Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States: How about celebrating your 21st birthday and hoisting the Havemeyer Trophy on the same day? That’s what Spaniard Jose Luis Ballester experienced on a glorious Sunday at Hazeltine National Golf Club.
But the two-up win over American Noah Kent in the 36-hole final of the 124th US Amateur Championship nearly had his opponent blow out the candles before making his ultimate wish.
Ballester, 10th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), watched a four-up lead with six to play nearly evaporate into nearby Lake Hazeltine before he stopped the haemorrhaging over the final two holes to become the first player from his country to win this title, and just the second to claim any USGA championship (Jon Rahm, 2021 US Open).
He’s also the fourth Sun Devil to etch his name on the Havemeyer trophy, joining Billy Mayfair (1987), Phil Mickelson (1990) and Jeff Quinney (2000).
“I think I’m still not conscious of what just happened,” said Ballester. “Super thankful to have the opportunity to live this moment, especially on my 21st birthday. That’s what I’m considering now.
“Super sweet. We have many great Spaniards, many great legends, and being able to add my name into that history, it’s pretty sweet.”
Both players are exempt into the 2025 US Open at Oakmont Country Club and likely will be invited to next April’s Masters. Ballester gets an additional spot into The Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
Kent, 19, was the sentimental favourite with a vast majority of the boisterous gallery rooting for the University of Iowa sophomore, who was trying to be the first Hawkeye to win the US Amateur and second USGA championship following Gene Elliott’s 2021 US Senior Amateur triumph.
Many folks, including his team-mates, made the four-hour drive north. For the past two days, an entourage led by his uncle were decked out in yellow Caitlin Clark t-shirts and helped give the match a mini-Ryder Cup feel. A few were chanting ‘USA! USA!’ yells that will definitely emanate on the property when the Matches return to Hazeltine in 2029.
But the narrative bore more of a resemblance to the 2006 US Amateur final, when the high-profile European (Scotland’s Richie Ramsay was a member of the 2005 Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup Team) defeated the unheralded American, University of Missouri golfer John Kelly, in the final at Hazeltine.
Kent, competing in his first USGA competition and a modest 560th in the WAGR, doesn’t own a major amateur victory, although he was the runner-up in this year’s Porter Cup, and last year’s Western Junior, before a broken wrist left him sidelined for 11 weeks, including during the 2023 US Junior Amateur.
Meanwhile, Ballester, a three-time All-American at Arizona State, claimed the 2023 European Amateur to earn an exemption into The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool. He’s also represented his country in the last two World Amateur Team Championships in France (2022) and United Arab Emirates (2023) and was a member of the International Palmer Cup Team this summer.
