The reason this top amateur had to WD from playing with Scottie and Rory may make you puke
After competing last week at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, U.S. Amateur finalist Noah Kent was asked what he learned from the experience.
“To not eat seafood before a tournament,” he told Golfweek during a phone interview.
That was a bit of a gallows humor from the 20-year-old Kent, who made his PGA Tour debut. Kent transferred from Iowa to Florida and is sitting out this semester. Playing his first competitive rounds in more than three months, Kent woke up on Tuesday with food poisoning and required two bags of IV fluid. He said he was in bed the whole day and had to skip playing a practice round at Memorial Park before the tournament proper – Wednesday is pro-am day and he wasn’t selected for that duty. But if missing out on a practice round wasn’t bad enough, it was who he was supposed to play with that really – pun intended – blew chunks. He had to WD on a date to play nine holes with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. (They share an agent in Blake Smith, so a make-up date shouldn’t be too difficult to schedule.) McIlroy also planned to play nine holes that day and originally Kent was hoping that they might line up to play with both of them, but it wasn’t to be.
“It wasn’t the best,” Kent said. “Kind of a brutal day.”
Kent’s bad luck continued as he got the bad end of the draw and had to play in the worst of the weather, shooting 74-70 to miss the cut but said the experience was invaluable.
“I learned what it takes to be out there with the big boys. It’s different than college golf,” he said. “College golf is great but it’s not the big leagues. PGA Tour, the way you plan, the way you prep, the way you go about things is all a little different. I kind of learned how things need to get done, and it gives me some hope that I can make it out there and I felt like I belonged the whole time. Now, it’s about getting it done in college, at Augusta and hopefully be out there after school.”
Noah Kent’s Masters prep includes practice rounds with past champs
Before he heads to Augusta on Sunday, the U.S. Am runner-up is making his third appearance at the Terra Cotta Invitational at his home club, Naples National Golf Club, a 54-hole event featuring a 70-man field. And while we feel for Kent missing out on the experience of playing nine holes each with the world Nos. 1 and 2 last week, we won’t lose too much sleep over it. Kent already has practice rounds arranged with past Masters champions Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed and five-time major winner Brooks Koepka on Monday as well as McIlroy on Tuesday. Perhaps Scheffler can slide into that group, too, or squeeze him into one of his own. Should be a great chance for Kent to learn from some of the best while being up close and personal.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Noah Kent had to cancel playing 9 holes with No. 1 Scottie Scheffler
