Jose Luis Ballester (USGA Photo)
How about celebrating your 21st birthday and hoisting the Havemeyer Trophy on the same day? That’s what
Jose Luis Ballester of Spain experienced on a glorious Sunday at Hazeltine National Golf Club. But the 2-up win over Noah Kent in the 36-hole final of the 124th U.S. Amateur Championship nearly had his opponent blow out the candles before making his ultimate wish.
Ballester, currently No. 34 in the
Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings, watched a 4-up lead with six to play nearly evaporate into nearby Lake Hazeltine before he stopped the hemorrhaging over the final two holes to become the first player from his country to win this prestigious title, and just the second to claim any USGA championship (Jon Rahm 2021 U.S. Open).
He’s also the fourth Sun Devil to etch his name on the Havemeyer trophy, joining Billy Mayfair (1987), Phil Mickelson (1990) and Jeff Quinney (2000).
“I think I'm still not conscious of what just happened today,” said Ballester. “Super thankful to have the opportunity to live this moment, especially on my 21st birthday. That's what I'm considering now.
“Super sweet. Again, we have many great Spaniards, many great legends, and being able to add my name into that history, it's pretty sweet.”
Both players are exempt into the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club and likely will be invited to next April’s Masters. Ballester gets an additional spot into The Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
Kent, 19, of Naples, Fla., was the sentimental favorite with a vast majority of the boisterous gallery rooting for the University of Iowa sophomore, who was trying to be the first Hawkeye to win the U.S. Amateur and second USGA championship following Gene Elliott’s 2021 U.S. Senior Amateur triumph.
Many folks, including his teammates, made the four-hour drive north. For the past two days, an entourage led by his uncle were decked out in yellow Caitlin Clark t-shirts and helped give the match a mini-Ryder Cup feel. A few were chanting “USA! USA!” yells that will definitely emanate on the property when the Matches return to Hazeltine in 2029.
But the narrative bore more of a resemblance to the 2006 U.S. Amateur final, when the high-profile European (Scotland’s Richie Ramsay was a member of the 2005 Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup Team) defeated the unheralded American, University of Missouri golfer John Kelly, in the final at Hazeltine.
Kent, competing in his first USGA competition and owning the No. 560 spot in the WAGR, doesn’t own a major amateur victory, although he was the runner-up in this year’s Porter Cup, and last year’s Western Junior, before a broken wrist left him sidelined for 11 weeks, including during the 2023 U.S. Junior Amateur.
Meanwhile, Ballester, a three-time All-American at Arizona State, claimed the 2023 European Amateur to earn an exemption into The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool. He’s also represented his country in the last two World Amateur Team Championships in France (2022) and United Arab Emirates (2023) and was a member of the International Palmer Cup Team earlier this summer.
Of course, rankings and past finishes don’t mean a thing once everyone arrives on the first tee, and given the pro-Kent crowd, Ballester knew he had a major challenge on his hand.
Things certainly got testy late when Ballesteros registered a double bogey on the par-3 31st and two more bogeys on Nos. 32 and 34 to see his 4-up lead trimmed to 1 up.
“I fought like crazy out there,” said Kent. “I know I shot [2] under par on my ball [in the second 18]. I know I gave it my all. I got it to 18. I'm sure a lot of people are like, oh, it's going to be a wipe [out] early, and I made it to 18.
“It meant a lot. You can hang your head coming in second, but to fight like that, I talked to Mr. [John] Harris, it's just like, if you fight, you know in your heart you're not going to be upset. If you don't fight, it's going to leave you haunted.”
Both players hit the green on the 167-yard, par-3 35th hole. With the flagstick tucked just above a ridge in the right-front portion of the green, it made for a tricky tee shot. Ballester watched as Kent missed a 30-footer up the hill, and then coaxed an extremely quick 20-footer to 3 feet, which he converted for par.
With the honors on the par-4 36th, Kent thought he hit a perfect drive, only to see the ball bounce into a bunker right of the fairway. Ballester stepped up and hit one of his best drives of the afternoon round, leaving himself 185 yards up the hill. A smooth 7-iron found the putting surface some 15 feet below the hole. Kent overcooked his 3-iron approach from 170 yards into gnarly greenside rough left of the green. His recovery shot went 30 feet past the flagstick, and he was unable to convert the long par putt.
Ballester rolled his birdie attempt to tap-in range and the long day was over. Before doing the prize ceremony on the green, the Spaniard teared up as he thought of all the people who have helped him reach the pinnacle of amateur golf, including Victor Garcia, the father of Masters champion Sergio Garcia and his longtime coach.
Ballester took control of the morning 18 late when Kent three-putted both 16 and 17 for bogey to lose the holes and go into the lunch break 4 down. In fact, when Kent lost the second hole to Ballester’s birdie, it was the first time he had trailed in 57 holes dating back to his Round-of-32 match on Thursday against Tom Fischer. Ballester also birdied both par-3s on the outward nine for a 3-up lead at the turn.
During the lunch break, Kent found solace in a shower stall inside the men’s locker room to collect his thoughts and make a few calls, one to longtime mentor and 1993 U.S. Amateur champion John Harris, another to his sports psychologist Brett McCabe and a third to his swing coach Claude Harmon.
All three provided encouraging feedback, and Kent came out firing for the second 18. He chipped in for birdie on the 19th hole, only to see Ballester win the 20th with a 10-foot birdie of his own. Undeterred, Kent registered a two-putt birdie on the par-5 21st to trim the margin to 3 down, and four holes later, he rolled in a 25-foot eagle putt.
