17-year-old golf prodigy and dentist qualify for US Open in 2 unlikely journeys
Robert Howell
(OAKMONT, PA) — Two unlikely golfers are making their dreams come true at this year’s U.S. Open. ABC News’ David Muir spoke with the golfers as they prepare for the national championship this month.
Among them is 17-year-old Mason Howell from Thomasville, Georgia, who will be one of the youngest competitors at the prestigious tournament. Howell, who first picked up a golf club at age three and began competing in tournaments by six, recently qualified to play alongside golf’s elite professionals.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was nervous,” Howell told reporters after securing his spot, embracing his parents at the 18th green. “Hugging my mom and my dad walking off the 18th green… is just a feeling that I don’t know if I’ll feel again, but it was one of the greatest moments of my life.”
The high school junior sharing with ABC News his message to aspiring athletes: “Keep working hard, and dreams really do come true.”
But Howell isn’t the only inspiring story heading into next week’s championship. Dr. Matt Vogt, a 34-year-old dentist from McCordsville, Indiana, proved it’s never too late to chase your dreams by also qualifying for the tournament.
“I feel like I’m going to wake up from a dream,” Vogt said after his qualifying round. “This isn’t going to be real… but I’m so excited.”
Between treating patients and running on minimal sleep, Vogt hopes his journey will inspire others.
“My hope in qualifying for the U.S. Open at this stage of my life as an amateur is to really inspire others,” he told ABC News. “You can accomplish awesome things while still having a career… still having a family. It’s never too late to follow your dreams, and honestly, I hope to be an example of that.”
The U.S. Open golf tournament in 2025 will be held from June 12 to June 15 at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania.
(LOS ANGELES) — Erik and Lyle Menendez’s long-awaited resentencing hearing was filled with fireworks and flared tempers on Thursday as the brothers’ attorney looks to get them released and Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman tries to keep the brothers behind bars.
In a filing late Wednesday, prosecutors urged the court to obtain a copy of a recently completed risk assessment conducted on the brothers by the California Board of Parole Hearings at the request of Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The filing by the district attorney’s office urged the judge to delay the sentencing if the court couldn’t get a copy of the report in time for the hearing.
The Menendez brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos, spoke to reporters before court Thursday, calling Hochman’s last-minute attempt to delay the resentencing hearing a “Hail Mary.”
During Thursday’s hearing, the prosecution persistently argued the completed risk assessment is relevant.
Geragos called the prosecution’s attempt a “dog and pony show.” The prosecution shot back to the judge, saying Geragos’ comments were degrading, after which Geragos said, “You should be degraded!”
Judge Michael Jesic appeared annoyed by the bickering and said he needed more information about the governor’s office’s risk assessment report and how it can be used by the court.
Jesic said he needed “clarification from the governor’s office, because this is stupid.”
Court is in recess until 4:30 p.m. ET Thursday.
The brothers — who are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez — are fighting to be released after 35 years behind bars.
If the resentencing hearing proceeds, it could take several days. Ten family members are ready to take the stand, ABC News has learned. A prison expert and former inmate may also testify.
This comes one week after Lyle and Erik Menendez had a major win in court when the judge ruled in their favor at a hearing regarding Hochman’s motion to withdraw the resentencing petition submitted by the previous DA, George Gascón, who supported resentencing and the brothers’ release.
In the DA’s three-hour argument last Friday, he argued the brothers — who were listening to the hearing via video — haven’t taken responsibility for their actions and he called their claims of self-defense part of a litany of “lies.” Hochman also dismissed the brothers’ claim that they were sexually abused by their father.
Menendez attorney Mark Geragos fired back, calling Hochman a “’90s Neanderthal” for refusing to believe the brothers.
The judge on Friday denied Hochman’s motion to withdraw and said the brothers’ resentencing hearing will proceed as planned this Thursday and Friday.
Geragos called the decision “probably the biggest day since they’ve been in custody.”
“They’ve waited a long time to get some justice,” he said.
Hochman said in a statement after the ruling, “We concluded that the case was not ripe for resentencing based on the Menendez brothers’ continuing failure to exhibit full insight and accept complete responsibility for the entire gamut of their criminal actions and cover-up, including the fabrications of their self-defense defense and their lies concerning their father being a violent rapist, their mother being a poisoner, and their trying to obtain a handgun for self-defense the day before the murder.”
“Until the Menendez brothers finally come clean with all their lies of self-defense and suborning and attempting to suborn perjury, they are not rehabilitated and pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety,” he said.
This potential path to freedom gained momentum in October, when Hochman’s predecessor, Gascón, announced he was in support of resentencing.
Gascón recommended their sentences of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and said they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life. Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately with the new sentence.
Gascón’s office said its resentencing recommendations take into account many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón — who lost his reelection bid to Hochman in November — praised the work Lyle and Erik Menendez did behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and help other inmates.
