Tennessee Teenager Advances to U.S. Amateur Final
SAN FRANCISCO – Young tennis player Jackson Herrington of Tennessee birdied the 18th hole to defeat local favorite Niall Shiels Donegan on Saturday, thus advancing to the final of the U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club.
Herrington won 1 up and will face the also young Mason Howell, from Georgia, in the 36-hole final on Sunday. Howell defeated Eric Lee 3 and 2 in the other semifinal of the 125th U.S. Amateur.
Both Herrington and Howell managed to advance to the final after being part of the 17 players who survived a 20-man playoff on Wednesday morning, determining the last 64 for match play.
The games began with the typical San Francisco summer weather, with a dense fog that made it difficult to follow the shots, along with a constant drizzle and wind gusts of more than 20 mph.
Herrington started at a disadvantage after making bogey on the first two holes against Donegan, the 20-year-old Scot who grew up just across the Golden Gate Bridge in Mill Valley.
Herrington, 19, and about to begin his second year at Tennessee, overcame the partisan crowd, the weather, and the initial deficit to secure the victory.
Donegan nearly pulled off a fifth straight late rally. He erased a two-hole deficit when Herrington bogeyed the par-5 16th and then Donegan made a short birdie putt on the par-5 17th to set the stage for the decisive final hole in front of a raucous gallery of his supporters.
Herrington hit a perfect approach shot on the 18th hole, par 4, and then made his 5-foot par putt after Donegan narrowly missed his birdie attempt.
Howell, who is about to begin his final year of high school, continued an impressive 2025 season after qualifying for the U.S. Open earlier this year.
I was tied on the 9th hole with Lee, but took a two-hole lead after Lee bogeyed on holes 11 and 14. Then, Howell won the match with a long birdie putt on the 16th hole, par 5, and celebrated with a fist pump.
Lee was playing in his first U.S. Amateur after helping Oklahoma State win an NCAA title this year.
This is the fourth time the U.S. Amateur has been held at The Olympic Club. Charles Coe (1958), Nathaniel Crosby (1981), and Cole Knost (2007) won the others.
