36-hole final match is Saturday
Huntsville’s Tyler Watts, 16, and Trevor Gutschewski, 17, of Omaha, Neb., each won quarterfinal and semifinal matches on a picture-perfect Friday to advance to Saturday’s 36-hole final match of the 76th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club near Detroit.
Watts, who is coming off a Round of 32 exit last year, defeated Jay Leng, Jr. 18, of San Diego, Calif., 3 and 2, in the semifinals. Gutschewski, who is attempting to become the first U.S. Junior Amateur champion from Nebraska, held off Xihuan Chang, 2 and 1, of the People’s Republic of China.
A win by Watts would make him the second player from Madison County to win the U.S. Junior Amateur, joining Nick Dunlap, who won in 2021. Dunlap went on to add the U.S. Amateur title to his resume and has won two PGA Tour events this year.
The lefty Watts, the youngest reigning Alabama State Amateur champion, started his semifinals match with two pars before pouring in a birdie on the par-3 third hole and making the turn at 2 up after a stuffed tee shot resulting in an easy birdie at the ninth.
Leng, who never trailed in either of his matches on Thursday, couldn’t make a run at Watts during the afternoon. He hit his approach to six feet on the 11th before Watts zipped a wedge inside his ball to three inches, tying the hole with birdies. Watts continued to pepper greens, building a 3-up lead after a conceded birdie on the 13th and a par on the tough 15th. On the short par-4 16th, Watts roasted a 3-wood to the front of the green and chipped it close to couple feet, closing the match in grand fashion.
“I definitely wanted to make match play, that’s obviously the first goal you have coming into the event,” Watts said. “After that, I just try to go one match at a time and see how long you can go. I’m one match away.”
Tyler Watts, the lone U.S. Junior National Team member left in the field, won the first hole of the day in his quarterfinals match to go 1-up, but quickly relinquished the lead on the 5th hole to a birdie by Diehl. The duo tied the next five holes with pars before Watts birdied Nos. 11, 12 and 14 with stellar iron play, eventually closing out Diehl, 3-up.
Gutschewski, the lowest-ranked World Amateur Golf Ranking player in the quarterfinals (No. 3570), took a 1 up lead on Chang after three holes of his semifinal match, and didn’t trail for the rest of the day.
Despite battling an errant driver throughout the middle part of the round, the University of Florida commit scrapped his way around the course. Gutschewski buried a 22-foot downhill slider for birdie on the 11th and followed that up by walking in a 12-footer on No. 12e for another birdie, taking a 2-up lead.
Tyler Watts exited in Round of 32 last year
Chang, the highest-ranked WAGR player in the field (No. 39), grabbed one back on the 13th when Gutschewski lipped out a 3-footer and snagged another with a downhill 8-footer for birdie on the 14th to even the match. On the 338-yard driveable par-4, Chang found the water with his tee shot, prompting Gutschewski to lay-up, play for par and take a 1 up lead.
“I had driver out,” Gutschewski said of the tee shot on 16. “I was thinking it’s 290 carry over, so I thought I had that, and then he goes in the water so there is no reason to try it. Figured just hit one up there and make par. Figure that would be good enough unless he hit a really good shot.”
Gutschewski then closed the match on the next hole, the enormous 241-yard par 3, and got some exciting news that both he and Tyler Watts would be throwing out the first pitch at the Detroit Tigers game.
“I couldn’t have had any better news coming off the 17th green,” Gutschewski said. “I got to work on getting my arm ready. I feel like I got to throw out a faster pitch than Tyler today. Strike some fear into him before the first tee tomorrow.”
Gutschewski outlasted Brooks Simmons with a 1-up victory in the morning quarterfinals match. Simmons jumped out early, winning the first two holes and building a 2-up lead, but Gutschewski charged back and opened a 3-up lead through the 12th. He was able to hang on down the stretch, closing the match with a 6-footer on the final hole.
Trevor is the son of PGA Tour veteran Scott Gutschewski, who is teeing it up this week at the 3M Open in Minnesota. Scott was at the Junior Amateur on Monday and Tuesday and has been getting updates from his wife on the family group text.
Saturday’s 36-hole championship match will commence at 7 a.m. and is scheduled to resume after the lunch break at 1:30 p.m. Peacock has live coverage from 1-3 p.m.
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Featured image courtesy of the USGA
