It'd be a challenge for any athletic family to match the golf exploits of the Gutschewski clan in 2024. But there could be bigger things on the horizon this year.
Not long after receiving his Westside High School diploma in May, Trevor Gutschewski will graduate to the highest level of competitive golf, playing among the best in the world at his first U.S. Open Golf Championship. Golf’s third major championship this year, following the Masters in April and the PGA Championship in May, will take place June 13-16 at the venerable Oakmont Country Club outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Trevor qualified after winning the 2024 U.S. Junior Amateur championship conducted by the United States Golf Association. To put the rarified air he reached in perspective, the only other Nebraskan to previously win a USGA event was Johnny Goodman, for whom the golf course on South 99th Street is named. That was in the middle of the Great Depression, when Goodman made quite a splash with a title at the 1933 U.S. Open. Four years later, Goodman followed it up by capturing the U.S. Amateur championship.
“It feels pretty good to be associated with that name, especially by winning a USGA championship,” Trevor said.
With a packed summer competition schedule between his junior and senior years at Westside High School, Trevor rode the momentum of his U.S. Junior Amateur title to the Pinnacle Bank Championship, an August professional event on the Korn Ferry Tour, a step below the PGA Tour. His father, PGA Tour cardholder Scott Gutschewski, got special permission to join his son at the Korn Ferry event.
Scott and his two older sons, Trevor and Luke, were a threesome at Indian Creek during the first and second rounds. It marked the first time since 2004 a father and at least two sons played in an event under the PGA Tour umbrella. But in 2004, when members of one of the biggest names in golf—the Nicklaus family—converged at an event in what was then known as the Nationwide Tour, they played in separate groups. By playing in the same group, the Gutschewski family carved out their own niche in golf history.
Trevor’s reaction was rather understated: “Jack Nicklaus is a pretty good golfer and his family is pretty good, too.” But like his golf game, Trevor’s interaction with the media is maturing. He added, “It’s pretty cool to be in that same conversation.”
The rest of the Gutschewski family also got involved that week in Elkhorn, with Isabelle, a member of the University of Nebraska’s PGA Golf Management program, introducing each of her three family golfers as the official course announcer on the first tee. Eight-year-old Isaiah rotated in and out as a standard bearer on the course.
Amy, the family matriarch and a senior project manager at The Waldinger Corp., absorbed the event as a spectator. Unlike a typical week in the summer when everyone is scattered, she was thrilled to see them all in one place.
“I thought I’d be a little more emotional, but I just wanted all of them to play good, hit good shots, and handle themselves correctly,” Amy reflected, who also meticulously engineers the chaotic family calendar. “It was kind of surreal.”
Luke, a senior on the Iowa State University golf team, said it meant a lot for him and Trevor to play in their first professional golf tournament with their father.
“I don’t think either of us really ever thought that would happen, especially to be at an event that means so much to our family,” he said. The Korn Ferry stop in Elkhorn has been the most anticipated annual golf event for the Gutschewski family since Scott, now 48, has been one of its regular participants.
“My dad always had a big crowd,” Luke said.
Scott’s best finish in the event was as a runner-up in 2017.
Previously caddies for Scott in their formative years, the older Gutschewski sons got a sampling of what he deals with through the course of a round.“I think they both have pretty big dreams and aspirations to play professionally,” Scott said.
The next goal for Scott and Luke is to join Trevor as U.S. Open participants. Each will be required to go through a two-stage qualifying process in the spring. Scott, with one U.S. Open appearance in 2009, is getting back into shape after the foot surgery he underwent in October 2024.
Amy plans to stick to her family motto when looking forward to 2025: “We’ll make it work.”
This article originally appeared in the January/February 2025 issue of Omaha Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
