a relationship with him and being teammates with him. Yeah, y'all got a hell of those. squad. It's going to be a lot of fun to watch, and it's at Cypress Point. But going into the finals there, did you know that you in the fridge were like basically playing for the last spot? Yeah, so I, somebody told, I had no idea going into match play. I wasn't even on my mind. Obviously, I was like 300 something on Wagger. So no chance for a pick or anything like that.

But somebody told me, like, after my quarterfinal match, and that gives you, like, something to play for in that championship match is obviously runner-up comes with a lot of perch. But a spot on that Walker Cup team is that's, that's unreal. Yeah, that's massive. But go back to that semi-final match because talking to some people, like, that's the one you feel the most pressure. Because if you make to the finals, like you said, like typically, that comes with a master's invite. How much was that on your mind, just that semi-final match get through? Some people say, like, that you got to put it out of your mind, but it's like almost impossible.

Yeah. I played with that in my head all day, and that gave me like a really big goal to strive toward. I was playing against Eric Lee who could get up and down from Mars. Yeah. But no, that was on my mind all day. It was just kind of channeling it and not letting it take over. But, yeah, my caddy and I, we just kept the conversations light and off that topic. So we tried to focus as much on golf as we could that day.

Yeah, well, now you can definitely talk about it because, I mean, I feel fairly confident that you will be teeing it up at Augusta National. the way, you'll also be playing with Roy McElroy the first two days. What are your thoughts on that? Just hoping his drives won't be taking too much aerial photos of mine as this is flying past. No, but I remember in 2016, I have one of his golf balls sitting in my room right now from the Tour Championship up in Atlanta. I went to watch and he gave me his golf on like the fourth hole and I've kept it over since. So it'll be kind of a full circle moment. He was like my favorite player grown up.

Excuse me. Harris English is going to be very offended. No, we heard it. It's official. It was Rory. Some people say, like, who do they look up to? Tiger and people like that. Rory was my guy because he was the best

golfer, like, for me growing up. Yeah. You were born post-Tiger. Harris was just an okay golfer. Yeah, he's just all right. He's just my buddy. I'll tell you what, you drove a pretty damn good at Olympic from what I saw.

What's your, like, lengthwise? Where do you stand right now? Ball speed, club head. Ball speed, I'm around 184 competition. And then, yeah, club head speed is like 122 or something like that. But I've picked up so much speed over the last like four months. It's going in the summer out of nowhere. What is it?

How did you do it? How did you do it a gross spurt? What are you just swinging harder? What are you doing? I need a gross spurt. And then that's kind of like, I've kind of calmed down a little bit on the, on growing. So I've been able to kind of find my own swing and be able to cruise it a little bit of a faster, faster swing.

And my golf swing has a lot of lag. So at the bottom, that's where a lot of my speed is. And, yeah, but it's being able to channel it. Because at Olympic, some of those days, I rarely found myself hitting, like, full iron shots. And you have to hit so many, like, fairway finding drives out there because you don't, you don't want to miss the fairway on a U.S. Open venue. No, especially there with that rough being five, six inches long at times. Yeah, I appreciated Niles, Shields, Donner.

and all of his fans, they were just patting down the rough all week. That did help. That was actually discussed. I brought that up to Craig Winter of the USDA. I was like, hey, going forward in these things, we have massive crowds. You might want to keep them like 10 yards from the fairway because they have trampled this rough. Yeah, no, as the week went on, it got easier to play out of. And everything was just like tap down, it was like downgrained. So it honestly played its hardest in stroke play.

Interesting. Yeah, that makes sense. We're going to take a break from our episode with Mason Howe. I wanted to take a minute and thank one of our sponsors, Carlisle companies. Look, I know these guys at Carlisle. I'm good friends with their CEO, and they are doing some pretty cool and innovative things around energy efficiency for homes and commercial buildings. They also help contractors get more out of their labor. I'm just super pleased that Carlisle is a sponsor of our show. Here's a stat for you.

