Tennessee teenager Jackson Herrington birdied the 18th hole to beat local favorite Niall Shiels Donegan on Saturday, advancing to the U.S. Amateur final at The Olympic Club.
Herrington won 1 up and will face Georgia teenager Mason Howell in Sunday’s 36-hole final. Howell defeated Eric Lee 3 and 2 in the other semifinal at the 125th U.S. Amateur.
Both finalists took an unusual path to the championship match. Herrington and Howell were among 17 players who survived a tense 20-man playoff Wednesday morning just to make the 64-player match play field.
The semifinals teed off in classic San Francisco summer conditions — heavy fog making it nearly impossible to track shots, a steady mist falling, and wind gusts topping 20 mph.
Herrington, 19, found himself in an early hole after bogeying the first two holes against Donegan, the 20-year-old Scot who grew up just across the Golden Gate Bridge in Mill Valley. The partisan crowd clearly favored the local product.
But the Tennessee sophomore showed remarkable resilience. He steadily fought back to take a two-hole lead late in the match.
Donegan wasn’t done, though. He’d made a habit of late comebacks throughout the tournament, and he nearly pulled off a fifth straight rally. He erased Herrington’s two-hole advantage when the Tennessean bogeyed the par-5 16th and then Donegan made a short birdie putt at the par-5 17th.
That set up a dramatic finish on the 18th with the match all square. Herrington hit a perfect approach shot on the par-4 closing hole. After Donegan narrowly missed his birdie attempt, Herrington calmly rolled in his 5-footer to secure his spot in the final.
Howell, still in high school, has been on an impressive run in 2025. The senior qualified for the U.S. Open earlier this year and has carried that momentum into this championship.
His semifinal match with Lee was tied at the turn, but Howell seized control when Lee made bogeys on the 11th and 14th holes. Howell then sealed the 3 and 2 victory with a long birdie putt on the par-5 16th, punctuating it with a fist pump.
Lee, who helped Oklahoma State win an NCAA title this year, was playing in his first U.S. Amateur.
This is the fourth U.S. Amateur held at The Olympic Club. The previous champions at this venue were Charlie Coe (1958), Nathaniel Crosby (1981) and Colt Knost (2007).
