Nebraska tough: Trevor Gutschewski makes USGA history in U.S. Junior win

In its 129 years of conducting championships, the USGA had never crowned a winner from Nebraska.

That changed Saturday at Oakland Hills Country Club’s South Course, where Trevor Gutschewski, a 17-year-old Omaha native and son of a PGA Tour pro, took down Tyler Watts, 4 and 3, in the scheduled 36-hole final of the 76th U.S. Junior Amateur.

“It was a dogfight out there,” Gutschewski said. “Tyler’s a great player; he kept me on my toes. Had to play some really good golf to come away with the win.”

Much was made about Gutschewski’s place in the World Amateur Golf Ranking as Gutschewski, ranked No. 3,517, navigated his way through match play. But that ranking was missing data, and another junior-only ranking slotted him No. 28, just 13 spots back of Watts, a 16-year-old from Huntsville, Alabama, who is a member of the inaugural U.S. National Junior Team.

Add in his verbal commitment to the University of Florida and Tour pedigree – Scott Gutschewski, 47, has won three times on the Korn Ferry Tour and currently plays on the PGA Tour – and the young Gutschewski had no reason not to believe he could pull off what would be his biggest victory to date, easily usurping his Nebraska Junior Match Play title from earlier this year.

“If I play well, I can hang with anybody,” he said earlier this week after upsetting Blades Brown in the Round of 32.

Scott Gutschewski, who missed the cut Friday at the 3M Open before flying to Detroit to catch the championship match, describes his middle son as a flusher, who can be tough to beat when his driving it well.

“He’s an absolute range rat,” Scott Gutschewski told Golf Channel on Friday night. “He loves to hit balls and practice. He hits ball all the time – at home in the basement, outside in the weather, doesn’t matter.”

So, when Trevor Gutschewski needed 23 holes to win his opening match against Rich Wills, he wasn’t exhausted. He didn’t trail again until dropping each of his first two holes against Brooks Simmons. He promptly took the next two and then in the semifinals knocked off WAGR’s highest-ranked player in the field, China’s Xihaun Chang.

Even with his spirited run to the final, Gutschewski was still a sizable underdog to Watts, whose victories include the Jones Cup Junior, Southern Junior and last year’s Alabama State Amateur, where Watts broke Gordon Sargent’s record as youngest champion. But Gutschewski came out firing, carding four birdies in his first six holes to go 3 up. Watts clawed back and led 1 up at the break, only to see Gutschewski birdie the first hole again to kickstart a sizzling afternoon.

In 15 holes after lunch, Gutschewski lost just one of them while notching four birdies, his final one coming at the par-3 13th hole, where he stuck his tee shot from 147 yards to a couple feet and went 3 up. He also didn’t card a bogey in the afternoon.

Talk about Nebraska toughness.

With his win, Gutschewski earns a spot in next summer’s U.S. Open at Oakmont. Scott Gutschewski played the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage, missing the cut. Trevor’s older brother, Luke, was co-medalist at the 2022 U.S. Amateur before losing his first-round match.

Trevor easily has USGA bragging rights now, both in his family and his entire state.