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but you should be thinking Carlisle. Ultra-touched recycled denim insulation from Carlisle. Learn more at Carlisle.com. Now back to Mason Howe. Going back to Cypress Point here. Have you ever played Cypress Point? I have not. It would be my first time in the full beach area.

Wow. Do y'all have any other golf? I mean, because the Walker Cup, for those that don't know, is just that Saturday and Sunday. Obviously, you'll play some practice rounds at Cyprus, but do you all have any other golf set up that week? I think we're playing Pebble on Monday, and then we're going to go play Olympic.

on this coming Saturday. So your place. You got, you got a good trip. You got Olympic, Evel, and a week's worth of golf at Cypress Point. Oh, tough, tough break, kid. Tough to miss math for all that. Tough to miss math for all that. Sorry, not sorry to my teachers.

Yeah. Was the Walker Cup something that was even like on your radar like earlier this summer? You mentioned your wagger. Was that like a goal you were aspiring towards? Because typically high school kids, it's not like, you know, that's a college thing. Yeah, no. Honestly, no, not at all. I qualified for the U.S. Open. I would have needed like an insane finish there to really get that ranking up. And, you know, other than that, I've had a good summer. I've just had a lot of kind of top 10 finishes, which is great. But I haven't really got anything done, but I've been playing really well and just not getting much out of it.

And yeah, so breaking through last week was that was big for my confidence and going forward. but no, the Walker Cup wasn't even on my mind until I got past that, like, quarterfinal match. Man, well, it's going to be incredible. I don't think you'll ever feel what you're going to feel when you teed up for the first time for your country. Have you been, have you done the whole outfit fitting and all that? Yeah, we've got a, well, they sent the shipment of clothes. It's downstairs in my living room. It is way too much.

I have no more closet space. But, no, we're getting, like, tailored for our jackets and stuff like that at Olympic. So that's kind of why we're going to be. going back there. But yeah, no, I'm looking forward to reping the red pants and just representing the red, white, and blue. You're going to look good. You're going to look good in that right.

Go back to that U.S. Open because, like, that's kind of when I, like, speaking for myself, that's when I first heard he was when you shot the 63, 603 at, you know, locals, then you go play the U.S. Open. Now you're U.S. amateur champ. What's this whirlwind been like, like, media attention, things like that? Like, I feel like you kind of just been, you know, hoist into the spotlight. Yeah, no, it was it was kind of sudden, but I honestly, going into that U.S. Open final qualifier, I had been playing really well at home. And my golf course is honestly like fairly similar to the one I did qualifying at.

And that was my first time ever playing that golf course. And yeah, it was every just kind of like one of those things that what happened, I blacked out. But, um, was it 18 pars, 18 birdies? Yeah, 18 pars, 18 birdies. It's a good ratio. It's a good ratio. No, I, yeah, that day was unreal. I don't, I don't even know how to describe it. It was just one of those things where everything felt like it was clicking. And I still hit some bad shots, but on the whole tight bad ones, I was making a 10-footer for par or something like that.

But, yeah, no, but it's been, it's been crazy because that was kind of unexpected. And then a lot of just media attention and stuff that I never thought I'd really have to deal with this early on the trajectory I was on. that's kind of thrown my way. But yeah, no, it's, I love it. I know it's just a part of it. But, yeah, I enjoy competing in these big events. And I told my dad right after the U.S. Open was over, right after I missed the cut, I was like, I want to be back next year.

If any way possible, I want to be back next year. Well, good news. Yeah, you're going to be back. You're going to play in three of the four biggest tournaments in the world next year, that being the Masters, the U.S. Open and the Open Championship. I mentioned the Masters earlier, but have you ever had a chance to play at Augustin National or spend any time? there? I've not played.

University of Georgia, we go once a year if your grades are eligible. So that's incentive to rack up some good grades. But I went with my dad to a practice round in 2019. That was the first time I had been on property, and it just looks like it's like AI generated. It's unreal. Yeah. If your grades are good enough. Yeah.

