CHASKA, Minn. — There’s no question who a majority of fans will be cheering for Sunday at Hazeltine National Golf Club.
Noah Kent, a 19-year-old rising sophomore at Iowa, has broken out as the darling of the 2024 U.S. Amateur. The 6-foot-5 bomber has plodded his way around Hazeltine six times this week and will do so twice more come Sunday, and playing close to where he plays his college golf, there’s going to be plenty of crowd support.
On Saturday during his 2-up semifinal victory against Jackson Buchanan, dozens of fans donning black and yellow paraded around the grounds, sprinting between fairways and doing whatever they could to give Kent support. A large portion of them were wearing yellow Caitlin Clark shirts, the former Iowa women’s basketball star who has become one of the faces of the sporting world in recent months.
Perhaps it’s fitting Kent goes to the same school Clark did. This week, he has been Clark Kent, the people’s Superman at Hazeltine.
“All the guys in the yellow Caitlin Clark shirts, so a couple uncles, and the rest of them are buddies that I know really well from Iowa,” Kent said.
“Let’s go Hawks” chants have echoed down the fairways and gotten louder as the week has gone on. As Kent played down the 18th hole, what seemed like 1,000 fans encircled him and trapped the group on the green as the match concluded. Kent is powerful, and his presence demands attention, which he has gotten plenty of this week.
The American from Naples, Florida, is no doubt the fan favorite heading into Sunday. But every superhero has a villian, and Sunday, that’s Josele Ballester.
Ballester, who turns 21 on Sunday and is set to begin his senior year at Arizona State in the fall, topped fellow Spaniard Luis Masaveu 3 and 2 on Saturday to advance to the championship match. He will be the first player from Spain to ever play in the U.S. Amateur championship match.
And his cheering section on the ground is going to be much, much smaller.
“It’s even better for yourself. Not like the underdog, but feeling like nobody wants you to win, and you grab that roll,” Ballester said. “Guys, I’m going to show you what it’s all about.
“So maybe if I can get on a roll early in the morning knowing that there are going to be more cheers for him than for me, maybe it can work.”
By world ranking, Ballester is a heavy favorite in Sunday’s 36-hole final. The Spaniard comes in at No. 10 in the world while Kent is 560th. But rankings don’t matter in match play, and Kent has been a machine this week.
Sunday is Kent vs. Ballester, but it’s also Superman vs. Lex Luthor. The fan favorite against the villain.
“I have a couple of friends, really, really close friends, so that’s enough,” Ballester said. “And all the guys back home I know are rooting for me.”
Come Sunday at Hazeltine, there’s bound to be a showdown for the big screen.