‘You belong here’: How a local legend is motivating this U.S. Amateur contender

CHASKA, Minn. — Noah Kent is not afraid to admit it bothers him. But it also motivates him.

The rising Iowa sophomore may be ranked 560th in the world, but no one watching the 2024 U.S. Amateur would guess that based on Kent’s play the last four days in Minnesota.

“Yeah, I mean, they talk about it, and it’s like you’re 560 in the world, but I know I can beat anybody here,” Kent said Friday. “It doesn’t matter if they’re ranked 1, 1,000, 10, 20 — it doesn’t really matter to me. It’s just a match.”

The 19-year-old beat Ethan Fang 3 and 2 in the U.S. Am quarterfinals on Friday at Hazeltine National Golf Club, which was just the latest of his four match-play romps. He’s won two other matches 4 and 2 and has yet to play the 18th hole. This all comes after he shot a six-under 64 at Chaska Town Course on Tuesday, which allowed him to make the top 64 and advance to match play after he stumbled to an opening 77 at Hazeltine on Monday.

But since that opening day at Hazeltine — he called it four bad swings — no one has been better.

“I didn’t get off to a good start at all, then I got hot at Chaska,” Kent said on Thursday. “I knew my game, I hit it really far. I don’t really put myself in trouble that often. I was going to be really hard to beat in match play. I’ve kind of just proven that.”

Kent grew up playing hockey and quit when he was 14, and he didn’t start playing golf seriously until his freshman year of high school. (A meeting with Rory McIlroy around that same time with the help of Kent’s stepdad, course architect Dana Fry, also helped solidify his love for the game.) Kent was named first team all-conference three times and won Southwest Florida Player of the Year, but the Florida kid eventually found his way to Iowa because he said it was the first school to believe in him and give him a chance.

His 72.8 scoring average led the Hawkeyes last season and a 63 he shot tied the second-lowest 18-hole score in team history. He also recorded the third-lowest 54-hole score (202) in school history.

He qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateur last year but wasn’t able to play after he broke his left wrist. Now, in his first U.S. Amateur — with his monster drives and hot putter — he’s ripping through the competition.

On Friday against Fang, Kent birdied the first four and holed a flop shot for eagle on 11. He birdied the next hole to play the first 12 in seven under. Fang, who made it out of a 14-for-11 playoff just to advance to match play, wasn’t playing poorly — it was just that hard to beat Kent on Friday.

“I kind of got in the zone really early,” he said, “and everything just kind of felt right in the beginning of the round.”

Kent faces Illinois’ Jackson Buchanan in the semifinals (their match is at 1 p.m. local on Saturday). He’s got about 15 family and friends following him this week, and more might be on the way. His college coach, Tyler Stith, arrived on Friday, and so did a raucous group that consisted of Kent’s uncle and some of his buddies.

“I made a comment to my caddie, ‘With them by me on the 1st tee, the other person is 1 down with all of them going crazy,'” Kent said.

He’s playing for others not on-site, too. He’s texted with John Harris every day this week, and they talked on the phone on Friday morning. Harris, who now lives in Naples, Fla., was a star athlete for the University of Minnesota in the 1970s, helping the Gophers men’s hockey team win the 1974 NCAA Division I national championship while also competing as a standout on the golf team.

Harris later went on to win the 1993 U.S. Amateur at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas. He was 43 at the time, and he’s still the last mid-amateur (25 or older) to win the Havemeyer Trophy.

Connected through a former college coach, Kent and Harris have become close, and Kent even calls him a mentor. Harris, 72, is battling health issues but watching from afar. “I’m doing it for you, Mr. Harris,” Kent said during his post-round interview on Golf Channel.

Kent has three sets of initials scribbled on his golf glove this week: his own, his girlfriend’s, and Harris’. In their conversation on Friday morning, Harris told Kent to keep it simple.

“Keep doing what you’re doing,” he said. “You’re good enough — and you belong here.”