If Brian Harmon can stay eligible by God, I bet you can't too. Yeah. You meant, speaking of Georgia, you're committed there to go there after your last year of high school. You mentioned going to Auburn as well. Any other visits you took or any other schools you considered? Yeah, no, I considered four all pretty local. I took a visit to Georgia, Auburn, Alabama, and took a pretty good look at Florida State. I actually lived in Tallahassee for like five to six years.

So I was pretty in-tapped with that golf program. And, yeah, the recruiting process is awesome. but I grew up a bulldog. Both my parents went there. My sister's there right now, and I grew up going to games in Athens. So that was always kind of a dream of mine, and it was just hard to say no to it.

Yeah. The recruiting process is awesome if you're as good as you are. No thought. What about maybe teaming up with Miles Russell at Florida State? Did that ever maybe think about that at all? I mean, at the time, I guess he was playing in Pro events. People were like, is he even going to go to college? Good point.

We really didn't know. But we've got a good team because Hamilton Coleman, my roommate, won the U.S. Junior. So we'll definitely play a practice round at Shinnock next year. But, yeah, we'll be coming in hot to Athens next fall. Who was – what school was runner-up in the Mason Howe sweepstakes? Because as a coach I talked to said, like, I always figured he'd be, you know, a Georgia guy, just given the family history. Yeah, no, it was close. With Alabama's new facility, like 40-something million.

million dollars. That was really hard to say no to. It is unbelievable. But then like Auburn's so good. It's one of those things that it's like you have a really good shot to win a national championship. If you go to Auburn, they always bring in so much talent every year. So it was hard. Those phone calls are always hard. But yeah, it was just, it's something I'm grateful for being able to have the opportunity to talk to so many of this high division one schools. Well, the good news is you're going to a place where Coach Hac, all he does is produce PGA Tour winners. So, yep, that was also a hard draw. I mean, they got a thousand of them. It seems like everybody you talk about is a Georgia Bulldog out there, but I was, as much as I

love seeing Fleetwood win. I was rooting for Henley. Yeah, of course you are. That's your dog. You got to. You mentioned that you've grown up just being a dog all your life. Who's your favorite Georgia Bulldog of all time? Any sport. Any sport. Hmm Probably Honestly Nick Chubb I love I love like his like

Demeanor like he's just Super humble and super confident At the same time And I hate how his NFL careers Panned out But like in college He was like my favorite Favorite player to watch

Are you going to any games this fall Oh yeah I'll be at Georgia Alabama And hopefully Georgia Texas And maybe sprinkling a couple of others Oh I forgot about Georgia Texas Yeah Texas has got a

ridiculous schedule. Yep. That's tough. How far is that from home for you? We're about four hours, four and a half hours from Athens. We're only like 30 minutes from Tallahassee, so it's a little quick and good at state games. But yeah, no, I'll try to make a trip up there at least two or three times.

That's going to be awesome. You mentioned your home golf course earlier, Clint Arvin Country Club, which is where Harris English also grew up. At what age did you meet Harrison? Did he kind of take you under his wing a little bit? Because a lot of people, when we're out there am, like this guy swings it quite a bit like Harris English. Yeah, no, I was like probably like 12 when I first met him.

He was just out there and he introduced himself as nice as he always is. Yeah, and he's one of those guys that I've always looked up to. And he sent me a text almost after every match at the AM. Just like keep your foot on the gas. It's not over. Just things like that. And getting a text from a professional like that is succeeding, like doing so well on 12.

right now that's that's huge for me and my confidence and then he was at oakmont this year i played two practice rounds with him i was only going to play one with him and i sent him a text i was like do you mind if i play nine with you on tuesday and he was like yeah absolutely come on and so he he's just been awesome and um yeah his golf game is unreal too it was crazy at oakmont on monday i did not feel like he hit the ball very well he was not finding very many fairways and i played with him on tuesday and he could not miss so that is that is um It's crazy how those pros can just flip a switch like that. Yep, and he's been good for a long, long time.

