Blades Brown (left) and Trevor Gutschewski (USGA Photo)
Finishing first in the stroke-play portion of the U.S. Junior Amateur earns a player medalist honors and the No. 1 seed out of 64 players who advance to match play.
Over the last 15 years, that top spot also comes with an early exit from championship contention. The No. 1 seed hasn’t won the Junior Am since Jordan Spieth did so in 2009, and for the 15 consecutive championship the medalist is heading home early once again this summer.
After a 23-hole marathon match on Wednesday at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Trevor Gutschewski took down the top seed Blades Brown on Friday morning in the Round of 32, 2 and 1.
The 17-year-old from Omaha, Neb. never trailed in his match against Brown, the U.S. National Junior Team member who made the cut and finished T-26 in his PGA Tour debut in May at the Myrtle Beach Classic. Not only that, Gutschewski needed just three birdies (with match play concessions) and a score of 3-over on the South Course to eliminate Brown.
“I just figured keep hitting good shots, try not to mess up, and then birdies would come,” said Gutschewski. “Hit a couple good shots coming in and just didn't mistake many mistakes on the back nine.”
If the name Gutschewski rings a bell, that’s because Trevor is the son of PGA Tour veteran Scott Gutschewski, who is teeing it up this week at the 3M Open. Scott was at the Junior Amateur on Monday and Tuesday and has been getting updates from his wife on the family group text.
In the afternoon Round of 16, Gutschewski, a Florida commit, was 3-up through nine holes against Yixiang Wang before he closed out the match, 4 and 2, to punch his ticket to the quarterfinals.
A 36-hole day is unusual for most of the players in the field, especially at a track like Oakland Hills. The South Course, recently restored by Gil Hanse and originally designed by the famed Donald Ross, was dubbed “The Monster” by Ben Hogan after his 1951 U.S. Open victory. With birdies few and far between, the host has lived up to its billing this week. Well, for mostly everyone besides Brooks Simmons.
The 17-year-old future Texas Longhorn has cruised through the first three rounds of match play so smoothly that he’s yet to see the 17th or 18th holes. Simmons has lost just one hole in each of his three matches so far and has yet to trail an opponent on his way to the quarterfinals.
“I haven't really been down all week, so I just kept my foot on the gas and kept on hitting the shots and committing to all of them,” said Simmons, who lost in the Round of 64 last year. “It feels really good, because last year I kind of got cooked, like absolutely waxed in the first round. But to be back and in the quarterfinals this year feels pretty good.”
With his spot in this year’s quarterfinals confirmed, Simmons has also qualified for next year’s U.S. Junior Amateur at Trinity Forest Golf Club near his home in Dallas.
While the championship week has been relatively easy for Simmons, the days and weeks leading up to the Junior Am were anything but. Enter Lenny Trotta, a mini tour player who grew up looping at Oakland Hills and has a side hustle as a caddie at Simmons’ home club to fund his tournaments. Simmons and Trotta exchanged numbers a few weeks before the championship in case he needed a looper. Simmons already had a caddie lined up, but he canceled a week before the event began. His mom called Oakland Hills, but a caddie wasn’t available. Trotta was supposed to be on another bag for the championship, but his player bailed on him, so he showed up on the first tee to meet Simmons and be his caddie. Four days later the pair are arguably the team to beat with three rounds of matches to go.
On the flip side of that caddie conundrum coin is Nguyen Anh Minh, who brought a caddie from Vietnam to help him this week.
“I met him at a golf course back in Vietnam, and then we always played together like every weekend,” said Anh Minh. “He's always been kind of family to me, and to have him come here is really special.”
Similar to Simmons, Anh Minh has closed out all of his matches early, and he has his driver to thank for that.
“I'm hitting lots of fairways, which is giving me lots of opportunities to hit on the green and then try and make putts,” said Anh Minh. “If not, just two-putting it and get out of there. Par is always your friend.”
Xihuan Chang, the highest-ranked player in the field according to World Amateur Golf Ranking (No. 39), cruised to a quarterfinal matchup against Anh Minh with a 3-and-2 victory over William Lisle in the Round of 32 and a 2-and-1 win in the Round of 16 against last year’s quarterfinalist, Edan Cui.
Following an exit in the Round of 32 last year, Tyler Watts proved why he loves match play with a pair of wins on Thursday, the latter of which was one of just two afternoon matches that reached the 18th green. Owen Coniaris never let Watts get more than 2 up in the slugfest that featured 10 birdies and just three tied holes. Watts will meet Matthew Diehl in his quarterfinal match on Friday after Diehl, from Redlands, Calif., came back to take down Luke Colton, 2 and 1.
“Luke is a great player. I’ve played with him three, four times now. Just he put up a great fight,” said Diehl. “I made some key putts going through the back nine, and just kept hitting greens, sticking to the plan, and luckily it worked out for me.”
The only other match to go the full 18 was Miles Russell’s 2-up win over CJ Winchenbaugh. Russell, the 15-year-old who became the youngest golfer ever to make a cut on the Korn Ferry Tour earlier this season and also made a PGA Tour start last month at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, will meet his Junior Ryder Cup teammate Jay Leng Jr. in the quarterfinals. Leng snapped his Junior Am streak of Round of 32 exits with a 3-and-2 win over Liam Pasternak. The San Diego native made seven birdies and never trailed in either of his matches on Thursday.
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ABOUT THE
U.S. Junior Amateur
While it is not the
oldest
competition, the U.S. Junior Amateur is
considered the premier junior competition,
having been around since 1948. The event
is
open to male golfers who have not
reached
their 19th birthday prior to the close of
competition and whose USGA Handicap
Index
does not exceed 6.4. The U.S. Junior is
one of
14 national championship conducted
annually
by the USGA, 10 of which are strictly for
amateurs.
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