While so many golfers are moving from north to south, Saturday’s U.S. Amateur semifinals will feature two players who have changed course.
Georgia native Jackson Buchanan left home to play for the University of Illinois, while Noah Kent of Naples, Florida, headed north to Iowa City to join the Hawkeyes.
They will face off in an all-Big Ten semifinal at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, while Spaniards Jose Luis Ballester and Luis Masaveu will face off in the other semifinal.
The Big Ten may not be as influential a golf conference as the SEC, Pac-12 or Big 12, but it does have two of this year’s championship semifinalists, while the world’s top three amateur golfers – No. 1 Luke Clanton, Gordon Sargent and Jackson Koivun – all bowed out in the round of 32.
“The Big Ten isn’t the SEC, but it’s a huge conference,” Buchanan said after beating Notre Dame’s Jacob Modelski 4 and 3. “It’s probably the biggest conference, the best conference. Golf in the Midwest is just as good as the South. I’m from Georgia, so I know. Of course, we’re still very competitive. We just go to good golf schools.”
Buchanan survived two days of stroke play qualifying and was seeded 53rd before winning the round of 32 and round of 16 matches by defeating both Clanton and 16-year-old Tyler Mawhinney on the 18th hole.
“It feels weird,” Buchanan said. “It doesn’t even feel like I won, like I didn’t get to 18. Oh well. I played solid. That’s really it.”
Kent defeated Oklahoma State’s Ethan Fang 3 and 2 to end Fang’s threat to become the first 64th-seeded player to win a USGA championship.