Do you think you win the USAM without playing in that US Open? Did that kind of soften the magnitude of the event a little bit? Absolutely. Playing in the US Open got me used to kind of playing in crowds like that at the USAM because I think the semifinal, I know the semifinal matches at the USAM with like the second most tickets sold ever for a semifinal in USAM history. and yeah so playing in front of a crowd like that's awesome you can kind of feed off of it even if they're cheering against you but yeah no playing at oakmont i learned so much like even if it was just sitting around the chipping green and watching some of those pros and how they how they get the ball around

um and then just translating that to my own game like i would sit there at oakmont and i watched jordan speath hit five to ten chips and then try to try to do the same thing so uh yeah no just just learning as much as i can from the pros at Oakmont was definitely huge for my game. That's awesome. And you're right about that semi-final day there at Olympic. I mean, those crowds were insane. Obviously, they had a local guy trying to get to the finals, but I'd never seen people like that at a U.S. Amateur. Yeah, no, it was crazy. We were playing behind him. And yeah, we caught up to him at one point, and I was like, good Lord. We'd have to wait four minutes on the T-box just for the crowd to clear the fair way. Yeah, it was jammed. We talked about Harris English, your relationship with him.

Do you have any other kind of relationship with any of the professional golfers? I know the Strakas a little bit. I've played with Sepp's brother a couple of times. He only lives like 45 minutes down the road. And Sepp stayed next to us at Oakmont and an Airbnb. And yeah, he's been super nice. He sent me a bunch of texts. We were going to get together at Oakmont, but it didn't work out.

But I hope one of these tournaments in the future next year will be able to tee it up together. but he's been texting me and he's also a super good role model. It's just those bulldogs, we always stick together and have some sort of connection. It's a family. It's an enormous family. Did you get any texts or calls or anything from anyone you weren't expecting to that you're like, oh, wow, that's cool? Yeah, probably the one that kind of blew me away was Governor Brian Kemp, the governor of Georgia. So that was pretty random, but it was kind of cool to see somebody that that many people kind of

Yeah, that voted for and things like that just sent me a Texas. So that was kind of random, but it was kind of cool. Didn't you get a sign in your hometown? Did I see that on your answer? Yeah, we got those signs up before I even got back from San Francisco. Damn, that's awesome. You got one of those at Pilot Point? They put you a sign up for the kid.

Full body bronze. No chance. No chance. They're still working on it, by the way. It's been working on it for 18 years. Oh, God. I felt so old walking around there. It was terrible.

Yeah. Were you born in 2007? Yep. This is a fun game we like to play with some of our younger, some of our younger guests. First Tiger Memory. And watching it live, not a rerun. First Tiger Memory. Oh, boy.

Honestly, like, one that comes to mind so much is when he, like, first went down for his, like, big back injury. Oh. I mean, like, this is not a good memory at all. But that was something like when the public's reaction to like him really going down to his first injury kind of showed me like how big of a deal he really was. Because like it was like the world was ending. Like tigers hurt, the world's ending. It was one of those things. But no, I honestly like I was so locked in on Rory growing up.

Yeah, that was that was my person I looked up to. I think you got to take the ball to Augusta and show it to him. I know. It's sitting up there. It's a Nike. It says roars. on it. If he hits one in like Ray's Creek or something, you'd be like, hey, just in case you run out, I got this for you. Here it is. Yeah. This is the old one. That's awesome. I cannot wait to see you

walking around with Roy McElroy, Thursday, Friday at Augusta. That's going to be just all the time. Yeah, that'll be, that'll be an experience. I'll remember forever. Sorry, have you decided who you're taken and how many trips you're going to take up to Augusta pre-masters? Well, hopefully that invite comes in the mail this winter. And if it does, yeah, I'm going to try to take as many trips as I can and prepare for that thing. And I'm going to have the same caddy on the bag that I had at the U.S.A. What's your relationship with him? Yeah, he's my, he's the assistant pro out at Glenarvin. And he's been my high school coach the past three years, I think. And yeah, he's also like my short game coach. And we actually played 18 holes yesterday. So he's very in touch with my game.

kind of knows what my game's about. And yeah, he was on the back from me at Oakmont, and it's been cool to kind of go all through this with him. That's awesome. Well, if you need a couple of golf guys, you know, broadcasters, podcast guys. I can show you around that joint. Maybe some of the that followed you all week at Olympic Club, you know,

just phone call away. Yeah, exactly. Probably desperate for finding people to take out. Maybe we'll implement some burger dogs. Okay, we're going to get to the burger dogs. Yeah. God. Save that.

