Last year, Neal Shipley earned his spot in the Masters Tournament by finishing runner-up at the 2023 U.S. Amateur. That ended with him earning low amateur honors and playing with Tiger Woods.

Even though Woods is not in the field this week, 2024 U.S. Amateur runner-up Noah Kent would love to replicate Shipley's success.

Noah Kent, who was playing for Iowa at the time of the U.S. Amateur but is now at Florida, lost to Jose Luis Ballester 2-down after making a furious rally at the end of the championship since he was four-down with six holes remaining. 

The 6-foot-5 Naples, Fla., native was the Midwest favorite, with a majority of the gallery rooting for him. He was trying to be the first Hawkeye to win the U.S. Amateur and second USGA championship following Gene Elliott’s 2021 U.S. Senior Amateur victory.

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According to the USGA, his Iowa teammates and a large contingent of family and friends, led by his uncle, sported yellow Caitlin Clark t-shirts and helped give the match a mini-Ryder Cup feel.

Kent is the stepson of Dana Fry, who was among the course designers at Erin Hills in Wisconsin.

He had four top-15 finishes last fall, including T5 in the Fighting Irish Classic and eighth in the Fallen Oak Collegiate Invitational. He also finished runner-up in the Porter Cup in New York and T7 in the Australian Amateur last year. In December, he was among a group of American players to participate in a practice session for the 2025 Walker Cup.

Kent has also had to overcome some recent adversity. According to Golfweek, as Kent prepared for his first competitive round of the spring at the Houston Open, he woke up with food poisoning and required two bags of IV fluid the Tuesday prior to the tournament. He said he was in bed the whole day and had to skip playing a practice round at Memorial Park.

However, he was scheduled for a practice round with Scottie Scheffler, world No. 1 and defending Masters champion. According to Golfweek, they share the same agent, so they should be able to get on the course soon. 

He did play a practice round at Augusta with Rory McIlroy.

He has not played for Florida this Spring after transferring from Iowa last semester, but he did recently play in the Terra Cotta Invitational, where he finished T5.