Noah Kent (left) and Jose Luis Ballester (USGA Photo)
The Ryder Cup Matches are returning to Hazeltine National Golf Club in 2029, so perhaps it’s appropriate that Sunday’s 36-hole championship match of the 124th U.S. Amateur Championship on the Robert Trent Jones Sr. design will feature a United States vs. Europe showdown.
Noah Kent, 19, of Naples, Fla., a sophomore at the University of Iowa, will face Arizona State University senior
Jose Luis Ballester, 20, of Spain, with both looking to make history. Kent would be the first Hawkeye to ever win this championship – and just the second to claim a USGA title (Gene Elliott, 2021 U.S. Senior Amateur), while Ballester would be the first Spaniard to etch his name on the Havemeyer Trophy, and join fellow Sun Devil Jon Rahm, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, as just the second from his country to be a USGA champion.
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On Saturday, Kent, with a large group of fans in his gallery whooping and hollering on every shot, eliminated Big 10 Conference Player of the Year and 2024 U.S. Open qualifier Jackson Buchanan, 22, of Dacula, Ga., 2 up. Ballester eliminated Spanish National Team teammate Luis Masaveu, 22, who finished 78th in last month’s Open Championship at Royal Troon, 3 and 2.
“I think I'm still not conscious what just happened today,” said Ballester. “It's still an unbelievable feeling. Super grateful for the opportunity to compete in the U.S. Amateur Championship. Just grateful that I'm living this moment.”
The victory earns both finalists a spot in the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club and likely invitations to The Masters Tournament in April at Augusta National Golf Club. The winner gets an added exemption into the 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
The matchup also might remind a few people of the two who squared off 16 years ago when the U.S. Amateur was last contested at Hazeltine. That year, the more-established European (2005 Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cupper Richie Ramsey) defeated the unheralded American (University of Missouri’s John Kelly) in the final. This time, Ballester is the higher-profile European – he’s No. 10 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking®/WAGR® – and Kent is the unheralded American at No. 560 in the WAGR.
But finals are played on the golf course, not a simulated computer program, and both will arrive Sunday morning supremely confident.
“I started crying before the [Golf Channel] interview,” said Kent, competing in his first USGA championship after having to withdraw from last year’s U.S. Junior Amateur due to a wrist fracture suffered off the course. “It means the world. I've had a couple of buddies play in majors (Tommy Morrison in 2024 Open and 2022 Latin America Amateur champ Aaron Jarvis in the 2022 Masters and Open Championship), and to see my name and be in Augusta in April and be at Oakmont, you can't really even put it into words.
“It was fun. I've seen Jackson before. I knew he played good in Big Tens (runner-up). I know he's a good player, but at the end of the day, it's a one-day match. It's out for the taking if you want it bad enough, you're going to take it. I really wanted it, and my caddie [A.J. Ferenczy] reminded me, how bad do you want it?”
Neither Kent or Buchanan brought their “A” game at the outset, as the latter made four bogeys over the first six holes and found himself 2 down. But an exquisite approach to tap-in birdie range on the par-4 ninth trimmed the deficit in half and the match remained tight deep into the second nine.
Buchanan, who had rallied late to defeat his first three high-profile opponents (2023 USA Walker Cupper Preston Summerhays, world No. 1 Luke Clanton and 2024 Canadian Am champ/U.S. National Junior Team member Tyler Mawhinney), looked like he might have another magical rally against Kent when he drained a 25-footer for birdie on the 15th green. But like he did in Friday’s quarterfinals, Kent matched his opponent with a 15-footer of his own to maintain a precarious 1-up lead.
On the par-4 16th, Buchanan, No. 17 in WAGR, found the penalty area to the left of the fairway, and wound up conceding the hole after making a double-bogey 6. With a 2-up lead on the 17th tee, Kent made a major mistake by hitting his tee shot into the penalty area left of the green. Buchanan, with two putts to win the hole, buried his 15-footer to draw within one.
“Just sad to be honest,” said a disappointed but gracious Buchanan. “It sucks, but I didn't bring it today. You can't expect to win if you don't bring it…and he did his job.”
Playing 18 for the first time since Saturday’s opening stroke-play round, Kent found the fairway after Buchanan’s drive landed in a left-fairway bunker. His second hit the lip and caromed into the left rough, and two shots later, he conceded the hole and match after Kent’s 7-iron approach from 180 yards stopped 15 feet short of the flagstick.
All of Kent’s fans – many dressed in yellow Caitlin Clark t-shirts – erupted loud enough to be heard in downtown Minneapolis. Chants of “Let’s Go Hawks, Let’s Go Hawks” continued well after the match concluded.
A year ago at this time, Kent couldn’t even swing a club, sidelined for 11 weeks due to wrist injury. But when he did return to competitive golf, he immediately challenged Iowa’s top player, Mac McClear, the 2023 co-Big 10 Conference champion to a match, and defeated him, showing the guile and competitive spirit that has been on display at Hazeltine. Needing to go low at stroke-play co-host Chaska Town Course to make match play after an opening-round 77, Kent carded a 6-under 64, and has been on a roll since.