Should we get to the E9? Yeah, let's do it. All right. We're going to ask this to you because you're a young buck. You're 18 years. By the way, when's your birthday? It is June 28th. It's 2007.

Okay. Mine's the 26th, but thank God you're actually born when I won the AM. You're two months old, but whatever. It doesn't matter. What do you remember most about that 2007 US AM? No, I'm playing. Stud one. All right.

First, we're going to ask you this. We know you have a girlfriend. That's fine. No big deal. You can still answer this. a celebrity female crush. Oh, you're going to get me in trouble. No way.

No, there's probably realistic chance right now. Oh, probably Sydney Sweeney right now. She's got nice jeans out here. What do you like about her, Mason? What is it about Sydney that you find? My mom might be listening, dude. I can't answer that. Yeah, good point.

We don't want to get you in trouble. That's beautiful. Good choice. She's hot in the streets right now. Names is a buzzer. All right, I got my question. You got the nickname, moose, but you're not like an enormous

dude or something like, I got a friend named Moose. We got a friend named. He's 6-8-270, so that kind of makes sense. He would eat you. How do you get the nickname Moose? No, my granddad gave it to me when I was really little, and it's just kind of stuck. I actually got Instagram when I was seven, which is way too early.

But, yeah, my MH Moose on Instagram, I've never changed that before. That was from when I was seven. Don't keep that. You got Instagram at 7? Yeah, that was an old. sister thing. So, uh, I got a six year old, but she can't even, she can't spell.

I don't know. I don't know who let me do that or whose idea that was, but, uh, yeah, do not let your children get Instagram at seven. Well, but, um, more importantly, keep that nickname. Yeah, it's good. Yeah. So it's, it's pretty big between my, my buddies on, on, around junior golf. So it's just kind of stuck.

Well, we will make it famous and everyone will call you moose when you're going up and down the fairways for sure. I love it. All right. Next one. Um, you became the fifth. USGA champion from Glenn Arvin Country Club.

Can you name the other four? I can name, I think, I know Megan. I play golf with Megan all the time. She won the 2023 U.S. women's name, yeah. All four of her U.S. women's amateur champions, by the way. Yes. There's only one other, I think I can name, and it's like Beatrix or something like that. I don't even know. They're all from like 31930.

Yeah, Beatrix Hoyt won in like 1896, 7 and 8. Yeah, she won it three times in the room. I couldn't take the the other one, but But that was whenever Megan won and I found out she was the fourth champion at Glenarvon, and I was kind of shocked by that. That is wild, man. That's really impressive.

The other two, Francis Grimson and Mary Lena Falk. Yeah, great player. Mary Lena. And now the moose. Exactly. You're in good company. You're a good company. All right, my next one before I get to my last two, which would be fun.

Just let's do a little get-to-know Mason Howell. Give me like your most frequently played artists on your eyes. iTunes and last show you binge watched on Netflix. Okay. Most frequently played, probably Drake. And then last show I've been watched, probably suits. Good one. Suits.

Yeah. Yeah. Good one. What do you think about Donna? Megan Markle. What do you think about Donna, more importantly? Donna's all time. Donna.

Don't love Don't. Both cult into the redheads. I don't mind them. Don't mind them. All right, next one. You mentioned Burger Dogs earlier. That's what Olympic Club is known for. How many did you have?

throughout the week. So I only, I couldn't get him. Like, I wanted some during my matches and competition rounds, but the lines were too long when I was on the course. So I ate six, and that was between both practice rounds. So it's like three a day. Yeah. That's solid.

