From Team Georgia to the U.S. Open to Future College Teammates

At this week’s 126th U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, U.S. National Junior Team members and Georgia natives Mason Howell and Hamilton Coleman will join the long list of University of Georgia Bulldogs who have played in major championships.

It started with a practice round.

Coleman and Howell met when they were both 14. They played together ahead of a 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier at The Mark Bostic Golf Course, in Gainesville, Fla. Neither could have known then that they would be future college teammates and USGA champions in the same year, both which earned them spots in the same U.S. Open at one of the game’s cathedrals.

"It was just a practice round. We got to know each other a little bit and found out that both of us had interest in Georgia," Howell said. "That was the first time we ever talked about that, wanting to go to the same school to play college golf.”

Four years later, they are both national champions and two of the most decorated amateurs in the country. Coleman won the 2025 U.S. Junior Amateur at Trinity Forest Golf Club, in Dallas, Texas. The Augusta, Ga., native needed 25 holes – the longest U.S. Junior Amateur match in 23 years – to oust his Round-of-64 foe. He then defeated three consecutive lefties with remarkable résumés before holding on to outduel then-world No. 52 Minh Nguyen in the 36-hole final, 2 and 1.

Howell qualified for the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont by carding a pair of 63s at Piedmont Driving Club, in Atlanta on Golf’s Longest Day last June. Two months later, he claimed the U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club, San Francisco, before going 2-0-1 for the winning USA Team at the Walker Cup held at Cypress Point Club, in Pebble Beach, Calif. He joined Jordan Spieth (2011) as the youngest players with the best overall record in USA Walker Cup history.

“After Hamilton won the Junior (Amateur) last year, I was going to try my hardest to make my way into the U.S. Open,” said Howell, the stroke-play medalist at Trinity Forest before being defeated by U.S. National Junior Team member Henry Guan in the Round of 64. “I thought it would be cool if we got added to the Georgia Bulldog count in the field this week, and we did.”

Howell and Coleman joined the U.S. National Junior Team in 2026 after both being members of the inaugural Team Georgia roster in 2025. This fall, they will arrive in Athens as the centerpieces of the University of Georgia's heralded recruiting class.

The competition against each other over the last four years has brought out the best in both of them.

"It's always great to compete with people who are just as good as you, if not better, especially when they're close to home," Coleman said. "It's good to play with people who are better than you, because then you have no excuse but to get better."

Howell sees it the same way. "It definitely pushes both of us to work harder," he said. "We both represent our state and country as much as the other, so I think it'll be good for us at Georgia to compete against each other almost every day."

The Bulldog family stuck together for the first few days of practice rounds. Howell played with 2011 Walker Cupper Harris English on Sunday before Howell and Coleman paired up with Keith Mitchell on Tuesday.

“They are awesome,” Coleman said. “A lot of them (Georgia touring pros) are veterans out here. They've played in a lot of U.S. Opens, and some of them played in 2018 out here, so it's good to just pick their brains at events like this one.”

The gallery at Shinnecock will not be the first time Howell and Hamilton have been in front of a large crowd together. The pair were recognized on the field in front of a sold-out Sanford Stadium when Georgia hosted Southeastern Conference rival Texas in a top 10 showdown last November.

“It’s quite an experience having 92,000 people looking at you at the same time,” Coleman said. “You can forget how cool it is to win tournaments, but receiving recognition like that, in front of that crowd, in such a historic place, was really cool. I think we even got a standing ovation. It was a really great experience, especially because I got to celebrate it with Mason.”

Both had their USGA championship trophies in hand; the Havemeyer Trophy given to the winner of the U.S. Amateur and the newly named Tiger Woods Trophy for the U.S. Junior Amateur champion.

“I now understand why a lot of those football players can take such big hits, because the adrenaline was at an all-time high,” Howell said. “Just taking a look around and seeing how many people were in that stadium was awesome, and to be standing there next to Hamilton, knowing what we’d have the opportunity to do at Georgia in the future, competing for conference and national championships...we could not be more excited for that.”

The two played a practice round with world No. 2 and six-time major champion Rory McIlroy on Wednesday afternoon. Rory is making good on a promise he made at The Masters Tournament when he was paired with Howell on Thursday and Friday.

“I got his phone number after the Friday round, and he was like, text me if you want to play a practice round. So, I took advantage of that,” Howell said. “I think the big thing about playing with superstars like that is they really know how to map their way around the golf course, especially in a practice round, so it will be good for us to be able to see that together.”

On Thursday, Howell tees off on No. 1 at 8:14 a.m. EDT with world No. 1 and four-time major champion Scottie Scheffler and defending U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun. Coleman has the first tee time off No. 10 at 6:35 a.m. with qualifiers Harry Higgs and Chandler Phillips.