Gutschewski Knocks Brown out of Junior Am; He, Watts & Russell Are in Quarters

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. -- In the 1960 movie Psycho, the movie's biggest star, Janet Leigh, got killed 47 minutes after the start, and 62 minutes before the end. That was considered shocking at the time, and very few movies since then have done the same thing. But what you could think of as the same kind of thing happens all the time in match play golf tournaments.

It happened Wednesday. Blades Brown, the 17-year-old star of the 2024 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, got knocked out of match play with four rounds of matches still to go.

Brown qualified this spring for a PGA Tour event -- the Myrtle Beach Classic -- as a 16-year-old, then made the cut and tied for 26th. He lived up to his advance billing at the Junior Am by shooting 66 on the North Course at Oakland Hills Country Club in the first round of stroke play, and 68 at Oakland Hills' South Course in the second, which earned medalist honors -- and the No. 1 seed -- for him. He made it through the first round of match play, the Round of 64, without too much drama on Wednesday, but by the end of Thursday morning's Round of 32, he was gone.

Playing the medalist and No. 1 seed brings with it a certain amount of pressure. But pressure is relative, and the No. 33 seed, Trevor Gutschewski, a 17-year-old from Omaha (and the son of a former PGA Tour player, Scott Gutschewski), had to deal with a lot of it in his Round of 64 match, which he won on the 23rd hole. He needed to make a 30-foot birdie putt and a 15-footer for birdie in extra holes just to stay alive, and eventually subdued the No. 32 seed, Rich Wills, with a par on the 485-yard, par-4 fifth hole of the South Course at Oakland Hills. (The South Course, which measures 7,330 yards this week -- it was once called "the monster" by Ben Hogan -- is where all of the matches are being played this week.)

Against Brown on Wednesday morning, Gutschewski, who is committed to the University of Florida for 2025, was 3 up after five holes, but he lost the sixth to Brown's birdie. He made a double bogey at the 461-yard, par-4 eighth and lost the 223-yard, par-3 ninth to Brown's par. Having pretty much squandered that 3-up lead, he buckled down and pulled ahead once again by winning the par-4 10th (475 yards) with a par. He went 2 up when he birdied the 580-yard, par-5 12th, and 3 up with a par at the 492-yard, par-4 14th.

Gutschewski made another double at the par-4 16th (424 yards), but he halved the 236-yard, par-3 17th with a par, and with that closed out Brown 2&1.

There were two rounds of matches Thursday, and Gutschewski won again in the afternoon Round of 16, dispatching No. 48 seed Yixian Wang 4&2. Gutschewski was even after four holes and had to birdie the 475-yard, par-4 fifth just to stay tied. He then proceeded to win four of the next five holes, three of them with birdies. He was even par from there, and that was all he needed.

Gutschewski will play the Brooks Simmons in the quarterfinal round Friday morning Simmons is seeded No. 40, but he's been playing as well as anyone in the matches so far, having lost just one hole in each of his three matches. The 17-year-old from Dallas, who will be playing for the University of Texas in a little more than a year, hasn't yet seen the 17th tee in any of his matches. He beat Bailey Sutter (No. 56) 5&3 Wednesday afternoon.

With nine of the top 10 seeds gone, the two favorites to win the tournament now are probably the No. 2 seed, Tyler Watts, and No. 14 Miles Russell.

Russell has been sort of famous in golf circles since April, when he became the youngest player, at age 15, to make a cut in a Korn Ferry Tour event -- the Lecom Suncoast Classic -- and ended up in a tie for 20th place.

In stroke play at Oakland Hills, he shot 68 on the North Course and 71 on the South and tied for 12th with a 36-hole total of 139. He is seeded No. 15, and on Thursday afternoon, he played No. 35 seed C.J. Winchenbaugh in the Round of 16. Winchenbaugh was the player who eliminated 2023 Minnesota state high school champion Jake Birdwell (No. 30), 6&4 in the Round of 64. He then ambushed the No. 3 seed, Joshua Bai, 2&1. On the back nine of that match, Winchenbaugh and Bai had a best-ball score of 7 under for eight holes. Winchenbaugh went 2 up with a birdie at the par-4 16th (429 yards) and ended the match by halving the par-3 17th (161) with a par.

