Last year, it was Neal Shipley. This year, it’s Noah Kent.
Thousands of fans roamed the fairways of Hazeltine National on Saturday afternoon, many of them clad in yellow and black following Kent, a rising sophomore at Iowa. They were loud the first 17 holes of his match against Illinois senior Jackson Buchanan, but they roared on the par-4 18th hole.
Kent’s tee shot found the fairway, and Buchanan’s was in the bunker. Buchanan’s ball hit the lip on his second shot, and it only advanced about 15 yards into the rough. That’s when Kent took control.
It has been his modus operandi all week: when Kent’s opponents hit a big shot or drained a big putt, he responded with one of his own. Like on the par-5 15th, when Buchanan made a putt for birdie, but Kent responded and stole any chance of stealing momentum. The putt would’ve tied the match.
On the next shot, Buchanan’s drive bounced off a fan and into the water. He made par on the hole and went 2 up with two to play.
His tee shot on the par-3 17th found a penalty area, and Buchanan made a birdie putt to make it 1 down. Fans then rushed to surround the 18th hole and circled the players as they walked up the fairway, but Kent’s approach shot sent them into a frenzy.
He smoked a 7-iron from 180 yards into the wind, and it never left the flag. He stuck the approach about 6 feet from the pin, and the match was over.
“I don’t know what it is with me,” Kent said. “I mean, I love whenever the pressure gets really high, and I kind of just have been feeling it the whole week.
“I feel like I was just born with it. I mean, I played hockey. I’m a really competitive person, whether that’s playing here, that’s playing just a fun game with friends, I just bring the same intensity and energy the whole entire day.”
Kent, who’s ranked 560th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, has played 83 holes of match play this week. He has trailed for only five of them, none in the last three rounds.
His 2-up win against Buchanan was significant for many reasons. It’s a culmination of hard work over the past year since he broke his right wrist before teeing it up in what was supposed to be his first USGA championship, the U.S. Junior Amateur. He missed 11 weeks and wasn’t able to do anything…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golfweek…