Noah Kent rises to U.S. Amateur quarterfinals with advice from two former champions

Noah Kent is a Floridian living and playing for the Hawkeyes in Iowa and advised during this 124th U.S. Amateur by two former champions, including a former Golden Gopher.

So far it has gotten Kent a place in Friday afternoon’s quarterfinals at Hazeltine National Golf Club.

Kent’s stepfather is renowned golf course architect Dana Fry, who designed one for former PGA Tour player John Cook, the 1978 Am champion.

Another champion, John Harris — a Gophers hockey player and golfer once upon a time — is a member at that course, Calusa Pines in the Naples, Fla., area.

“I’ve gotten to play with him a couple of times,” Kent said.

Kent calls both men “big mentors of mine” who helped him get out of the tournament’s two-day, stroke-play qualifying and through two more days of match play. Only eight players now remain.

“They gave me notes going into match play and they’ve worked quite well,” said Kent, a rising junior at Iowa.

An accomplished amateur who later played on the Champions tour, Harris won the 1993 U.S. Amateur near Houston and offered his advice.

“You’ve got to hit good approach shots on the par 3s, make them go pin-seeking a little bit,” Kent said. “Don’t mess up on the par 5s and win it with your putter.”

Harris advised from long distance while Cook is in the booth working the Golf Channel television broadcast this weekend. Cook plays the part of sports psychologist, pumping Kent’s confidence.

“He says, ‘You’re as good as anybody in the field,’” Kent said. “‘Everybody can compete, but you belong and you’re better than every one of them.’”

Kent became the first player to reach the quarterfinals after he birdied three of four holes on his front nine and closed out Pennsylvanian Garrett Engle in the round of 16, in 4-and-3.

By reaching Friday’s play, Kent qualified for next year’s Am. He called his journey way north to play golf “a long story” in which Iowa was the first school to believe in him.

You probably know no NBA team has recovered from an 0-3 deficit to win a seven-game playoff series. But did you know no 64th seed has won a USGA championship?

Oklahoma State’s Ethan Fang could be that guy.

“To be honest, I didn’t know that,” Fang said.

He sneaked into the round of 64 match play by surviving a nervy 14-for-11 playoff early Wednesday morning, last one in, seeded 64th.

That put him against another long-shot story Jimmy Ellis, a 39-year-old mid amateur and gas and oil landman who shot a 9-under 61 at Chaska Town Course in stroke play. He became the first mid-am player in 11 years to be medalist.

Fang rallied from 3-down to beat Ellis 2-up. On Thursday, he beat South Carolina’s Zach Adams 2-and-1 and France’s Bastien Amat 2-up. Fang plays Kent in Friday’s first quarterfinal.

“As long as you get to match up, anyone can win it,” Fang said. “I think it’s pretty cool I am the 64th seed, the underdog coming in, see if we can win it.’ I barely made the playoff and now we’re here.”

That would be Dallas’ 35-year-old mid-am Bobby Massa, who made a 25-foot putt in the looming darkness and beat Canadian Ashton McCulloch in 23 holes.

Newly named the world’s No. 1 ranked amateur, Luke Clanton embraced his opponent after Thursday morning’s match-play round of 32 loss longer than normal. He calls Jackson Buchanan, a University of Illinois golfer by way of Georgia, a friend, even if Buchanan closed him out 1-up.

“I know him pretty well,” Clanton said. “It’s hard to go up against one of your buddies out here. But I told him God is on his side. He’s doing great with everything. Me and him are believers and friends. No matter which way it would have gone, it’s awesome. It was a great match. It’s fun.”

Clanton rose to No. 1 in the new world rankings on Wednesday after he posted three top 10s, including a runner-up at the John Deere Classic, on the PGA Tour this season. He made it to the round of 32 on Wednesday for the first time in a year the other two world Top 3-ranked players — Gordon Sargent and Jackson Koivun — didn’t get that far.

Former USGA president and longtime influential Hazeltine National member Reed Mackenzie is still, at age 82, a USGA rules official and match referee. He’s working this U.S. Amateur, including a match Thursday with Minnesota Golf Association rules and competitions director Doug Hoffman. Mackenzie lives just a couple long wedge shots from the course, too.