Blades Brown, by all accounts, was the favourite in his Spherical-of-32 match on Thursday morning at Oakland Hills. The rising high-school junior from Nashville, Tennessee, already has a T-26 end in his PGA Tour debut below his belt, and a number of other prime school coaches following his each shot. Two days earlier he had joined Tiger Woods and Bobby Clampett as the one gamers to ever medal at each the U.S. Junior Novice and U.S. Novice.
And but, Trevor Gutschewski wasn’t fazed by any of that.
Gutschewski, an incoming senior from Omaha, Nebraska, isn’t ranked as extremely as Brown – No. 75 in Junior Golf Scoreboard to Brown’s No. 3. However he’s verbally dedicated to Florida, and although Gutschewski hasn’t logged a Tour begin, he regularly performs in opposition to Tour-quality competitors; his dad, Scott, is at the moment in his seventh full season on Tour.
“I don’t actually really feel like an underdog in any respect,” Gutschewski mentioned. “I imply, I believe my recreation is simply nearly as good as anyone else out right here. If I play effectively, I can dangle with anyone.”
He proved it Thursday, as he took down the top-seeded Brown, 2 and 1, to advance to Thursday afternoon’s Spherical of 16 on the U.S. Junior Novice. It wasn’t a very medical match – Brown made six bogeys and only one birdie – however Gutschewski, the reigning Nebraska Junior Match Play champion, grinded out a victory that counts the identical, incomes himself a date with China’s Yixiang Wang, who’s ranked No. 418 within the World Novice Golf Rating (over 3,000 locations forward of Gutschewski; Brown is ranked No. 107), within the subsequent spherical.
“We acquired on the market and every thing settled down, the nerves settled down,” Gutschewski mentioned. “I don’t suppose both of us performed nice, however I made a few good putts coming in and closed him out.”
With Brown’s loss, Jordan Spieth stays the final medalist to win the united statesJunior, doing so in 2009 at Trump Nationwide Golf Membership in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Gutschewski doesn’t play a ton of AJGA occasions, which explains why his rating is decrease than maybe his talent signifies. However he does will get loads of matches in in opposition to his dad and older brother, Luke, who performs at Iowa State and was co-medalist on the 2022 U.S. Novice, when they’re house, whether or not it’s at Misplaced Rail, Shadow Ridge or Champions Run.
Scott doesn’t take it straightforward on his center son.
“He’s like the toughest man to beat nonetheless,” Trevor mentioned.
As for household bragging rights, Scott missed the minimize in his lone U.S. Open begin. And although Luke owns a medal, Trevor contends that with two match wins this week, he may now have one of the best USGA file within the household.
“I suppose it’s Luke proper now, however he’s by no means received a match,” Trevor mentioned.
Just a few extra wins at Oakland Hills, and there will likely be no argument.
