Why Mason Howell playing with Rory McIlroy is 'full-circle moment' for amateur at the Masters

Why Mason Howell playing with Rory McIlroy is 'full-circle moment' for amateur at the Masters originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Mason Howell is 18 years old and will be playing in the 2026 Masters.

He won the 2025 U.S. Amateur, which qualified him for this year's tournament. This will be his first Masters Tournament and his first golf major on the professional circuit, despite being classified as an amateur. Howell will try to live in the moment and appreciate his first tournament, but that admittedly may be a little hard to do.

The groups for the first two rounds have been released, and Howell has been paired with Rory McIlroy. Not only is McIlroy the reigning Masters Tournament winner from last year, finally completing his career Grand Slam, but he was also Howell's favorite golfer when he was growing up.

Here is more on why Howell considers his pairing with McIlroy a "full circle moment."

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Why Rory McIlroy was Mason Howell's golf idol

Howell made an appearance on the Subpar podcast, joining Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz. They brought up that he would be playing the first two rounds alongside McIlroy. Howell joked initially that he was worried that he would be overshadowed by McIlroy's long drives, but then told a story of the first time that he ever interacted with the reigning Masters winner.

It came back in 2016 at the Tour Championship, which was in Atlanta. McIlroy gave Howell, who was nine years old at the time, his golf ball on the fourth hole, and Howell still has it to this day. He continued by saying that McIlroy was his favorite golfer growing up because he was the best golfer during his childhood.

MORE: Why does the winner of the Masters get a green jacket?

Where is Mason Howell from?

Howell was born in Moultrie, Georgia, which is three hours south of Atlanta, four hours southwest of Savannah and an hour and a half northeast of Tallahassee. He grew up in Moultrie, but his family moved to Tallahassee. Howell attended Maclay School in Tallahassee where he joined the varsity golf team in sixth grade. He moved back to Georgia for high school, attending Brookwood School in Thomasville.

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