BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Trevor Gutschewski outlasted Tyler Watts to win the U.S. Junior Beginner 4 and three Saturday, incomes an exemption to the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont.
The 17-year-old Gutschewski sealed the win with a brief putt on the thirty third gap. He celebrated by hugging his father, PGA Tour participant Scott Gutschewski, and his mother, Amy, on the fifteenth inexperienced at Oakland Hills.
“It is actually laborious to remain within the second, strolling up fairways occupied with enjoying within the U.S. Open subsequent 12 months,” Gutschewski mentioned.
Scott Gutschewski missed the lower Friday on the 3M Open, the place he deliberate to depart to observe his son play no matter his positioning within the PGA Tour occasion.
“Talked to my spouse and mentioned, ‘The one method I am staying in Minnesota is that if I make the lower and Trevor will get beat,'” he mentioned. “You’ve got youngsters, you need to see them and revel in their successes and be there for them regardless of the way it goes.
“It labored out superior.”
Gutschewski, Nebraska’s first junior newbie champion, is coming into his senior 12 months at Omaha Westside Excessive Faculty.
The 16-year-old Watts of Huntsville, Alabama, goes into his junior 12 months of highschool.
Gutschewski went 3-up early within the 36-hole championship match, holing out from 106 yards for eagle on the par-4 No. 6 on Oakland Hills South Course, which Ben Hogan dubbed “The Monster,” after successful the 1951 U.S. Open in suburban Detroit.
Watts rallied to go 2-up on the seventeenth gap. After a lunch break, Watts fell behind for good on the twenty fifth gap when Gutschewski birdied. Gutschewski went on to win three of the subsequent eight holes.
“My physique actually, actually caught as much as me on the final 18, which I do know it seems like an excuse, however for probably the most half performed actually good this week,” Watts mentioned.
A couple of hundred followers took benefit of free admission, parking and shuttle companies to observe the event that began with 264 gamers from all over the world and made the a lot of the alternative to stroll behind the opponents on the fairways of a course with a wealthy historical past.
The group for the championship roughly matched the gallery that adopted Tiger Woods and his 15-year-old son, Charlie, on Monday and Tuesday throughout stroke play.
“Superior for him to be right here and convey consideration to those youngsters and assist develop the sport,” Scott Gutschewski mentioned. “I do not know if anyone within the historical past of golf has grown the sport like him to so many alternative demographics and introduced so many individuals out to observe golf that simply weren’t earlier than.”
Woods, who gained the junior newbie a document three straight instances, witnessed his son shoot a 10-over 80 on the Oakland Hills South Course after opening with an 82 on the North Course and miss the lower at 22 over.
Woods traveled to suburban Detroit after matching his highest 36-hole rating as an expert on the British Open and lacking the lower for the third straight time in a significant. The well-known father wore shorts, exposing his legs that had been battered in a automobile crash three years in the past.