“I talked about it with my friends last year,” said Kent about the disappointment of not getting the chance to play the U.S. Junior Amateur at Daniel Island Club last July. “One of my friends (Oliver Marshall) qualified for the one out at Bandon [in 2022]. He's like, if you get in match play, nobody wants to play against you. They're texting me, nobody wants you in match play.”
Ballester, a member of Spain’s 2022 World Amateur Team in France, has been equally as impressive since also barely sneaking into the draw with a 1-under 141 score in stroke play. He eliminated 2023 USA Walker Cupper and world No. 5 Ben James and then beat college rival, Tiger Christensen of the University of Arizona, in the Round of 32 a day after the latter took out world No. 2 Gordon Sargent.
But on Saturday, he faced the challenging task of beating Masaveu, someone he has known since the two were just starting out in junior golf in Spain.
Both came out strong with Masaveu registering winning birdies on Nos. 1 and 3, and Ballester claiming the second hole with a birdie. The two had matching pars over the next four holes until Ballester began pulling away with a winning par on No. 8 and a birdie at the par-4 ninth. His remarkable short game was on display all day and Masaveu, the No. 3 seed, just never found his game after the early holes.
“I'm very happy for him,” said Masaveu. “I think he works really hard, so I think he deserves it. He played better than me today. He handled it better with the pressure. I think tomorrow he's going to win.”
Ballester’s steady and stoic play was illustrated by his four-birdie, no-bogey effort over the 16 holes. He won holes 13 and 14 to go 3 up and two ensuring pars put him in the title match.
Part of that makeup may come from his parents, both Olympians for Spain. His father was a swimmer, while his mom won a gold medal in field hockey in the 1992 Barcelona Games. His sister, Julia, is a rising sophomore on the Kansas State women’s golf team.
He also has been coached the last seven years by Victor Garcia, the father of major champion Sergio Garcia, who before this week was the last Spaniard to make the semifinals in the U.S. Amateur (1998). This week, he’s received encouraging messages from both individuals. He’s also played some golf in Arizona with Rahm, who added the Master title in 2023 to go with his U.S. Open crown.
“I learned that a player like Jon with how confident he is and the mentality he has, you got to bring it,” said Ballester, bidding to join Billy Mayfair (1987), Phil Mickelson (1990) and Jeff Quinney (2000) as Sun Devils to win the U.S. Amateur. “Nobody's going to give it to you. If you want to win, you've got to play aggressive, and that's what I got from him.”
There also is one more intriguing item for Ballester. He’ll be playing Sunday’s championship match on his 21st birthday.
Taking the Havemeyer Trophy home would be the ultimate present.
What’s Next
Sunday’s 36-hole championship match will begin at 7:15 a.m. CDT, and continue after the lunch break at approximately 12:15 p.m. Tickets are available, and Golf Channel will have three hours of live coverage from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. EDT.
Notable
Both semifinal losers received bronze medals and are exempt into the next two U.S. Amateurs at The Olympic Club (2025) and Merion Golf Club (2026).
Honorary co-chair Larry Fitzgerald, a likely NFL Hall of Famer who spent his entire 17-year career with the Arizona Cardinals, was on property to take in the semifinals and will be on-site for the final. Joe Mauer, the former Minnesota Twins catcher/first baseman who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame earlier this summer, attended the quarterfinals on Friday and will be at Hazeltine on Sunday. He is serving as the second honorary co-chair.
Noah Kent, who plays at Iowa, had a large gallery following him on Saturday, many wearing t-shirts with the No. 22 on the back, the uniform number of superstar Caitlin Clark, who led the Hawkeyes to consecutive Women’s Final Fours before being the No. 1 pick of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever in April. Many of them were friends/relatives of Trisha Kent, who attended at Iowa State.
All three college coaches of the three semifinalists – Luis Masaveu did not attend school in the United States – were on property. Mike Small (Illinois) and Matt Thurmond (Arizona State) each arrived on Saturday, while Tyler Stith (Iowa) arrived earlier. He previously was an assistant coach at the University of Minnesota for John Carlson, who was a member of the winning Minnesota side in the 2001 USGA Men’s State Team held at Hazeltine. Small has qualified for three U.S. Opens (1994, 1998, 2007) and 10 PGA Championships, including 2009 at Hazeltine. He also has played in three U.S. Senior Opens.
Ex-Illinois player Tommy Kuhl was part of Jackson Buchanan’s gallery on Saturday. Current teammate Max Herendeen remained on property after missing the cut for match play.
Jose Luis Ballester has the initials CBA on one of his headcovers to honor the late Celia Barquin Arozamena, a 22-year-old Iowa State golfer from Spain who was murdered near the Ames campus six years ago. She was the school’s Athlete of the Year in 2018. Ballester put her initials on his headcover the moment he heard about the tragedy and has dedicated his performance this week to his late countrywoman.
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ABOUT THE
US Amateur
The U.S. Amateur, the oldest USGA
championship, was first played in 1895 at
Newport Golf Club in Rhode Island. The
event,
which has no age restriction, is open to
those
with a Handicap Index of 2.4 or lower. It is
one
of 14 national championships conducted
annually by the USGA, 10 of which are
strictly
for amateurs. It is the pre-eminent
amateur
competition in the world.
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