Four Sons of PGA Legends Compete at U.S. Junior Amateur

Dallas, Texas – This week, four sons of current and former PGA Tour players are competing in the U.S. Junior Amateur at Trinity Forest Golf Club. The players include Jackson Byrd, Trevor Gutschewski, Cameron Kuchar, and Charlie Woods.

Jackson Byrd, 18, is the son of Jonathan Byrd, a five-time PGA Tour champion and 2002 Rookie of the Year. He was runner-up at the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley earlier this year and will start at Clemson this fall, where his uncle, Jordan Byrd, is head coach.

Trevor Gutschewski, also 18, is returning to defend his title as the first U.S. Junior champion to do so since Nick Dunlap in 2022. Gutschewski, son of three-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Scott Gutschewski, missed the cut at last month’s U.S. Open at Oakmont but won the Western Junior before heading to Florida this fall for college.

Cameron Kuchar, 17, is making his U.S. Golf Association debut. He recently finished as runner-up to Gutschewski at the Western Junior and has verbally committed to Texas Christian University. His dad, Matt Kuchar, boasts a nine-win career on the PGA Tour and is a nine-time Ryder Cup participant.

Charlie Woods, 16, is the son of legendary golfer Tiger Woods. Charlie is entered in his second consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur, a tournament his father won three times during his nine USGA championships. Woods, a Class of 2027 recruit attending the Benjamin School in North Palm Beach, Florida, shot up the AJGA rankings, recently placing in the top 20.

This year, the U.S. Junior Amateur field includes 264 players from 38 states and 33 countries. The top 64 after 36 holes of stroke play will advance to the opening round of match play on Wednesday, with the final scheduled for Saturday.

Notable players include Miles Russell, Luke Colton, and Tyler Watts, all ranked in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking and all left-handed. Russell, 16, is ranked No. 18 and has committed to Florida State. Colton, 18, is ranked No. 25 and is a Vanderbilt commit, while Watts, 17, is ranked No. 45 and has committed to Tennessee.

Additionally, 17-year-old Tyler Mawhinney, who won this year’s U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship, is making his U.S. Junior debut. Mawhinney previously competed in the RBC Canadian Open, tying for 65th place.

One of the youngest competitors is 14-year-old Daniil Sokolov, who is the first player from Qatar to participate in a USGA championship. Sokolov was born in South Korea and moved to Qatar at age five. He has played in the DP World Tour’s Qatar Masters and won a bronze medal at the 2024 Arab Junior Championship.

Among the 17 Texans in the field is 18-year-old Reese Roberts of Dallas, who is a Missouri signee and attended Jesuit College Prep, the same school as two-time U.S. Junior champion Jordan Spieth.