But a mistake with his approach on the downhill, dogleg-left 28th saw Kent go back to 3 down, and Ballester showcased his exquisite short game on the par-5 29th, knocking his greenside bunker shot to 2 feet for a 4-up lead. That set the stage for Kent’s wild comeback.
On the eve of the championship match, Ballester chatted by phone with Sergio Garcia, who up until this week was the only Spaniard to reach the semifinals in the U.S. Amateur. That came in 1998, the year he won The Amateur Championship at Muirfield. The two are from the same area in Spain and have known each other for several years. Ballester even has Sergio’s winning score from his 2017 Masters triumph written on the shaft of his driver.
Garcia also competed in the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine, earning a half-point in an epic Sunday singles match against Phil Mickelson. In a way, Ballester was in Garcia’s shoes as the foreign player trying to take down the popular American. There were times on Sunday when Ballester thought of holding his index finger to his lips to quiet the crowd, but discretion was the better part of valor.
Instead, he let his clubs and skill do all the talking.
“I kind of liked it a little bit. It's true that, when the other guy is feeling it and he's kind of grabbing that momentum and you see all the supporters that are going for him, it can be a little depressing. So, it's important to face it with a nice mindset, and I think I did.”
And after doing all the media interviews, including a Zoom call with reporters back in Spain, Ballester left the premises with the Havemeyer Trophy, and ready to celebrate the hours remaining of his 21st birthday.
A nice meal with his caddie/longtime friend Alberto Ballester (no relation), his college coaches at Arizona State, Matt Thurmond and assistant Thomas Sutton, and two Spanish friends, including best friend Navid Mousavi, who plays collegiately at NAIA William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Miss.
“So super special to have him here, even in this [media] room,” said Ballester. “It was a great birthday present as well to see him rooting for me today.”
What the Champion Receives
- A gold medal
- Custody of the Havemeyer Trophy for one year
- Exemptions into the next 10 U.S. Amateur Championships
- Exemption into the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club
- Likely invitation to next April’s Masters Tournament (must be an amateur)
- Exemption into the 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush (must be an amateur)
- Name engraved on 2024 USGA Champions’ plaque that will reside in the Hall of Champions at the USGA Museum & Library in Liberty Corner, N.J.
Notable
- Runner-up Noah Kent received a silver medal, an exemption into the 2025 U.S. Open and likely invitation into the Masters Tournament (must be an amateur) as well as exemptions into the next three U.S. Amateur Championships.
- What a summer it’s been for Spain. Carlos Alcaraz claimed the French Open and Wimbledon, the soccer team won Euro 2024, and the Under-23 soccer squad captured the gold medal in the Olympics. Spain also won gold in women’s water polo in Paris. Now Jose Luis Ballester made history in the U.S. Amateur.
- Seven members of the Iowa men’s golf team made the four-hour drive from Iowa City to Hazeltine on Friday: Ian Meyer, Cale Leonard, Hogan Hansen, Josh Lundmark, Chance Rinkol, Ryan Shellberg and Gabe Messingham. The team’s coach, Tyler Stith, had been on property for several days.
- USGA Executive Committee members Bryan Lewis and Andrew Biggadike served as the referees for the morning and afternoon rounds of the final, respectively. USGA president Fred Perpall was the first-tee starter and presented the Havemeyer Trophy to the champion at the prize ceremony.
- Next year’s U.S. Amateur will be conducted at The Olympic Club (Lake Course), in San Francisco, Calif., from Aug. 11-17. The club’s Ocean Course will serve as the stroke-play co-host.
- Jose Luis Ballester’s father, also named Jose Luis, was a three-time Olympic butterfly swimmer for Spain (1988, 1992, 1996). He also swam collegiately at the University of Florida. His mom, Sonia Barrio, won a gold medal in field hockey for Spain in the 1992 Barcelona Games, and competed in 1996 and 2000 (lost bronze-medal match to The Netherlands). His sister, Julia, is a sophomore on the Kansas State women’s golf team.
- Not long after he won his semifinal victory on Saturday afternoon, Kent received texts from four-time major champion Rory McIlroy and two-time major winner/Iowa native Zach Johnson about setting up a practice round at next April’s Masters. Kent first met McIlroy, the 2011 U.S. Open champion and runner-up in the last two U.S. Opens, at the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, a course his stepfather, Dana Fry, helped design. Johnson won the 2007 Masters. His longtime instructor, Claude Harmon, works with major champions Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson.
- Jose Luis Ballester’s bogey on the par-4 fifth hole in the final was his first since making a 4 on the par-3 eighth in the quarterfinals on Friday against Bobby Massa, a span of 30 holes.
- Before turning to competitive golf, Kent played youth hockey in Florida where one of his coaches wasretired defenseman Brian Rafalski, who spent 11 seasons in the NHL with the New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings. Kent said he gave up hockey at 14 because he didn’t like the contact.
- The 125 holes Ballester needed to win the championship matched the second-most in U.S. Amateur history, just one behind Gunn Yang in 2014. Jeff Quinney (2000) and Nick Flanagan (2003) also needed 125 holes to win their titles.
- Ballester borrowed a pair of yellow shorts from semifinalist Luis Masaveu after his semifinal victory over his fellow countryman on Saturday. He wanted to wear the Spanish Team’s red and yellow colors for the final.