Howell, Stout Receive Exemptions to the John Deere Classic

Winners of the 2025 U.S. Amateur and 2026 NCAA Championships have received sponsor exemptions to play in this year’s John Deere Classic, July 2-5, at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill.

Mason Howell, 19, winner of the 2025 U.S. Amateur (Olympic Club), and 2026 NCAA Champion Preston Stout, 21, a leader on Oklahoma State’s 2025 national championship team, will grace the fairways with their elite golf pedigrees along with 142 other world class golfers.

“The John Deere Classic is very excited to carry on our longstanding tradition of inviting the world’s top amateurs to play in our tournament,” said tournament director Andrew Lehman. “We look forward to having our fans get an early look at Mason and Preston, two of the truly elite young players in the game.”

An incoming freshman at Georgia, Howell was the third-youngest U.S. Amateur winner and a member of the victorious 2025 U.S. Walker Cup team, where he didn’t lose a match. He played in this year’s Masters and last year’s U.S. Open. In 2024, he finished fifth at the Western Junior and advanced to the round of 64 in the U.S. Junior.

Stout, a Texas native, recently won the NCAA individual championship at La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California. This year he became the first golfer to win the Big 12 individual championship for the third consecutive time while leading OSU to its 13th league title.  While Howell won the ’25 overall U.S. Amateur in match play, Stout won the stroke play element of the championship. Stout and former John Deere Classic champion Jordan Spieth are the only three-time winners of the Byron Nelson Junior Championship.