CHASKA, Minn. — When Iowa sophomore Noah Kent arrives on the first tee Sunday morning at Hazeltine National for the 36-hole final of the 124th U.S. Amateur, he has plenty of people to thank, including notable mentors John Harris, champion of the 1993 U.S. Amateur, and John Cook, the 1978 U.S. Am champ who won 11 times on the PGA Tour. But perhaps more than anything, Kent has his own mistake of “being a kid” last year to credit.

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Kent, a Naples, Fla., native, admitted with a hint of embarrassment earlier this week that he was riding on an ATV last summer when he broke his wrist. The injury was all the more frustrating because he had to withdraw from the U.S. Junior Amateur, the first USGA championship for which he’d qualified.

After this week, Kent, 19, may no longer look back at the ATV accident with embarrassment, but instead gratefulness, as the rising sophomore at Iowa attributes the ensuing 11-week layoff from golf with sparking a newfound passion and competitiveness for the game.

“It’s all up here in my heart,” Kent said after defeating Illinois All-American Jackson Buchanan, 2 up, in the semifinals on Saturday to set a final matchup with World Amateur No. 10 Jose Luis Ballester, of Spain. “I have way more competitiveness. I feel like I have a lot more belief in myself, and I have a lot more drive to want to get where I want to go. So, I just feel like I want it a lot more than I used to.”

Through six days at the U.S. Amateur, Kent has not only refused to let the biggest moments of his career expose flaws in his game, but he has proved that it is in those moments that he plays his best. After opening with a first-round 77 at Hazeltine, Kent battled back with a Tuesday 64 at Chaska Town Course (stroke-play co-host) to reach match play, a format that he relishes. “I love whenever the pressure gets really high, and I just I’ve been feeling it the whole week,” he said.

Kent says that he was born with that competitive hunger, but for 12 years that passion was not for the game of golf. Instead, he played a variety of sports, most notably hockey, as golf was a sideline interest more so brought about by his family’s connection to the game than his own ambition. Kent’s father, David, competed in the 1990 U.S. Junior Amateur and his stepfather is golf course architect Dana Fry, who co-designed the two courses Kent grew up playing, Calusa Pines and Naples National.

After meeting Rory McIlroy at the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, a course co-designed by Fry, Kent came home and told his parents his interests had shifted. “I didn’t really love golf, but I met Rory at the U.S. Open in 2017, and that kind of switched my whole view of golf,” he said.

As Kent got more into golf, he found several notable mentors through the membership at Calusa Pines and Fry’s connections, including Harris and Cook. In addition to winning the 1993 U.S. Am as the last mid-amateur player to do so, Harris, a Minnesota native, played on four U.S. Walker Cup teams and won the 2001 USGA Men’s State Team Championship at Hazeltine.

Harris helped Kent with many aspects of the game, but more than anything, Kent says it’s the self-belief that Harris infused into him that has made the biggest impact.

“You’re as good as anybody in the field,” Kent said of Harris’ message to him this week. “Now everybody can compete, but it’s, like, you belong, and you’re better than every single one of them here. It’s just having the self-confidence in yourself.”

It’s that reassurance that has Kent dedicating his play this week to Harris, who is battling health issues back home in Florida. Kent has Harris’ initials written on his glove this week in honor of him.

The past 12 months have been a breakout stretch for Kent, who won the prestigious Jones Cup Invitational at Ocean Forest G.C. in Sea Island, Ga., in January before winning a collegiate event at the nearby Sea Island Resort just a few months later. All of it, Kent says, was sparked by that layoff from the wrist injury which stirred a desire to be great.

“I’m a really competitive person, whether that’s playing here or that’s playing just a fun game with friends,” Kent said. “I just bring the same intensity and energy the whole entire day.”

Helping Kent channel that intensity at Hazeltine have been a raucous group of supporters, including three uncles and numerous other buddies who on Saturday were wearing Caitlin Clark shirts and making it known that although we’re one state over, this was a hometown crowd for the Hawkeye.

Ballester, a three-time All-American at Arizona State, will have to overcome Kent’s crowd support if he is to become the first non-American U.S. Amateur champion since Viktor Hovland in 2018.

Ballester played nearly flawless golf in making four birdies against no bogeys to defeat fellow countryman and good friend Luis Masaveu, 3 and 2, in the semifinals. In doing so, Ballester is the first player from Spain to reach a U.S. Amateur final, besting Sergio Garcia’s semifinal run in 1998. Adding to Sunday’s excitement for Ballester is the fact that he will celebrate his 21st birthday.

“I think I’m still not conscious of what just happened today,” Ballester said. “It’s an unbelievable feeling. I’m super grateful for the opportunity I’m going to have tomorrow to compete in the final of the U. S. Amateur Championship.”

For the past couple of rounds, Ballester has been the highest-ranked player left in the field, and on Saturday, that standing showed with exquisite ball-striking. “I think probably because I was playing with a friend, maybe made it easier,” Ballester said of his great play on Saturday. “Again, starting the round, I felt like I was making really good swings, striping the ball really good.”

After finishing his match, Ballester received a call from friend and mentor Sergio Garcia. Ballester is from the same region of Spain as Garcia and has worked on his swing with Garcia’s dad, Victor, for about seven years. “Sergio’s been following really close all week,” Ballester said. “He just called me saying congrats. So it’s pretty sweet seeing all those great players rooting for you.”

“I know that whatever happens tomorrow, it’s probably the best week of my life,” he added.

With their wins in the semifinals, Kent and Ballester are exempt into the 2025 U.S. Open, and they both will likely receive invitations to the Masters. The championship match is set to begin at 7:15 a.m. CT.

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com