Over 20 Menendez relatives are in support of the brothers’ release. Several of those relatives spoke with ABC News last week, including cousin Diane VanderMolen, who said Erik Menendez asked her to relay a message.
“They are truly, deeply sorry for what they did. And they are profoundly remorseful,” VanderMolen said. “They are filled with remorse over what they did. And through that, they have become pretty remarkable people.”
Besides resentencing, the brothers have two other possible paths to freedom.
Newsom announced in February that he was ordering the parole board to conduct a 90-day “comprehensive risk assessment” investigation into whether Lyle and Erik Menendez pose “an unreasonable risk to the public” if they’re granted clemency and released.
After the risk assessment, which Hochman said in the late Wednesday filing is now complete, Newsom said the brothers will appear at independent parole board hearings in June.
The other path is the brothers’ habeas corpus petition, which they filed in 2023 for a review of two new pieces of evidence not presented at trial: a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse from his father, and allegations from a former boy band member who revealed in 2023 that he was raped by Jose Menendez.
(NEW YORK) — Around 30 million Americans may see storms producing tornadoes, strong winds, large hail and flash flooding on Tuesday, including those already dealing with damage from previous tornadoes over the weekend.
Overnight, five tornadoes were reported — three in Nebraska, one in Oklahoma and one in Illinois — and destructive winds greater than 70 mph were reported in parts of Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, where hail the size of a grapefruit was spotted falling from the sky.
More than 80,000 people are without power across five states, including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri.
Several of these areas will be impacted again on Tuesday, as storms begin to move east from Texas to Kentucky.
About 30 million people are in the storm zone, with an enhanced risk from Greenville, Mississippi, to Louisville, Kentucky. Memphis, Nashville and London, Kentucky — which was hit by a powerful twister over the weekend — are also under the threat of these severe storms.
These areas could see winds reaching 75 mph, possible strong tornadoes and large hail. Flood watches are also in place for most of Kentucky and western West Virginia.
Isolated storms are possible in the afternoon and evening, but these are difficult to predict before they begin as they will form quickly overhead.
Showers and thunderstorms will reach the mid-Atlantic on Wednesday morning, especially targeting North Carolina and Virginia. The threat for severe weather is low, but damaging winds and even tornadoes are still possible.
Rain is expected to hit Washington, D.C., and New York on Wednesday and Boston on Thursday and Friday.
(NEW YORK) — A Mexican Navy sailboat with 277 people on board crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday evening, killing two people and injuring more than a dozen others who were on board in a dramatic scene along the New York City waterfront, according to authorities.
The crash occurred at 8:30 p.m., resulting in at least 19 people injured, according to the New York Police Department. Four people were left with serious injuries, according to city officials, who gave a press briefing late Saturday evening.
Mayor Eric Adams said early Sunday that two people were dead following the crash. Two others remained in critical condition, he said in a statement posted to social media.
On Sunday, Mexican Sen. Manuel Huerta identified the two sailors killed in the crash as América Yamilet Sánchez and Adal Jair Marcos.
The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a go-team to New York City to investigate the crash, the federal agency said Sunday. They began arriving that same day. The multidisciplinary investigative team is comprised of experts in nautical operations, marine and bridge engineering and survival factors, the NTSB said.
The captain, who was maneuvering the ship, lost power and mechanical function, and the current caused the ship to go right into the pillar of the bridge, hitting the mast of the ship where there was a couple of sailors,” NYPD Chief Wilson Aramboles said during a press briefing.
The sailors were injured as a result of the mast striking the bridge, according to Aramboles.
The U.S. Coast Guard, which responded to the incident, described the vessel, called the Cuauhtémoc, as a 297-foot-long training ship. The Coast Guard said all three of the tall ship’s masts were damaged as a result of the collision with the bridge.
Numerous cellphone videos from nearby onlookers captured the moment the ship’s masts, decorated with lights, collided with the bottom of the Brooklyn Bridge. Members of the ship’s crew were seen dangling from the masts after the collision.
No one fell into the water, according to officials. Officials said they did not believe the bridge sustained any structural damage. The bridge has since been reopened to traffic, Adams said just after midnight, adding that “we can confirm that the bridge sustained no damage” after a preliminary inspection.
“We are praying for everyone on board and their families and are grateful to our first responders who quickly jumped into action, ensuring this accident wasn’t much worse,” he said.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a statement on Sunday evening that the Mexican government is coordinating with local authorities and the U.S.
“The injured are being attended to first and foremost and our solidarity always goes out to a cadet and a sailor who died, and we are going to be attending to them,” Sheinbaum said.
She also said that the cause of the accident is “being reviewed” by the Mexican naval secretary and the relevant authorities.
The ship was disembarking from Pier 17 and heading to Iceland, officials said.
The NTSB was on site immediately after the crash and said it will begin its investigation into the cause, but preliminary information shows it was likely a mechanical issue with the sailboat, according to officials.
ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson, Josh Margolin, Clara McMichael and Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
