HUGHES QUALIFIES FOR U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP NATIONAL TOURNAMENT
Nathan Hughes golfs for Bartlesville High School in 2009. Hughes qualified for the U.S. Amateur Championship national tournament on Monday.
Photo provided
By Mike Tupa
Aug. 21, 2025
BARTLESVILLE SPORTS AREA REPORT
Hard to believe it’s been just 16 years since Bartlesville High School’s Nathan Hughes ruled the Class 6A links as the boys state champion.
Hughes continues to sharpen his game as one of the best tee-time titans to come out of the City of Legends.
His latest awesome achievement happened this week when he captured the prestigious U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship national qualifier at Indian Springs Country Club (Broken Arrow).
Hughes won by one stroke with a birdie on No. 18.
“I’m happy for him,” his father Terry Hughes said. “But I was proud of him before that.”
Hughes zapped the course for a four-under par score of 68 in Monday’s competition. He edged Rob Couture (Dallas Texas) by one stroke and Scott Fawcett (Frisco Texas) by two strokes.
All three automatically qualified to compete in the U.S. Amateur Championship national tournament set for September 13-18. It will be held at the Troon Country Club and Troon North Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The two alternates are David Schultz (Dallas, 70) and Joby Dutcher (Tulsa, 70).
Monday’s competition was a ball blistering affair.
Six golfers shot under par (68-to-71) and eight shot even par (72).
Hughes is no stranger to crunch-time excellence. As mentioned, while competing for Bartlesville High he captured the 2009 Class 6A boys state title.
In 2013, he held off Talor Gooch 3-and-2 to claim the Oklahoma Golf Association State Amateur crown.
Hughes comes from a devoted golfing family. His dad Terry Hughes coached golfers for approximately two-decades-or-more at Bartlesville High. Terry also is enjoying a blockbuster 2025 experience on the greens, winning both the Dink’s Men’s City and HIllcrest Country Club championships.
Nathan’s uncle Steve also is an accomplished competitive golfer.
Following his Bartlesville High days Nathan competed first for the University of Oklahoma and later for the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
While at UMKC he averaged 73.89 for 36 rounds his junior season — seventh best in UKMC history at that time. Between his junior and senior years he recorded 22 rounds of even par or below, including at least one 65.
His career stroke average of 74.38 ranked No. 6 in UKMC history as of 2014.
He came in No. 3 at the 2012-13 Summit League championship tournament.
During his one year of competition for Oklahoma he peeled off a round of 67.
He pieced together his round of 68 last Monday by racking up six birdies to more than offset two bogeys. Hughes made the turn at 33, including birdies on Nos. 5 (par 4, 395), 7 (par 3, 155) and 9 (par 4, 400). He opened up the back nine with a birdie on No. 10 (par 4, 364) to go to minus-four strokes.
Through 15 holes he sat up minus-five. After a tough stretch of back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 16 (par 3, 185) and 17 (par 5, 530), Hughes finished on a strong note with a birdie on No. 18 (par 4, 352).
He and Couture had been tied at 33 after the front nine and remained deadlocked at the 65-65 through 17. But Hughes produced a birdie to Couture’s part on the final hole.
Fawcett shot 35 on both nines. A birdie on No. 18 would have tied him with Hughes.