Saturday’s schedule 36-hole final of the 76th U.S. Junior Amateur at Oakland Hills is the perfect time to throw rankings out the window.
On one side, there is Tyler Watts, the 16-year-old from Huntsville, Alabama, who is not only ranked seventh in the AJGA junior rankings but No. 121 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He is a member of the inaugural U.S. National Junior Team and has several top national finishes, including wins at the Jones Cup Junior and Southern Junior, plus runners-up at the Terra Cotta Amateur and AJGA Mayakoba Invitational.
On the other is Trevor Gutschewski, who has the pedigree as the son of three-time Korn Ferry Tour winner and current PGA Tour pro Scott Gutschewski and a scholarship to the University of Florida in hand; he’ll officially sign later this year and join the Gators next fall. But when it comes to rankings, the 17-year-old from Omaha, Nebraska, is well behind Watts, at No. 508 in AJGA and No. 3,570 in WAGR.
Not that Gutschewski puts any stock in those kinds of numbers – and why should he considering WAGR includes this year’s Byron Nelson Junior yet doesn’t credit Gutschewski with his T-3 finish, which would likely have him well inside the top 2,000 (for what it’s worth, The Universal Golf Ranking lists Gutschewski as its No. 28 junior; Watts is fifth).
Gutschewski is a tough kid who bombs the ball and flushes his irons with the best of ‘em, a match-play champion already as the winner of this year’s Nebraska State Junior Match Play.
“I don’t really feel like an underdog at all,” Gutschewski said earlier this week after he took down stroke-play medalist Blades Brown, who had a T-26 on the PGA Tour a few months ago. “I mean, I think my game is just as good as anybody else out here. If I play well, I can hang with anybody.”
Three wins later, including a 2-and-1 victory over China’s Xihaun Chang (No. 39 in WAGR, tops in the 262-player field), and Gutschewski has proven it. The only time he’s trailed this championship was in Friday morning’s quarterfinals, where he fell 2 down through two holes to Dallas’ Brooks Simmons. Gutschewski won each of the next two holes and eventually won, 1 up.
Against Chang, Gutschewski led 2 up through 12 holes but found the match tied up after 15. But Chang’s drive found the water at the short par-4 16th hole and a double bogey handed Gutschewski the lead for good.
He now gets Watts, the No. 2 seed, who topped Matthew Diehl in the quarters before posting a 3-and-2 semifinal victory over Stanford signee Jay Leng, a two-time AJGA first-team All-American who had just knocked off top-ranked Miles Russell. A win Saturday and Watts would become the second U.S. Junior champion in four years to hail from Huntsville, Alabama, joining 2021 champ Nick Dunlap, who is now a U.S. Amateur winner and two-time PGA Tour victor.
Watts, who broke Gordon Sargent’s record as youngest Alabama State Amateur champion last year, has yet to verbally commit, so he unsurprisingly has nearly every top college coach in the country after the talented 2026 lefty, several of whom are still following him at Oakland Hills.
Florida head coach J.C. Deacon’s peers are also seeing what they’re about to be up against, too.
Gutschewski, like Watts, is usually reserved with his words. “Feels good. No other way to put it,” he said after punching his ticket to the championship match. He’d rather let his game do the talking.
Yet, with word that he and Watts would be throwing out the first pitches at the Detroit Tigers game on Friday night, Gutschewski couldn’t help but playfully toss an early fastball up near Watts’ chin.
“I got to work on getting my arm ready,” Gutschewski said. “I feel like I got to throw out a faster pitch than Tyler today. Strike some fear into him before the first tee tomorrow.”
Watts, though, didn’t flinch. He’s barely played baseball, more whiffle ball than anything.
“I’ll just lob it to the plate,” he said.