Firethorn Prepared to Host 114th Nebraska Amateur
Championship Begins Monday at Firethorn Golf Club
LINCOLN (July 24, 2022) – The field is set for the 114th Nebraska Amateur Championship at Firethorn Golf Club in Lincoln, with 156 top amateurs chasing the ultimate prize of Nebraska Amateur golf.
It will be Firethorn Golf Club’s third time hosting the championship and first since 2007, when McCook's Brandon Crick won by just one stroke over Lincoln's Trent Price. In 1993, Larry Sock won by two strokes after the final round was canceled due to excessive rain. Neither of these championships had any participants finish below par.
A stacked field will make their best run at par this year. Lincoln’s David Easley, the defending champion, is back and will try to join a short list of players who have won back-to-back titles, at his home club, no less. In 2021 he pulled into a tie for first with Nate Vontz after a stellar final round performance, shooting 68 (-4) to force a playoff at 276 (-12). He would win the second playoff hole with a birdie to capture his fourth NGA win.
Easley is joined by several other past champions in the field. Both Andy Sajevic of Omaha and his father, John, look to add another trophy to their historic collections. John Sajevic of Fremont holds the record for most NGA titles with 11, one of those wins being the Nebraska Amateur Championship at Lochland Country Club in Hastings in 1989. He'll play with Elkhorn's Danny Woodhead and Blair's Vance Janssen in the first two rounds.
Andy Sajevic is in the field looking for his fifth Amateur Championship win and ninth NGA title, which would move him to third all-time in wins. He's paired with the 2014 Nebraska Mid-Amateur Champion, Trent Morrison of Omaha, and the 2020 Nebraska Junior Amateur Champion, Luke Gutschewski of Elkhorn. Gutschewski is coming off a spectacular performance at Qualifying for the 2022 U.S. Amateur, where he earned medalist honors at Beatrice Country Club by five strokes with a 133 (-11) total.
Accompanying the Sajevics are previous champions Ryan Nietfeldt of Elkhorn (2002), Jayson Brueggemann of Lincoln (2008), Jay Muller of Omaha (1995) and Dan Bahensky of Kearney (1972). Nietfeldt has already won an NGA title this year, capturing the Nebraska Four-Ball with partner Blake Giroux of Bennington.
Aurora’s Caleb Badura, the 2019 Nebraska Match Play Champion, set the single round scoring record at last year's championship with a third-round 63 (-9). He is still looking for the coveted Nebraska Amateur title to complete his trophy case. He advanced to the semifinals of the Match Play Championship earlier this season but fell short of collecting his second NGA win. He tees off at 9:00 a.m. with Easley and Bennington's Johnny Spellerberg, who has a chance to complete a major sweep in a single season after winning the Nebraska Match Play Championship in June at Riverside Golf Club in Grand Island.
Several players in this year’s field finished in the top-10 last time the Nebraska Amateur Championship was at Firethorn. Andy and John Sajevic tied for fifth, and Lincoln's Travis Minzel, now serving in his second season as assistant men’s golf coach at Nebraska, finished tied for eighth.
Firethorn Golf Club is a par-71 layout that will measure 7,025 yards for the championship. The course features four par-3s, 11 par-4s, and three par-5s, including No. 8, which plays over 600 yards long from the tips.
Play begins at 8 a.m. off both Nos. 1 and 10 tees on Monday and Tuesday, after which the field will be cut to the low 60 scores and ties for Thursday and Friday's rounds.
Groupings and starting times for the first two rounds are available on the championship website, along with the scoring page and additional information.
About the NGA
The Nebraska Golf Association, founded in 1966, is comprised of all members of public and private clubs and/or municipal or regional golf associations which utilize an approved handicap service recognized by the USGA and provided by the NGA. Our mission is to uphold and promote the game of golf and its values to all golfers in Nebraska. Among the duties of the Association include governance of member clubs and service as their handicapping and course rating authority, conduct of state golf championships, local USGA qualifying & other notable competitions, promotion of junior golf, presentation of worthwhile educational programs and support of allied golf organizations in Nebraska. The Nebraska Golf Association is an Allied Golf Association of the USGA and carries out core services including Handicap Administration and Oversight, Course Rating, Rules of Golf and Rules of Amateur Status, Tournaments and USGA Championship Qualifiers and USGA Initiatives and Community Programs.
