It wasn’t too long ago when a 14-year-old Noah Kent gave up hockey to focus on golf. Now 19 years old, the Iowa golfer earned an exemption to the 2025 Masters and U.S. Open.
The 6-foot-4 second-year was the 560th-ranked amateur when he arrived in Chaska, Minnesota, for the U.S. Amateur.
Kent put together a performance for the ages before falling to World Amateur No. 10 in Arizona State fourth-year Jose Luis Ballester by two holes in the 36-hole match play final.
Despite the loss, his strong play moved him up to the 294th-ranked amateur and will now have him alongside the very best in the world come 2025.
Hailing from Naples, Florida, Kent grew up a multi-sport athlete, with hockey being his main sport. Golf, however, has always played a pivotal role in his childhood. His father, David Kent, competed in the 1990 U.S. Junior Amateur, and his stepfather, Dana Fry, is a golf course architect.
Fry has been a notable figure in the golf world beyond his course designs. A member of the ASCGA — the American Society of Golf Course Architects — since 1992, he served on the Board of Governors and was the ASGCA speaker at the Golf Industry Show.
In 2001, he was selected to Golfweek Magazine’s “40 under 40” list, which includes people in leadership positions within the sport who are expected to shape the business for the foreseeable future.
Because of his stepfather’s success, Kent experienced many moments that most kids wouldn’t get while growing up.
When he was nine years old, he had a chipping contest with six-time PGA Tour winner Rocco Mediate during a casual round with Fry.
He also had the opportunity to build relationships with 1993 U.S. Amateur and former University of Minnesota star hockey player John Harris.
Despite his father’s and stepfather’s golfing backgrounds, Kent never took golf seriously until a conversation with golf icon Rory McIlroy sparked his drive for the sport, after which Kent shifted his full focus away from hockey and toward golf.
“One of my friends grew up playing hockey, and I’m like, ‘Oh, that seems cool — I’ll play it,’ and I fell in love with it,” Kent said. “Then I met a [PGA] tour player, Rory McIlroy, when I was 13 or 14, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, golf seems cooler, so I’m going to play golf.’
Kent attended Gulf Coast High School, where he anchored the team to four top-12 finishes at the state tournament. He was a three-time first team all-conference member, one-time second team all-conference member, three-time tournament medalist, one-time district champion, and one-time Southwest Player of the Year.
He also logged the lowest scoring average in school history — a feat he accomplished two years in a row.
Having garnered attention from several Division I schools, Kent committed to play golf at the University of Iowa. His family ties to the Hawkeyes played a part in that decision, and it just so happened to be the first school to offer him.
“So my mom was originally from Iowa, and one of my uncles played football here, so I kind of always grew up watching the Hawks,” Kent said. “And then the coach [Tyler Stith] was the first one to give me an offer … kind of believed in me first.”
In fall of 2023, during Kent’s first run as a Hawkeye, he competed in all four tournaments, including a top-25 finish at the ANF Fall Classic. The spring 2024 season saw him take a leap, notching five top-25 finishes and three top 10 finishes in seven spring events, respectively.
His low round of 63 was tied for the second-lowest 18-hole score in school history, and his low score of 202 was the third-lowest 54-hole round in school history. The score of 202 earned him third place at the Puerto Rico Classic.
Now in his second year with the program, Kent earned himself a spot in the U.S. Amateur. He qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2023, but an ATV accident that occurred during the summertime forced him to withdraw.
He initially felt embarrassed by the situation, but it ultimately rejuvenated and enhanced his love for golf like never before.
“It’s all up here in my heart,” Kent told Golf Digest. “I have way more competitiveness. I feel like I have a lot more belief in myself, and I have a lot more drive to get where I want to go. I just feel like I want it a lot more than I used to.”
After a T32 finish in stroke play at -1, Kent secured a 4 and 2 Round of 64 win over China’s Xihuan Chang; a 2 and 1 Round of 32 win over Ole Miss’ Tom Fischer; a 4 and 2 Round of 16 win over Tennessee’s Garrett Engle; a 3 and 2 quarterfinal win over Cal’s Ethan Fang; and a 2-up semifinal win over Illinois’ Jackson Buchanan before falling short of the title.
He was a heavy underdog, not being ranked in the top 500 of world amateurs, but through the support of his loved ones, he found the confidence to defy the odds.
“My girlfriend and my caddy were the two people that really pumped me up,” Kent said. “They kept telling me, ‘You can do it. All it’s going to take is one good round.’ And I got out there and shot 64, so it was pretty cool.”
Thanks to Kent’s swing coach, Claude Harmon III, Kent has plans to play a couple of practice rounds with some of Harmon’s other clients and established tour players such as McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Zach Johnson, and Brooks Koepka.
So despite the U.S. Amateur loss, Kent’s name now holds weight in the golf world as one of the best young golfers in the world.
And there’s no other university he’d rather be representing than the University of Iowa.
“This is just a place that is really homey, brings you in, and loves you,” Kent said. “It’s a school that I know I can grow at, a school that believes in me.”