There are always good intentions for the newsletter. You know, once a week we have done pretty well this summer. That was the plan last week, to let everyone know how Trevor Gutschewski and Beau Petersen faired at the 2024 US Junior Amateur.

We thought Wednesday would be safe, because, well, only five Nebraska golfers in the last 20 years had ever even advanced to match play. And, on Tuesday, they’d be done with qualifying, we’d send the update and there would be the newsletter.

But, Petersen birdied two of his final three holes before just missing the cut and we sweat that out. Gutschewski, with rounds of 71 over both the North and South courses at Oakland Hills, qualified for match play and was the 33rd seed in the 64-man bracket.

No bother. We’ll do a newsletter on Wednesday night after Gutschewski was defeated in the first round; no Nebraska player had won a match since Nate Lashley over 20 years ago.

And, then, Trevor won, beating Clemson pledge Rich Wills in 23 holes in the opening round. He then faced No. 1 seed Blades Brown on Thursday morning. He’s only made the cut in a PGA Tour event, so Gutschewski won that match. And the next. And the next.

And, on Saturday — in a whirlwind week — Trevor Gutschewski defeated second-seeded Tyler Watts 4&3 in the 36-hole final. Omaha’s man was the first Nebraska USGA champion since Johnny Goodman won the 1937 US Amateur. Seriously.

Very few words to describe this run for Gutschewski, but to say that the level of talent in Nebraska junior golf is nationally relevant. Heck, Trevor couldn’t even win the Class A state championship last spring. He needed a playoff to advance out of LOCAL QUALIFYING for the Junior Amateur at Champions Run and watched Petersen earn the new automatic qualifying spot to the event by way of winning the Nebraska Junior.

And after all that, Trevor’s game got hot. He and Petersen were the first ever junior duo to advance to the Nebraska Match Play final, where Petersen won 6&5. Then, Gutschewski won the Nebraska Junior Match Play over Creighton Prep’s Tommy Kelley.

Then, it was Motown Magic. It was a joy to watch unfold, Trevor. An absolute joy. Well played. Can’t wait to see you at Hazeltine and Oakmont and Trinity Forest and, well, wow.

USGA RECAP COVERAGE: Finals match (Omaha!! Omaha!!) || Friday Recap || Thursday: Gutschewski Stuns Brown || Wednesday: Gutschewski survives 23-hole affair

MORE NEBRASKA GOLF: Kansas golfer and Millard North grad Katie Ruge swept the Nebraska women’s titles by winning the Nebraska Women’s Match Play. // Lincoln’s Ed Wyatt qualified for the US Senior Amateur on Tuesday at Lochland.

Meadowlark Hills’ Jay Cottam and Champions Run’s Mitchell Klooz blitzed the field at Monday’s Nebraska PGA Assistant championship. Cottam fired a course record 62 to finish 36 holes in 12-under and he needed every one to beat Klooz by a shot, who had 14 birdies to just three bogies over two rounds at Happy Hollow. // In the senior event on Tuesday, life member Bryan Hughett topped Jim White in a playoff as six members advanced to the national PGA Senior Championship. // At Congressional, just outside of Washington DC, Ashland’s Coltrane Mittag shot an opening 71 and is in a tie for 8th place at the PGA Junior National Championship.

Nebraska Nines: Jim Ager

To end July, we made a little pit stop in Lincoln on the way home from the final basketball event of the summer to play at Jim Ager. The place continues to be one of our favorite treats in Nebraska golf.

The 1960’s golf boom we have discussed early this summer with course reviews of Columbus Elks and Lochland in Hastings was also alive and well in Lincoln. When Oklahoman Floyd Farley came to Lincoln to design Holmes Golf Course he was also tasked with creating the Jim Ager Junior Golf Course; a par-3 course that catered to youth under 18 learning the game.

Since it’s opening, their purpose has not wavered. It helped teach my brother and I the game in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It’s taught multiple others like us as well.

What’s better than when we grew up? THE GOLF COURSE. The greens are in fantastic condition and the short grass around the greens and fairways that lead up to them are presented perfectly; any superintendent should go take a look. The course is a laboratory of sorts of the UNL Turfgrass Management program.

You won’t find any all-world holes at Jim Ager — although you certainly have to work for par on holes 2, 3 and 4. Still, that’s not the point. What you’ll find is a perfect little place to play the game; whether you are dropping your kid off or zipping around on a Sunday afternoon with them.

It’s time well spent and, for us, the memories of learning golf all come flooding back.

That Football Feeling

The boys in Lincoln loaded up in Selleck Hall yesterday. It’s one month until football. For the first time in quite awhile we are setting ourselves up to be disappointed for the 2024 Husker football campaign.

Simply, the Newsletter has expectations for coach Matt Rhule’s second team. A, hopefully, top defense in the Big Ten (maybe the nation??). An offense that, while likely starting a pretty mature new guy under center, should be better than what we saw last season.

And, the boys need to win and they know it. There is something to like about that, something to like about the old-school personality of Matt Rhule that seems to be blending with the new wave of NIL and technology that must go along with winning football in the college football playoff era.

“What we have to do now is not look ahead to the games,” Rhule said at media availability on Tuesday ahead of fall camp, “and just dominate every single day. This is one of my favorite times of year.”

With that, most know we are in the press box every home game as part of the stat crew for Nebraska football. The year, we are adding some analysis for each Husker game that we plan to bring you each Sunday afternoon (and first to our subscribers). We are able to do this — for free to you — with the support of our friends at South Central Chiropractic in Sutton. The Rear View Mirror will return in fall 2024.

We can’t wait for the season and to bring you our thoughts. Neither can these guys.

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AND ONE LAST THING: The Newsletter will continue to come to your for FREE for as long as we can do it thanks to some amazing sponsors. Now, we ask you to reach into your pocket (or Apple wallet) as our Olivia has pledged to run the St. Jude Children’s Hospital half marathon in December.

The good news? She has blown through her first goal of $1,750 and is now trying to raise $4,000 for St. Jude’s (she’s just over $2,500 right now). We thank you for subscribing to the Newsletter and ask your consideration in a small donation to her cause.