A field of 264 players entered the week at the 2024 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, and after two rounds of stroke play and five rounds of match play just two remained for Saturday’s 36-hole championship final at Oakland Hills in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
On paper, the final match was rather lopsided. On one side was Tyler Watts, a member of the USGA’s inaugural U.S. National Junior Team, the youngest player to ever win the Alabama State Amateur and No. 121 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. On the other side was Trevor Gutschewski, the lowest-ranked player to reach the quarterfinals at No. 3,570 in the world, in his Junior Am debut.
Thankfully USGA championships aren’t played on paper, because in reality the final match featured the two best players of the week, which set up for a thrilling day of play.
Entering the final match, Watts had played 81 holes over his five matches and trailed for just six. If you think that’s impressive, Gutschewski played 91 holes and was losing for just three. In fact, he never trailed in four of his five matches, and that trend continued on Friday. Gutschewski added some hardware to his family’s golf legacy with his 4-and-3 win over Watts to claim the 76th playing of the world’s premier junior golf event.
“I don't even know,” Gutschewski said of what it means to be a USGA champion. “Probably hasn't sunk in yet. I have to sit on it for a bit.”
When it finally hits, the Florida commit will realize his name now sits alongside the likes of past Junior Amateur champions like Tiger Woods (1991-93), Jordan Spieth (2009, 2011), Scottie Scheffler (2013), and so many more. Despite the shock, one name stood out the first time he looked at the trophy.
“Probably this Tiger Woods guy,” he said with a smile.
Trevor is the son of PGA Tour veteran Scott Gutschewski, who was playing in the 3M Open in this week but missed the cut on Friday and arrived in time for the final match. Trevor’s older brother, Luke, plays at Iowa State and shared medalist honors at the 2022 U.S. Amateur at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J.
“I don't know what it is. USGA must not have brought the best out of me, but apparently they do out of my kids,” Scott joked after the round. The three-time winner on the Korn Ferry Tour didn’t play in any USGA events growing up and has just the 2009 U.S. Open (a missed cut) under his belt. “Yeah, they're cool and historic events. They're great tests. They test everything. They sometimes I think blur the line on what we as players think is fair. That's part of the test, right?”
The marathon day began at 7:30 a.m. ET and saw Gutschewski storm out of the gate with a birdie on the first, but Watts quickly followed suit to even the match on the next hole. On the par-3 3rd hole, Watts hit the flagstick with his tee shot and buried a 20-footer for birdie to tie Gutschewski, who then went on to take a commanding lead with three straight wins on Nos. 4-6, the latter of which was a hole-out eagle with a wedge from 100 yards out.
“I've been spinning it off that green all week, so I hit a chippy little 50-degree and looked really good,” Gutschewski said of the shot. “Must have took a while to go in because we didn't see it. Everyone up there threw their hands up so, so we figured it went in.”
Down three through six holes, Watts upped the voltage and powered his way back into the match. The 16-year-old Huntsville, Alabama native won the par-4 7th hole with birdie and then flipped the match in his favor with three consecutive wins of his own on Nos. 10-12.
Gutschewski, 17, of Omaha, Neb., squared the match with a par on No. 14 but Watts caught a spark once again late on the back nine of the morning 18. The rising high school junior went flag hunting on No. 16 and stuffed a pitching wedge from 148 yards out to 2 feet to reclaim the lead. Watts then went 2 up after a Gutschewski bogey on No. 17 before a costly double-bogey six on No. 18 brought the match back to just a 1 up advantage at the break.
After the lunch break, Gutschewski made yet another birdie on the par-4 1st hole and walked in his six-footer to square the match for the fourth time on the day. A trio of pars from each player kept the finale tied for the next three holes before Watts slipped up with a bogey on the par-4 5th hole, the 23rd hole of the day. That gave Gutschewski a 1 up advantage, his first lead since the 10th hole in the morning 18. Watts briefly drew the match back level before Gutschewski claimed Nos. 7 and 8, the 25th and 26th holes of the day, to take a 2 up lead with 10 holes to play.