The only remainiing top-10 seed is Watts. On Thursday morning, he beat No. 39 Chase Hughes 4&3. Watts made 13 pars in the 15 holes they played. He lost the third hole to Hughes' birdie. They tied the fourth with bogeys, and Watts drew even by winning the drivable, 280-yard, par-4 fifth hole with an eagle 2. He won the next three holes after that with the first three of his nine consecutive pars.

Watts' closest call thus far was a 1-up victory over No. 18 Owen Coniaris in the Round of 16. They tied the third and fourth holes -- and didn't tie another hole until the 18th. Watts was 1 down after Coniaris birdied the 12th and 13th holes. Watts responded by winning the next three holes in a row, two of them with birdies to go 2 up. Coniaris won the 17th with a birdie and had a chance to get into extra holes when Watts bogeyed the 18th. But Coniaris bogeyed it, too, thereby enabling Watts to advance.


U.S. Junior Amateur Championship

At Oakland Hills Country Cluib

South Course, par 70, 7,330 yards

North Course, par 70, 6,808 yards

(All matches will be played on the South Course)

Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Stroke play

Final results

(The top 64 went into match play)

1. Blades Brown 66N-68S--134

2. Tyler Watts 65N-70S--135

T3. Mack Edwards 66S-70N--136

T3. Joshua Bai 71S-65-N--136

T3. Chase Kyes 70N-66S--136

T3. Lev Grinberg 67S-69N--136

T7. Sean Keeling 69N-68S--137

T7. Michael Riebe 71N-66S--137

T9. Nicholas Gross 69S-69N--138

T9. Luke Colton 70N-68S--138

T9. Chase Cline 71N-67S--138

T25. Jake Birdwell 70N-71S--141

Failed to qualify for match play

Joe Honsa 75S-74N--149

Thomas Meader 82S-74N--156


Match play

Round of 64

No. 1 Blades Brown def. No. 64 Alex Huang 3&2

No. 2 Tyler Watts def. No. 63 Ieuan Jones 3&2

No. 3 Joshua Bai def. No. 62 Brayden Molder 3&2

No. 4 Lev Grinberg def. No. 61 Hsuan -Yi Chen 6&5

No. 60 William Lisle def. No. 5 Mack Edwards 4&3

No. 59 Alex Holder def. No. 6 Chase Kyes 1 up

No. 58 Davis Hartwell def. No. 7 Michael Riebe 4&2

No. 57 Jaxon Bandelier def. No. 8 Sean Keeling 4&3

No. 56 Bailey Sutter def. No. 9 Chase Cline 1 up

No. 10 Luke Colton def. No. 55 Pavel Tsar 20 holes

No. 35 C.J. Winchenbaugh def. No. 30 Jake Birdwell 6&4

Round of 32

No. 33 Gutschewski def. No. 1 Brown 2&1

No. 2 Watts def. No. 34 Chase Hughes 4&3

No. 35 Winchenbaugh def. No. 3 Bai 2&1

No. 4 Grinberg def. No. 29 Kristoffer Kuvass 1 up

No. 37 Xihuan Chang def. No. 60 Lisle 3&2

No. 38 Jay Leng def. No. 59 Holder 5&4

No., 26 Matthew Diehl def. No. 58 Hartwell 4&3

No. 40 Brooks Simmons def. No. 57 Bandelier 3&2

No. 10 Colton def. No. 23 Henry Guan 2 up

Round of 16

No. 33 Gutschewski def. No. 48 Yixiang Wang 4&2

No. 2 Watts def. No. 18 Qwen Coniaris 1 up

No. 14 Miles Russell def. No. 35 Winchenbaugh 2 up

No. 52 Nguyen Anh Min def. No. 4 Grinberg 5&4

No. 37 Chang def. No. 21 Edan Cui 2&1

No. 38 Leng def. No. 54 Liam Pasternak 3&2

No. 26 Diehl def. No. 10 Colton 2&1

No. 40 Simmons def. No. 56 Bailey Sutter 5&3