Jackson Buchanan, Noah Kent represent Big Ten golf strength heading to U.S. Amateur semifinals

When so many golfers migrate north to south, Saturday’s U.S. Amateur semifinal pits two players who have reversed course.

Georgian Jackson Buchanan left home to play collegiately at Illinois. Naples, Florida’s Noah Kent went north to Iowa City and the Hawkeyes.

They’ll face each other in an all-Big Ten semifinal at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska while Spaniards Jose Luis Ballester and Luis Masaveu play in the other semifinal.

The Big Ten might not be a power golf conference like the SEC, the Pac-12 or the Big 12, but it’s got two of the semifinalists in this year’s championship when all three of the world’s top-rated amateur golfers — No. 1 Luke Clanton, Gordon Sargent and Jackson Koivun — all lost out by the Round of 32 match play.

“The Big Ten is not the SEC, but it’s a huge conference,” Buchanan said after beating Notre Dame’s Jacob Modelski 4 and 3. “It’s probably the biggest conference, the best conference. Golf up in the Midwest is as good as down South. I’m from Georgia, so I would know. Obviously, we’re still very competitive. We’re just going to good golf schools.”

Buchanan got through the two-day, stroke-play qualifier and was seeded 53rd before he won Round of 32 and Round of 16 matches by beating both Clanton and 16-year-old Tyler Mawhinney on the 18th hole.

“It feels weird,” Buchanan said. “It doesn’t even feel like I won, like, ‘I didn’t go to 18.’ All right. I played solid. That’s it, really.”

Kent defeated Oklahoma State’s Ethan Fang 3 and 2, ending Fang’s threat to become the first 64th seed to win a USGA championship.

Jimmy Ellis, a 39-year-old mid-amateur, shot a first-day qualifying 9-under-par 61, but lost to Fang in Wednesday’s match play Round of 64.

That left Fang with a chance to make history if he had won just three more matches.

He made a 20-foot birdie to start Friday’s match yet trailed by as many as four holes by the 12th hole.

“I was like, ‘Oh, it’s on me now,’ ” Kent said. “You’ve got to expect a play to pull off everything in match play. But to see it go in, it’s like, ‘All right, let’s go. It’s game time.’ ”

Kent went north for college because he said Iowa coaches showed interest in him first and foremost on the recruiting trail. His coach came up from Iowa for Friday’s match. So did his uncle and his uncle’s friends. His sister in Florida might fly up for Saturday’s match for a cheering section he estimates will be about 15 people.

“I made a comment to my caddie: ‘With them by me on the first tee, the other person is 1-down with all of them going crazy,’ ” Kent said.

Kent has written the initial of mentor John Harris — the former Gophers golfer and NCAA hockey champion — on his golf glove for the week and has talked or messaged daily all week. Kent knows Harris through Kent’s stepfather, golf course architect Dana Fry.

“I talked to him this morning,” Kent said. “He just said, ‘Keep it simple today. Keep doing what you’re doing. You’re good enough and you belong here. Just show you know what you need to do.’ ”

Harris won a USGA State Team event at Hazeltine National in 2001.

“It feels a little special,” Kent said. “I definitely feel like he’s guiding me around the golf course, for sure.”

Buchanan chose Illinois for what he called a simple reason: head coach Mike Small, who is entering his 25th season there.

“Best coach in the country, and for a reason,” Buchanan said. “He always asks if you can chip and putt. ‘If you can’t chip and putt, you might as well pick up tennis.’ That’s what he says.”

Buchanan putted his way to the semifinals, making a 20-footer on the 12th that propelled him.

Kent had a turning point of his own, holing out a 40-yard shot from deep rough that fronts the par-5, 11th hole for an eagle 3.

“It was kind of dead where it was,” Kent said. “I just thought I’m going to swing as hard as I can and hopefully it will come out soft. All my family is standing behind the green and they were going crazy. I saw it drop in. It was like an out-of-body experience.”