Huntsville’s Tyler Watts named runner-up in 76th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. ( WHNT ) — Huntsville native and U.S. Junior Amateur runner-up Tyler Watts says he has lots of positives to take from the competition.

Following an impressive run by Grissom High School student Tyler Watts, he was named the runner-up for the 76th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. Trevor Gutschewski was named the champion of the competition.

Watts is the second Huntsville native to play in the championship match following Nick Dunlap in 2021.

Despite Watts finishing as runner-up, USGA noted that both he and Gutschewski earned an exemption into August’s U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.

Watts said in an interview following the competition he fought hard and believed he played well.

“I fought pretty well. I gotta hand it to Trevor, he played great.”

On Thursday, Watts advanced past Owen Coniaris in the round of 16 after strong performances in the first four rounds.

Friday was the quarterfinals and semifinals . Watts’ tee time against Matthew Diehl was 7:20 a.m. He cruised through the quarterfinals and semifinals, beating Diehl and Jay Lenge to advance to the finals.

In 2022 , Watts won the Men’s Club Championship at the Valley Hill Country Club, making him the youngest player ever to do so. He has been around the game of golf for as long as he can remember.

“When I was about 7 years old I played in my first world golf championship and I actually did pretty good so that kind of got me going, feeling like I could be one of the best,” Watts said.

At age 15, the Alabama Golf Association said he became the youngest player to win the 107th Alabama State Amateur by four strokes in Mobile.

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