José Luis Ballester is first Spaniard to win U.S. Amateur, prevailing at Hazeltine

Arizona State’s José Luis Ballester celebrated his 21st birthday Sunday by becoming the first Spaniard to win the U.S. Amateur championship in its 124 years.

Of his other 20 birthdays, what compares to this, except maybe the first one?

“You cannot get better than this,” he said. “This has to be the top of them all.”

The world’s 10th-ranked amateur beat University of Iowa sophomore Noah Kent — ranked 560th on the list but seeded slightly higher than Ballester — 2-up at Hazeltine National Golf Club.

Both players left standing Sunday morning from the original 312-player field won invitations to next year’s U.S. Open and very likely the Masters. Ballester’s victory, holding off Kent at the 36th and final hole in Sunday’s championship match, brings him the shiny Havemeyer Trophy, a gold medal he wore around his neck and a spot in the British Open as well.

Nobody from Spain has done what Ballester did Sunday — not mentor Sergio Garcia, not Jon Rahm, not José María Olazábal. Before Sunday, Rahm was the only Spaniard to win a USGA championship, the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

“España has many great legends — being able to add my name into that history is pretty, pretty sweet,” Ballester said. “They’ve done many more things than what I’ve accomplished yet. But to put my name to history, especially doing something none of the Spaniards did, even the best of the best, that’s pretty special.”

Kent was ranked 41st and Ballester 47th after two days of stroke-play qualifying. Each had won five consecutive match-play matches before they met early Sunday morning for 36 holes of golf.

They needed all 36 before Ballester closed out his opponent on Hazeltine National’s 18th hole. He prevailed mostly with a long, accurate driver and a fabulous short game.

“I think it’s in the blood,” he said. “It has to be.”

Ballester won three of Sunday’s first four holes, led by four holes after the morning’s first 18 and led by that much again in the afternoon with just six holes left.

But Kent won three of four coming down that six-hole stretch, arriving at the short 119-yard par 3 17th — the day’s 34 hole — just one down. But he parred the 17th and bogeyed the 18th while Ballester held out, despite making a mess of Hazeltine’s signature lakeside 16th hole after he chunked his approach shot into the reeds.

“You don’t want to be 4-down going into an 18-hole match,” Kent said about Sunday’s two sessions. “But it has been done before and I kept telling myself that. Everybody in my corner kept telling me that. I fought like crazy out there and I got it to 18. It meant a lot.”

Kent had the home-course advantage, with some among the sizable crowd wearing Caitlin Clark shirts in Iowa black-and-gold school colors and chanting, “Let’s Go Hawks.”

Ballester tried to make himself feel at home by borrowing countryman and fellow semifinalist Luis Masaveu’s yellow shorts. Add Ballester’s red shirt and you’ve got Spain’s national colors.

“I knew it was going to be like that from yesterday,” Ballester said. “I like it a little bit. I didn’t bring many friends here, but the guys who came here were absolutely my closest friends. I’m happy they were here. They were more than enough.”

PGA Tour star Rory McIlroy famously, and unsuccessfully, hushed a harsh crowd on the very same Hazeltine National course at the 2016 Ryder Cup. Ballester remembers Garcia’s epic, low-scoring singles match against the United States’ Phil Mickelson that year.

Garcia called Ballester on Saturday night with advice on how to handle the crowd.

“He just told me stay patient and the best way to demonstrate to other fans is with your game,” Ballester said.

Mostly expressionless all week, Ballester broke into tears after holding off Kent on the 36th hole, thinking about his family and friends, his mother and father and his ailing grandmother.

“I started crying, I don’t know why,” he said. “It was a hard summer back in Spain, so all those emotions just came out.”

Sunday also was a time for celebration — and perfect timing. He is now legal to drink out of his big new trophy in both Arizona and Minnesota.

“I’m not a big drinker,” Ballester said. “Some strawberry tequila, maybe.”