Scott Gutschewski knows exactly what it takes to play on the PGA TOUR. After all, 2024 will be his seventh season on TOUR after earning status via the Korn Ferry Tour for the fifth time in his career.

“I mean, I thought there'd been new stuff I take every time I've went,” said Gutschewski, who became the fourth-oldest Korn Ferry Tour graduate at 47 years, 7 days of age when he secured his TOUR card Oct. 8 after the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance. The top 30 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List after the Korn Ferry Tour Championship earned 2024 PGA TOUR membership.

“This will be my seventh season,” he continued. “I don't know. I mean, (it’s) just kind of in our DNA to just trying to get better. … Not trying to be perfect, but just trying to get better; trying to deal with things better, more than anything. And just play better. I mean, that's the answer to all our questions out here and all our problems: Play better.”

This year marks the second time in the last three seasons that Gutschewski has graduated from the Korn Ferry Tour (he also did so in 2021) and the fifth time overall (2004, 2008, 2010, 2021, 2023). His 2023 Korn Ferry Tour season featured six top-25 finishes in 22 starts (eight missed cuts), highlighted by his first win in 14 years: a playoff victory at the LECOM Suncoast Classic in April.

The win was Gutschewski’s third career Korn Ferry Tour title and first since 2008, closing the second-largest gap between wins in Tour history (14 years, 10 months, 15 days). The Nebraska native and Cornhusker alum celebrated his first Korn Ferry Tour win in 2003 (Monterey Peninsula Classic) and last visited the winner’s circle at the 2008 UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH.

Following his April victory, Gutschewski was overcome with emotion, unsuccessfully holding back tears as he admitted: “I had a really good opportunity to go another direction last year and decided not to, and every time I make a bogey it’s like, ‘Shoulda done it; shoulda quit.’ But I don’t know – I just don’t know how to quit, I guess. … I like playing, I like competing, I like watching my kids, I like the freedom of the job, there are so many great things about it.”

He shed some additional light on the subject after the TOUR card ceremony at Victoria National Golf Club, noting he had been offered a coaching position but that it “wasn’t quite perfect.”

“It was more just like I've been my own boss for so long, and all the freedom that comes along with that,” he said regarding his decision to continue competing. “It was just hard to give that up for a situation that wasn't quite perfect. I mean, it was really good, but it wasn't good enough.”

In particular, the father of four likes the freedom to watch his kids play whenever he can, which includes oldest son Luke, who’s a junior at Iowa State where he won the 2023 Zach Johnson Invitational and recently earned Big 12 Golfer of the Month honors, marking a first in school history. Luke also won the Nebraska Junior Amateur in 2020, tied for seventh at the 2020 Nebraska Open and was co-medalist at the U.S. Amateur last year.

As for his own college career, Gutschewski played college golf at both Creighton University and the University of Nebraska, where he helped lead the Huskers to finish 14th at the 1999 NCAA Championships as a senior. He turned professional after graduation, playing multiple mini-tours before joining the Korn Ferry Tour in 2003, where he finished 26th on the season-long standings as a rookie. He finished 17th on the 2004 standings (20-for-25 in made cuts, with seven top-10s) to earn his first TOUR card.

As a TOUR rookie in 2005, Gutschewski finished 149th on the standings (16 cuts made in 27 starts) to retain conditional status, but he was headed back to Q-School after missing 12 cuts in 19 events in 2006. He played his way to the PGA TOUR for 2007, but another poor season saw him back at Q-School, where he failed to secure status for 2008. Back on the Korn Ferry Tour, he finished 21st on the 2008 standings to earn his TOUR card for 2009, but he lost it yet again after finishing outside the top 150.

In 2010, Gutschewski finished 20th on the Korn Ferry Tour standings to earn his TOUR card for 2011, but a lackluster season (12-for-23 in made cuts) was compounded by a foot injury, and he took some time away from playing. That’s when Gutschewski first explored coaching, joining the Creighton men’s golf team staff in 2012 while undergoing rehab for his foot. He made just two starts on TOUR between 2011 and the 2021-22 season (T66 at 2015 Wells Fargo Championship, MC at 2021 Barbasol Championship), but he continued to persevere on the Korn Ferry Tour. In particular, he took full advantage of the wraparound 2020-21 season, making 26 cuts in 38 starts with five top-10s.

In September 2021, a decade removed from last earning a PGA TOUR card, Gutschewski finished inside the top 25 at the Korn Ferry Tour Finals to earn his TOUR card once again for the 2021-22 season. Gutschewski posted his best TOUR finish to date at the 2022 Barracuda Championship – a solo fifth – yet he made just eight cuts in 23 starts to find himself back on the Korn Ferry Tour this past season.

“I mean just at this point, it's just kind of gravy,” Gutschewski said regarding his 2024 status. “I mean, I'm 47 – I'm not supposed to be able to play with all these other guys on (TOUR), so it's just fun. I mean, every time has been unique and special. Yeah, it's awesome.”