U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 12, 2026

Noah Kent

Merion Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Talk about the match. What did it take to finally get it done there?

NOAH KENT: Yeah, it was a grind for sure. It was a lot of ups and downs and definitely had some opportunities to pull away or he could have pulled away too. To get done with the match, I'm happy.

Q. Obviously Merion is really known for those final six holes. Can you talk about how you played them? Did you have any kind of change in strategy as you went down the stretch there?

NOAH KENT: Yeah, Kailer birdied 13 and I was inside of him, I just missed it, and that got the match all square. We both parred 14. Then on 15, I had an opportunity, and I looked up and my putt was just good, and I gave it back to him on 16. On 17, I had a good two-putt par.

Then 18, I don't even really know how to explain it. It hit somebody and it went across the fairway, and then I somehow got it on the green. I don't really know. I swung as hard as I could with 9-iron, and it got up there and thought I made the putt, and had to make about a two and a half footer to close it out.

Q. When we talked to you earlier this week, you talked about how once you get to match play, the strategy changes. Maybe you get more aggressive. Were there any holes out there where you maybe pulled out the driver where you didn't during stroke play?

NOAH KENT: No, I honestly probably played a little bit more conservative than I did in stroke play, to be honest. I didn't really feel my best today. I was kind of struggling a little bit. Kind of tried to navigate my way around the course a little bit more, kind of point-to-point golf, try to deep it in the fairway, but I didn't really do that, to be honest. Definitely got to reevaluate before tomorrow.

Q. You kind of touched on 18; you hit it off the back of someone's head and it bounces all the way back into the other rough. Did you even know that was happening?

NOAH KENT: No, so wherever I was walking up there, I was like, okay, it's in the right rough. He was there, too, and my uncle came running towards me, he's like, you hit somebody. I'm like, oh, gosh. But I didn't see the person at all. Walking up there, I went across the rough, and I got to my ball and it was an okay lie, but I had no idea it hit somebody until I got up there.

Q. How did you react when you heard you hit somebody in the head on the 18th hole of the U.S. Amateur?

NOAH KENT: It's kind of like an "oh, gosh" moment, but then also at the same time, I feel so bad for how it happened. I wish I could say something to the person, say I'm sorry or give them a glove.

But I had to lock in in order to be able to hit that golf shot.

Q. You talked earlier this week about just the changes you've gone through since even a couple years ago, life changes, school changes. In what way would you say you've changed the most since we met you for the first time at Hazeltine a couple years ago?

NOAH KENT: I'd definitely say I've grown up a lot more as a human being. I definitely had some very low moments after I transferred and some very deep questionable moments where I definitely could have thrown in the towel or kind of taken the easy way out. Worked really hard with my time, with my mental coach and my swing coach, just J.C. and Dudley there, coaches there at Florida, they kind of helped me figure out who I really am, and definitely over the summer I've learned who I am as a person.

Q. You understand the grind of what this week is. You kind of went through it today as well. How do you prepare yourself for what could come tomorrow and how you're going to play the rest of the week as well?

NOAH KENT: Yeah, I'm just happy to eat some food now. It was hot out there, and I was kind of losing it a little bit. I'm just excited to be with everybody who came in. My uncles flew in. My dad flew in. My mom set back here, my girlfriend is here. Just to have everybody there means a lot.