After a grueling week at the US Junior Amateur, Trevor Gutschewski won the tournament at Oakland Hills after overcoming Tyler Watts in the final.
In doing so, Gutschewski, who is the son of three-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Scott, became the first Nebraskan to win a USGA event.
Earlier in the week, Gutschewski, who is 3,570th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, had caused a significant shock when he beat Blades Brown 2&1 in the round of 32. Brown was one of the biggest names in the field, having made the cut at the PGA Tour’s Myrtle Beach Classic in May.
If that made people sit up and take notice in a strong field that included Miles Russell and Charlie Woods at the start of the week, further wins against Yixiang Wang, Brooks Simmons and Xihuan Chang handed him his unexpected place in the final against fellow American Watts, and it was clear from the outset that he intended to make the most of his chance.
He was 1-up after a birdie on the par 4 first hole, and that had become 3-up after the sixth, which he eagled to leave him in a commanding position. However, Watts battled back impressively, winning the seventh, 10th, 11th and 12th to give him the advantage by one, and the pair remained in a closely fought battle until Gutschewski finally regained some breathing space by winning the 25th and 26th holes to put him 2-up.
He maintained that advantage over the next four holes, and had one hand on the trophy after a birdie on the 31st left him 3-up with a maximum five holes to play. He didn’t need them all, and when Watts bogeyed the 34th to leave Gutschewski 4-up, his 4&3 win was confirmed.
In his post-tournament press conference, Gutschewski admitted he had yet to get to grips with the enormity of his win, saying: “I don't even know. I mean, it's like been like 15 minutes. Probably hasn't sunk in yet. I have to sit on it for a bit.”
As well as the the trophy and a gold medal, Gutschewski now has an exemption into the 2025 US Open at Oakmont, and he admitted that’s an occasion he’s already looking forward to.
He said: “It's going to be awesome. I don't know, it's going to be awesome. It's going to be really cool to play in those tournaments after watching my dad play in those for my whole life really. So it'll be really cool to play with them, especially in the US Open.”
That’s reward for a punishing week, and on the grueling nature of the tournament, he said: “Yeah, 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.”
While Gutschewski, who is bound for the University of Florida in 2025, will likely need some recovery time after the mental and physical exertions of the week, he can at least do so safe in the knowledge that he has just achieved comfortably the biggest win of his career.
