CHASKA, Minn. — Noah Kent loves the high stakes of match play, and it has taken the Iowa sophomore all the way to the championship match of the U.S. Amateur.
Kent was on the verge of his semifinal match going all square when Jackson Buchanan made an 18-foot birdie on the 15th hole. Kent calmly rolled in his 15-foot putt to match birdies and stay 1 up.
Playing the 18th hole at Hazeltine National for the first time in match play, he drilled his drive down the middle with Buchanan in trouble and hit 7-iron to about 6 feet, a putt that was conceded in his 2-up victory.
Next up is Jose Luis Ballester of Spain, a senior at Arizona State and the No. 10 player in the world amateur ranking. He registered a 3-and-2 victory over fellow Spaniard Luis Masaveu.
Kent has not trailed in a match since the 12th hole of the second round. When the pressure was at its greatest, he delivered against Buchanan on the pivotal 15th hole.
“I don’t know what it is with me. I love whenever the pressure gets really high. I’ve been feeling it the whole week,” Kent said. “It was just like another out-of-body experience to see it go in the hole, and momentum stayed with me.”
Ballester took the lead for the first time with a birdie on the ninth hole and pulled away on the middle of the back nine when Masaveu made a few mistakes.
He becomes the first Spaniard in the U.S. Amateur championship match.
“I think I’m still not conscious what just happened today,” Ballester said. “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.”
Both finalists are assured big moments — they get invitations to the Masters in April and a spot in the U.S. Open at Oakmont. The winner of Sunday’s 36-hole final gets into the British Open at Royal Portrush.
Kent took the lead for good on the fifth hole, though it was tight down the stretch. Buchanan, who earlier in the week had beaten top-ranked amateur Luke Clanton, looked to go all square with his birdie on the par-5 15th until Kent matched him.
On the 16th hole, with Lake Hazeltine as a backdrop and a stream running down the left side, Buchanan’s drive went left over the creek, but it appeared to hit a spectator and roll back into the water. That led to double bogey, and he was 2 down with two holes to play.
Buchanan won the 17th with a birdie, but his tee shot found a bunker left of the 18th fairway, and his next shot hit the lip. Kent took it from there.
“Just sad to be honest. It sucks, but I didn’t bring it today,” Buchanan said. “I didn’t bring it, and I don’t deserve to win, and he did his job.”
Ballester was 1 up when Masaveu missed the green on the par-3 13th and made bogey. On the reachable par-4 14th, Ballester was just short of the green off the tee. Masaveu went well right, chipped through the green and failed to get up-and-down, losing the hole with a bogey.
They halved the par-5 15th with pars, and Ballester closed him out on the 16th.
“Jose played well. He played really solid, no bogeys,” Masaveu said. “To get to the final of a U.S. Amateur, you have to do a little bit more.”