A tradition unlike any other returns this week as Augusta National hosts the 89th ever Masters Tournament. And for the first time in 12 years, a Tennessee golfer will participate in the tournament as Jackson Herrington earned an invite to this year’s tournament.
Herrington earned his invitation this summer when he was the runner-up at the 2025 US Amateur at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. The top two finishers at the event automatically qualify for the event.
The Dickson, Tennessee native is one of six amateurs to compete in this year’s Masters in what will certainly be a memorable week. Tennessee shared photos of Herrington playing with Tommy Fleetwood on Monday before Herrington played a practice round with Bryson DeChambeau on Tuesday.
“I played with Jackson today,” DeChaumbeau said. “He’s got an unbelievable game. The same ball speed as me. If he’s firing he could be doing that (near the top of the leaderboard through two days) too.”
Herrington is in the Masters after finishing second in the 312-player player US Amateur tournament. They whittle the field down to 64 after two days of stroke play. Then over the next six days, players competed in 18-hole match play contests before finishing with a 36-hole match play final.
The left-handed golfer finished 37th in the two plays of stroke play before defeating Chase Devins one-up in the Round of 64, Brady Siravo 4&3 in the Round of 32, Caleb Bond in a 20-hole thriller in the Round of 16, Jimmy Abdo 4&2 in the Quarterfinals and Niall Shiels Donegan one-up in the Semifinals.
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Herrington ran out of juice in the 36-hole championship match, losing to Georgia’s Mason Howell 7&6.
The moment of the tournament for Herrington came in the semifinals against the hometown Shiels Donegan. Herrington led by two with three holes to play and the big hitter seemingly had an advantage on the par five 16th and 17th. But Shield Donegan came storming back, capitalizing on a Herrington bogey on 16 and making birdie on 17 to tie the match entering the 18th.
Herrington responded in unbelievably impressive fashion. He hit a 4-iron out into the fairway on the short par four and then stuck his approach to approximately 6 feet and drilled the birdie putt to win the match.
The Dickson, Tennessee native is just the third ever former Tennessee golfer to play in the Masters. Both Oliver Goss, who finished in second at the 2013 US Amateur, and Garrick Porteous, who won the 2013 British Amateur, played in the 2014 Masters.
More recently, Tennessee golfer Lance Simpson played in the 2025 US Open at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania.
Herrington tees off at 8:14 a.m. ET on Thursday and is playing with 2009 Masters Champion Angel Cabrera and Sami Valimaki.