Six. Well done. By the way, you're playing. You just walk over with your putter and be like, excuse me, guys, I'm kind of doing something right now. I need to cut the line and they'll allow it. Yeah, that's how it was, like, whenever you try to use the bathroom on the golf course going to the portable.

It's like, do you guys mind if I go ahead? No. You just don't say to you mind. You say, just so you know I'm going ahead. Excuse me. How about they, for a U.S. amateur, I thought this was pretty impressive. They sold 8,000 burger dogs that week. I mean, some people were giving like six out of ten, seven out of tens.

Those things were nine, maybe ten of them. They're good. They're good. Yes, Stuart Haggstad. One guy gave him, you need to talk to him about that. You can't go into an Olympic and disrespect their marquee food. Stewart. What was his rating?

Like a six one or son. He was compared to some. fancy burger place in New York City. Yeah. That's bogus. We're at a golf course, dude. Yep. The Burger Dog got substantial coverage, by the way, during the broadcast.

So if it was a secret, it no longer is. Okay, my next one, I need to know this. Because there's a video of you that went around social media after you went seven up in the final, doing this six, six, seven. I guess it's like a TikTok thing or something. Colt and I are older shit, so we don't really know what's going on on TikTok. Explain to me what that was. Yeah, the middle school is at school.

are really hazing me for that one. But no, it's, I couldn't even explain it. Like, it's, it's something in a song, and it's probably one of the dumbest things that it's ever blown up, but it has so much, like, popularity with kids my age and younger. And, yeah, I don't know. It's just whenever, whenever those two numbers are put together, it's just people just put their hands and up and down like that. But, no, one of my buddies that flew out to watch the championship match, it was right after

I went seven up. He went like that. And so I just looked at him. did it back and then I didn't realize the camera was on me and somebody put it on TikTok and it went viral. I got to look this up. Yeah, six, seven. I clicked on it.

That's what they do. Drop that in the next broadcast in between whole six and seven. I can do that. That'll make it, that'll be go big on TikTok. So how do you six, seven? From six to seven. Yeah, yeah, that's good. Something like that.

Yeah. That's no problem. We're so hip. Yeah. We're fucking cool. I wish I could have like a better explanation. I just don't. know like what exactly it means or like what it is.

Well, I would have never even known it was a thing until it went on Twitter. People are like, oh, he's doing the TikTok thing. And I was like, what is that? So I had to do a little. I dug in a little. That's good to know. I'll have to look this up for your young fans. All right.

You're heading to Augusta National. It's early in the week. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, practice rounds are going. You can pick any three guys that are in the tournament to play with. Okay. Who we going with? All right. Definitely Scotty.

and then probably two probably Harris again I love playing with Harry and then who would I play with it's a tough tough pick I'm playing with Rory or maybe playing with Rory's later in the week so I might sit him out of these these practice rounds

and probably put like Cep in there maybe or if if Wachim Neiman plays if he gets in I love Wachim. He he would be in my group. All right, I like that. Good idea, the Scotty one.

He knows a little something. He could probably share a little inside info around that place. Yeah, no, I tried to join his group at Oakmont, but it all said booked in some guy named Sam Burns. I was like, what do we do? Jesus, Sam. Sam doesn't leave his hip. Share the wealth a little, Sammy.

Let me get a little time. All right, all those are probably on the table for you, by the way. All right, my last one. Let me preface this. Your mom might be listening. I'm not saying this is going to happen. This is just a hypothetical. But if it were the case, let's say you get up to Athens as a freshman.

If you were to borrow an ID from a former Georgia player so that you could partake in the social activities up there, whose ID would be the most believable for you? Harris English, Hudson Swofford, or Davis Thompson? I'll probably say Hudson Swofford. People do, like, the coaches at Georgia, they called Harris Giraff and they already call me Little Giraff. But I feel like I might have more Hudson than Harris. I don't know. I don't know why. That was just the first thing.

