U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 15, 2024

Noah Kent

Hazeltine National Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Helluva day to get to the quarterfinals. Is this your first U.S. Am?

NOAH KENT: Yeah, first U.S. Am.

Q. How do you put it in perspective, what's happened the last few days?

NOAH KENT: I qualified for the Junior last year but broke my wrist, so it put more of a big -- like I'm trying to qualify for here, and I did.

Then I didn't get off to a good start at all, but I knew it was close, and then I got hot at Chaska. Then I knew my game, I hit it really far. I don't really put myself in trouble that often, like I was going to be really hard to beat in match play. I've kind of just proven that the past two days.

Q. You won't be qualifying next year. Getting to the quarters gets you a spot next year.

NOAH KENT: That's better.

Q. You had to go through both stages?

NOAH KENT: Yeah.

Q. What kind of grind is that?

NOAH KENT: I kind of like the 36-hole days because you can kind of weed out the field a little bit more. But then I like, because the spots are more, so it was a little bit more stressful.

Q. How does a kid from Florida end up in Iowa?

NOAH KENT: It's a long story, but they were the first school to really believe in me and give me a chance. Yeah, our assistant coach just left, but I really love our head coach. Our new assistant coach played on the Korn Ferry Tour, so he has the experience of what it takes to be there and do that. So it will be a fun year this year.

Q. Who's the assistant?

NOAH KENT: Steven Ihm, played at Iowa.

Q. How did you break your wrist?

NOAH KENT: I don't know if I could say that. I was being a kid.

Q. Being a kid?

NOAH KENT: I was on an ATV, yeah.

Q. Was there a turning point in your afternoon match today that kind of switched it?

NOAH KENT: He kind of let me get away with a couple of things early. I felt like he was a little generous to me, gave me a putt from three feet on 7, and he missed his birdie putt. I went to 3 or 4-up, and I was like, all right, just keep it in play.

I had a little bit of a hiccup on 13. 16 has been my hole. I think I birdied it every single day in match play.

Q. I think it was a stretch of five wins in seven or eight holes there in the early to middle part of that round.

NOAH KENT: It's nice. It lets you sit back a little bit because I feel like, kind of like in the middle stretch of the round, you've kind of got to keep it together. And from 14 on, it's kind of like a birdie fest coming in. It's nice to be up going into those holes.

Q. Your dad played in the Junior back in 1990?

NOAH KENT: Yeah, Lake Merced.

Q. And your stepfather is Dana Fry?

NOAH KENT: Yeah, stepfather is Dana Fry.

Q. Did you get any tips of how to play golf courses from an architect?

NOAH KENT: So John Cook up in the booth is a big mentor of mine. And then John Harris, who's won the Am, is a big mentor of mine. They gave me notes going into match play, and they worked quite well.

Q. How did you get the connection with John?

NOAH KENT: Dana did a course for John Cook, and John Harris is a member at Dana's course in Naples called Calusa Pines, and I got to play with him a couple of times.

Q. What did he tell you for advice?

NOAH KENT: You hit a good approach shot on the par-3s, you make them kind of go pin seek a little bit, and don't mess up on the par-5s. You win it with your putter.

Q. Have you heard from John this week?

NOAH KENT: I've been talking to both of them.

Q. What has John told you the last couple of days now that you've made a little progression?

NOAH KENT: You're as good as anybody in the field. Like 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.

Q. John is doing the PV this week?

NOAH KENT: Yes.

Q. You mentioned that you didn't get off to the best start. What was kind of your summer like leading up to this? What was your thought process going into this tournament, being your first time?

NOAH KENT: Coming in, I played some good golf. Like it was really close to being really good. I went over to Ireland and played in the British. Came in second in the Porter Cup. Played the Western, Trans-Miss. Coming in here, I won both my qualifiers, so I had like a lot of good momentum coming in.

The first round was a big setback, but I kind of knew I was going to do well. Like hearing it from them like that I'm that good, for me, hearing that and having the self buildup is really good for me, having the confidence.

Q. How many shots better were you from Monday to Tuesday? Do you remember off the top of your head?

NOAH KENT: 13, 14. 13 or 14, yeah.

Q. There's been a few, though. There were a few of those this week.

NOAH KENT: I think it was 77, 64.

Q. Did you change anything with your game? Obviously this was a pretty stock test.

NOAH KENT: I was telling the guys on the Golf Channel, I mean, I made four bad swings out here the first round. That's the difference between a championship course, and nothing against Chaska, but this course is 800 yards longer. That course is 800 yards shorter.

Q. How long did it take you to kind of re-find your form after your first injury, or did you just kind of pick back up where you left off?

NOAH KENT: It took a while. It was really uncomfortable. Then I kind of forced myself to hit 7-iron, 6-iron. I taped it for like half a year. It's all good now.

Q. You did not play the Junior then?

NOAH KENT: No, I had to withdraw.

Q. Right wrist or left?

NOAH KENT: Left.

Q. Did you miss any college time last year?

NOAH KENT: No.