Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Championship Began Monday at Fremont Golf Club
FREMONT - The championship season continues on Monday, as a record field of 151 of the state's best junior golfers are set to compete at Fremont Golf Club for the 21st Nebraska Girls' Amateur Championship and the 54th Nebraska Junior Amateur Championship.
The girls' championship features 36 holes of stroke play, with 38 girls set to battle it out for the title. While 113 boys will compete over 54 holes of stroke play to crown a champion.
The defending champion is back on the boys' side, with Elkhorn's Luke Gutschewski returning. Gutschewski won his second NGA title last year at Scotts Bluff Country Club, adding to his 2019 Nebraska Junior Match Play win. He'll try to become the first player to win back-to-back titles since Omaha's Alex Schaake won three straight in 2014-2016. Gutschewski is also coming off a great performance at the 113th Nebraska Amateur at Lochland Country Club in Hastings last week, where he finished as the Low Junior for the second-straight year.
There is no defending champion on the girls' side, but there are a few past NGA champions in the field, including two-time Nebraska Girls' Match Play Champion Lauren Thiele of Wahoo. Thiele won her second title last month, and is looking to join her sisters Haley and Hannah as Girls' Amateur Champions.
Thiele will play alongside Omaha's Katie Ruge and Scottsbluff's Anna Kelley in Monday's first round at 8:45 a.m. off No. 10. Ruge is the 2020 Nebraska Women's Match Play Champion, and is searching for her first junior title. Kelley is the reigning NSAA Class B Champion.
Omaha's Kaitlyn Hanna, the 2019 Nebraska Girls' Amateur Champion, is back to try and win a second title. She'll tee it up with Emily Karmazin of Omaha and Karsen Morrison of North Platte at 9:05 a.m. off No. 10.
The 2018 champion Jason Kolbas of Lincoln is in the field after finished tied for third last year. Kolbas will play with Gutschewski during the first two rounds, along with another NGA champion, Christopher Atkinson of Omaha. Atkinson won the Nebraska Junior Match Play Championship in June at Heritage Hills Golf Course in McCook.
The championship kicks off Monday at 8 a.m. at Fremont Golf Club, with boys in the morning and afternoon wave, and girls in just the morning. The girls' final round will be Tuesday, starting at 1 p.m. The boys' field will be cut to the low 40 scores and ties after the second round, with the final round scheduled for this morning (Wednesday).
It will be the third time hosting the boys championship for Fremont Golf Club, but the first time for the girls championship Groupings and starting times for the first two rounds of the boys' championship, and the first round of the girls' championship are available under the Pairings tab of the championship websites below.
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