He's a little huskier, but like, yeah, hair color and all that. The good news is I think you've got three options. They won't even bat an eye. They're like, yep, have a good time, sir. Yeah, and yeah, exactly. By the way, you're not the little giraffe, you're moose. Tell them. Jim, I know Jim, I know.

I don't know where that's coming from. I got to get along him about it. Why are we not calling Harris giraffe this whole time? Why did that not get out? I just learned about it. Yeah, I know. But how did it just now? Yeah, Jim Douglas gives me all my info on the Georgia guys.

You forgot to leave that one. He left that one out. And by the way, Jim, he will only be called moose from here on out. Yeah, exactly. I hope he's listening to this. Oh, he's listening. Trust me. He's always listening.

All right, my last one. Your sister. She's the nutritionist for the football team at Georgia. How would she feel about Miles Russell's diet that consists of only chicken strips and pizza? I mean, honestly, that's pretty similar to my diet. Yeah, she looks at me at dinner sometimes, like, really, that's all you're going to get, chicken and cheese, like, at a breakfast. like at her Mexican restaurant like you're just going to get chicken and cheese on your tacos what are you doing I like um but Miles is in better shaped than almost anybody so I know it's not fair I didn't know that

she's the nutritionist maybe she could teach driver's ed up there in her free time yeah no I don't know I told it you got they all seem to eat fine it's driving a car with a football player no driving seems to be a slight issue up there I don't know what's I don't know what's I don't know why we like drag racing so much And I just hire a private driving service for the whole team. They got $20 trillion up there. Like, no one drives. It's quite weird.

I walked in the football facility and was seeing all these like race car arcade games. And I was like, what do we do? That's it. That's it. It's carrying over to real life. Maybe we get Pac-Man, guys. Yeah, exactly. Awesome.

Mason, man, Moose. This has been a pleasure, dude. We're so happy for you. Congrats on winning the U.S. Amateur. Best of luck to you and the team at the Walker Cup out of Cyprus. We'll be watching. And can't wait to see you at the. major championships next year.

I appreciate it, guys. Thanks for having me all. You got it. Congratulations. All right, that was the 125th U.S. amateur champion, Mason Howe, joining us on subpar. By the way, he'll only be known as Moose

on this show from now on. Love that nickname. It's going to stick. We're going to make sure of it. But what a week for him there at Olympic Club. And I bet just how nice of a kid this is. And he's got some personality at 18 years old. Yeah, I went from not knowing anything about him

to studying up and now talking to him. I'm a fan. big fan easy to be a fan of golf game is way beyond his years and uh when he said like i hope rory's not dropping mail i mean which by the way he drops it on everybody he plays with these i was like oh what's your ball speed clubbed speed oh one 184 one 85 125 22 like yeah yeah you're gonna be just fine and he drove the eyeballs out of it especially in that championship match that was the difference he just kept peppering fairways make a pars jackson missing fairways you can't play that place fairways and greens don't forget to wave as i fly

buy and that's exactly what he did. It gets the fridge. Yeah, I got to work on that. I'm going to figure out how to get that in the broadcast. I don't know what it is, but I'm going to start saying it. Just anyways? Yeah. Just be the old dorky guy that tries to use the-

All the numbers and see if people are going to look at this old idiot. He doesn't even get it. It's only six and seven. He's super cool. Yeah. He's a super cool guy. He's going to have a hell of time out there at the Walker Cup. That is going to be so sick at Cyprus Point.

Cannot wait to watch it. But thanks to Mason Howe for joining us. Moose, you're the man and you got a very bright future, my friend. A very, very bright future. Huge thank you for coming on. If you're looking for some gifts for some friends and some family, good news. You head over to T-Comuskers. There's nothing like rocking custom gear.

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You're a professional. Yep. I like it. All right. Well, thanks to Mason Howe. Thanks to Fanatic Sportsbook. All of our sponsors, it's been a hell of a day. We'll talk to you on next week's subpar.