3 Things to Know: 77th U.S. Junior Amateur

For just the fourth time in its history, the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship is being conducted in the state of Texas at Trinity Forest Golf Club and stroke-play co-host Brook Hollow Golf Club (both in Dallas).

Eleven years have elapsed since this event was last held in the Lone Star State. Future PGA Tour winner Wil Zalatoris continued a strong tradition of Texas players capturing the title with his win over another future PGA Tour winner, Davis Riley, at The Club at Carlton Woods outside of Houston.

In fact, Texans claimed eight titles (Jordan Spieth twice) between Hunter Mahan’s victory in 1999 and Noah Goodwin’s win in 2017.

The two venues being used for the stroke-play portion of the competition also couldn’t be more different. Think of it as Old School vs. New School. Trinity Forest, opened just nine years ago, is a modern-day design by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. But in a short time, the club, which boasts USGA president Fred Perpall as one of its founders, has already made a nine for itself, hosting a pair of AT&T Byron Nelson Classics (2018-19) on the PGA Tour and the 2023 Jackson T. Stephens Cup, a big men’s and women’s collegiate competition.

Brook Hollow, meanwhile, dates to 1920 and was originally designed by legendary architect A.W. Tillinghast. In 2019, Keith Foster renovated the venue to keep the Tillinghast philosophy while bringing the venue up to modern standards. Its initial major competition was the 1924 Texas State Amateur, the first of eight held at the club. In 1987, legendary golfer Jay Sigel, who passed away earlier this year, claimed the third of his three U.S. Mid-Amateur titles (fifth overall USGA championship).

So as the 264 competitors prepare for what they hope are six days of intense golf, here are 3 things to know:

Defending the Crown

Trevor Gutschewski has a unique opportunity this week. The 18-year-old from Omaha, Neb., who is headed to the University of Florida this fall, can become just the second player to successfully defend his U.S. Junior title. That other player to achieve the feat, Tiger Woods, will actually be on the grounds this week to watch his son, Charlie. Woods claimed an unprecedented three consecutive championships from 1991-93. Dallas native Jordan Spieth won multiple titles but not consecutively (2009 and 2011).

But Gutschewski, whose father, Scott, competes on the PGA and Korn Ferry tours, will have plenty of stiff competition, namely from a few of his buddies on the U.S. National Junior Team. That list includes the player he beat a year ago at Oakland Hills Country Club, Tyler Watts, of Huntsville, Ala. Last month, Watts won the prestigious Sunnehanna Amateur and was the runner-up in the North & South Amateur at Pinehurst.

Then there’s Floridian Tyler Mawhinney, the 2024 Canadian Amateur champion who teamed with fellow USNJT member Will Hartman, of Charlotte, N.C., to win the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball in May at Plainfield C.C. Hartman sneaks into this year’s field by two days (he turns 19 on July 28, two days after the scheduled 36-hole final).

Two other USNJT members from Texas to keep an eye on are Luke Colton and Henry Guan, both Dallas-area natives who should have plenty of local support. Guan is coming from the Southern Amateur in Arkansas, where he made the 36-hole cut.

And while he’s no longer on the USNJT, lefty Miles Russell arrives as the top junior in the World Amateur Golf Ranking®/WAGR® at No. 16. Russell, of Jacksonville, Fla., was the American Junior Golf Association’s Player of the Year for 2023. This year, he’s captured the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley, finished second at the Northeast Amateur, third at the Jones Cup Invitational and reached the final 16 of the North & South Amateur.

United Nations of Golf

Ever since the USGA expanded the U.S. Junior Amateur field from 156 to 264 in 2021 (was supposed to begin in 2020 but COVID-19 postponed the championship), the championship’s composition has had a much more global feel. More exemptions were added from the WAGR, enabling international players to gain automatic entry without flying thousands of miles to compete in a qualifier.

This year, there are almost as many countries represented (32 including the United States) as U.S. states (38). In fact, there are more players from Jordan (4) – a group that includes brothers Hashem and Mousa Shana’ah – in the field than all but five countries. Besides the U.S., Canada leads the way with 13 players, followed by the People’s Republic of China (12), Thailand (6) and Mexico (5).

Outside of Jordan, some unique countries represented include Estonia (Hart Oskar Aoveer), Gibraltar (Sebastian Desoisa), Iceland (Veigar Heidarsson), Pakistan (Saad Malik), Panama (Samuel Duran), Ukraine (Mykhailo Golod), the Dominican Republic (Rodrigo Huerta), Qatar (Daniil Sokolov), Bolivia (Vicente Quiroga Hinojosa) and three from Vietnam (Nguyen Anh Minh, Anh Huy Ho and Hung Le). Sokolov, 14, was born in the Republic of Korea to Russian parents and moved to Qatar when he was 5. In February, he competed in the Qatar Masters, a DP World Tour event.

Anh Minh advanced to the quarterfinals last year at Oakland Hills.

USGA Legacies

It isn’t all that uncommon to see offspring of major champions or winners of USGA events compete in USGA events. Gary Nicklaus, son of 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus, most recently qualified for the 2012 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills, where Jack nearly won the 1960 U.S. Open as an amateur and later won a U.S. Senior Open crown. Kevin Tway, son of 1986 PGA champion Bob Tway, won the 2005 U.S. Junior Amateur. Tyler Strafaci won the 2020 U.S. Amateur 85 years after his grandfather, Frank, claimed the 1935 U.S. Amateur Public Links.

Kevin Stadler qualified for numerous events, including the 2014 U.S. Open. His father, Craig, won the 1973 U.S. Amateur and later a Green Jacket.

But how about four guys in one field whose parents won a USGA title? That’s the case this week in Texas. Many already know about Charlie Woods qualifying for his second consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur. His famous father, Tiger, owns nine USGA titles (3 Juniors, 3 U.S. Amateur and 3 U.S. Opens). Tiger won a record six consecutive USGA titles in as many years from 1991-96, a feat that likely nobody will ever match.

Another Floridian, Cameron Kuchar, is following in his dad’s footsteps. Matt Kuchar claimed the 1997 U.S. Amateur, a year after Woods’ skein ended. Kuchar, the low amateur in the 1998 U.S. Open, lost in the Round of 32 of the 1995 U.S. Junior at Fargo (N.D.) Country Club.

Two other players people might not know about also have USGA championship ties. Tyler Creavy, of Orlando, Fla., is the son of 1998 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion Leigh Anne Hardin. Creavy’s great-uncle, also named Tom, won the 1931 PGA Championship when it was a match-play event.  Mason Eaton, of Lakeville, Minn., wasn’t born when his dad, Austin Eaton III, claimed the 2004 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Sea Island Golf Club, in Georgia. A year later, Eaton advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur at Merion and currently remains the last mid-amateur to have reached the final four of that championship.

And while Jackson Byrd’s father, Jonathan, did not win a USGA title, he did represent the USA in the 1999 Walker Cup Match, and has since posted five PGA Tour victories. He was the 2002 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. Jackson, 18, is following in his dad’s footsteps to play for Clemson.

David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.