CHASKA, Minn. – Jose Luis Ballester, a rising senior at Arizona State University, became the first player from Spain to win the U.S. Amateur, defeating Iowa sophomore Noah Kent by 2 for first in the 36-hole match on his 21st birthday Sunday at Hazeltine.
Ballester, the only player in the top 10 of the world amateur rankings to reach the round of 16, took the lead on the second hole and never trailed. He is the only player from Spain, along with Jon Rahm, to win a USGA tournament. Rahm, who also played for the Sun Devils, won the 2021 US Open.
“We have a lot of great Spanish people, a lot of great legends,” Ballester said. “To be able to write my name in this history is pretty sweet.”
Both finalists received exemptions to play in the Masters and US Open next year, and Ballester also earned a spot in the Open.
Ballester trailed at some point in his last three matches before taking control in the grueling finale. Wearing a red polo shirt, yellow shorts borrowed from Spaniard Luis Masaveu, whom he beat in the semifinals, and black socks to match his country’s colors, Ballester was 3-up after four holes with two early birdies. By lunchtime he was 4-up on a 28-degree day with a light late summer breeze.
Kent, who started the week as an outsider at number 560 in the amateur world rankings, was not discouraged on the exhausting final day.
“You don’t want to go into an 18-hole match four strokes behind, but that’s happened before and I’ve told myself that over and over again. Everyone in my corner “I kept telling myself that,” Kent said. “I fought like crazy out there.”
He hit a long putt for an eagle on hole 25 – the seventh hole on the course – to get within two holes. After falling four holes behind with seven holes to go, the player from Naples, Florida, hit back to win holes 31, 32 and 34 to get within one hole.
Highlights: US Amateur 2024, finals
Relive the best shots and moments from the final round of the 2024 U.S. Amateur Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota.
On the 34th hole, Hazeltine’s most famous lakeside hole, No. 16, Ballester hit the tee into the thick rough and, after grazing a tree, landed in the reeds in worse condition, ending up with a bogey.
But when his lead had shrunk to one hole, Ballester got back on track and played the last two holes with par. He nailed the shot from tee box number 17 onto the green within striking distance.
“I was totally pumped up. I could feel the adrenaline in my veins and forearms,” Ballester said.
Kent hit the bunker from the 18th tee and then into the rough. His final chip went over the hole. With victory secured, Ballester began to cry as he thought of his friends and family in Spain, including his grandmother, who was ill this summer.
“It was a tough summer in Spain and I feel like all those emotions somehow came out,” Ballester said.
Wearing a white polo shirt with the Hawkeyes logo, Kent was looking to become the first Iowa player to win the tournament. The 19-year-old clearly had the edge in terms of fan support, as dozens in gold Caitlin Clark shirts cheered from the stands.
“I knew from yesterday that it would be like this. I kind of liked it a little,” said Ballester. “When the other person feels it and he takes the momentum with him, so to speak, and you see how many fans are supporting him, it can be a little depressing. That’s why it’s important to approach it with a positive attitude.”
Kent had not trailed since the 12th hole of his second-round match until Ballester took an early lead. Kent defeated 17th-seeded amateur and Big Ten rival Jackson Buchanan of Illinois in their 18-hole semifinal match.
Ballester, who won the European Amateur last year, received a congratulatory call from fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia after his semi-final victory and has been shining with his short game all week.
“I think it’s in the blood,” said Ballester. “It has to be that way.”
Designed by Robert Trent Jones and opened in 1962 in what was then mostly farmland and is now a suburb of lakes and cul-de-sacs about 25 miles southwest of Minneapolis, Hazeltine last hosted the Men’s Amateur Championship in 2006. Since then, the course has hosted the PGA Championship (2009), the Ryder Cup (2016) and the Women’s PGA Championship (2019). The Ryder Cup is scheduled to return in 2029.
The event began on Monday with 312 players on two courses. It was the 130th edition of the tournament that has helped many golf greats to have illustrious careers on the professional tour.
Jones, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are among the dozens of notable names who have won the US Amateur. Jones won the event five times, which is a record. Woods won three times. The last European to win the US Amateur was Norwegian Viktor Hovland in 2018 at Pebble Beach.