The momentum briefly swayed back in Watts’ favor after he laced a 3-wood onto the green on the par-5 12 hole and Gutschewski found the greenside bunker with his approach. However, due to a two-putt birdie from Watts, Gutschewski was able to get up-and-down from the sand to maintain his lead. Each player then threw darts at the green on the par-3 13th, but only Gutschewski was able to make birdie to extend his lead to 3 up.
With little room for error, Watts finally ran out of juice and missed the green from the fairway on the par-4 15th and was unable to get up-and-down, which opened the door for Gutschewski to two-putt for par to win the hole and close out the match.
“Driver definitely killed me today. Didn't hit any fairways,” Watts said of his performance during the final. “I think my putter was really the only thing this kept me in it on the first 18, and that's why I had that 1-up lead. Then the putter just couldn't keep up on the back 18.”
“That match was a grind,” Gutschewski added. “I had probably a 15-footer and a 30-footer where if I didn't make them I'm going home and now we're here. It's crazy how match play goes. Every match is a new match. Just got to keep winning, keep doing your best.”
What The Champion Receives:
- A gold medal
- Custody of the U.S. Junior Amateur Trophy for one year
- Exemptions into all future U.S. Junior Amateurs for which he is age-eligible
- Exemption into 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club (must be an amateur)
- Exemptions into the 2024 U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., and 2025 U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif.
- Name engraved on a plaque honoring the 2024 USGA champions that will reside in the Hall of Champions inside the USGA Museum in Liberty Corner, N.J.
Notable
- Runner-up Tyler Watts received a silver medal and a three-year exemption into the U.S. Junior Amateur.
- Gutschewski is the third son of a former/current PGA Tour player to win the Junior Amateur, joining Kevin Tway (2005) and Preston Summerhays (2019).
- Gutschewski played 124 holes this week, the most holes played by a champion in the 36-hole championship match era (dating back to 2005).
- Next year’s U.S. Junior Amateur will be contested at Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas, Texas, from July 21-26.
- Oakland Hills is set to host seven more USGA championships through 2051. Next up for the club is the 2029 U.S. Women’s Amateur.
- USGA Executive Committee member Bryan Lewis was the referee for the final match’s afternoon round. Lewis, a native of South Haven, Michigan, played in the 1980 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship and was a member of the Western Michigan University golf team.
- Both players threw out a ceremonial first pitch at the Detroit Tigers game on Friday night before Saturday’s 36-hole final match.
Quotable
“It was fun. Trevor is a great guy. It was easy to talk to him, and we had a bunch of fun out there I think.” – Tyler Watts on the vibes of the final match.
“It's an insanely long week. Got here Saturday morning; it's Saturday again, right? Yeah, so I mean, there is so much golf. You're playing so many good guys. You're playing 36 holes a day. You're grinding out every single match. Like my first match went 23 holes or something. Like that mentally and physically really, really, really takes a toll on you. You just got to keep your recovery up and then try and keep your body and mind right going through the week.” – Trevor Gutschewski on the grind that is the U.S. Junior Amateur.
“I don't think you ever expect to win an event like this; so many things got to go your way. But I knew he was playing well, and I knew if the breaks went his way, I knew that -- I thought he was good enough to have a chance.” – Scott Gutschewski on his son Trevor’s chances to win entering the week.
“I think my body really, really caught up to me on the last 18, which I know it sounds like an excuse, but for the most part played really good this week. Just didn't have my best stuff this last 18 holes.” – Tyler Watts on what held him back on Saturday.
“It was awesome. It was really cool. Not sure I ever played in front of that many people before. It was awesome. I really liked it. It was fun to walk with them, too. Talked to a ton of really interesting people.” – Trevor Gutschewski on playing in front of large crowds walking the fairways.
“The course is incredible. One of the best shape courses I've ever seen. So much history here, too. It's just an incredible place. All the members were great. All the volunteers were top tier. Everyone I talked to was super nice, cheering you on. Just incredible. I couldn't think of a better place to play at, win at.” – Trevor Gutschewski on the host club, Oakland Hills.