Chris Gotterup, a 26-year-old American who already had a win on the PGA Tour to start 2026, roared back from four shots out of the lead to force a playoff against Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, and won the 2026 WM Phoenix Open on Sunday, Feb. 8 at TPC Scottsdale.
All Gotterup had to do was play a clean playoff hole after his tee shot landed on the edge of the fairway and Matsuyama’s ball bounced into the water hazard. He did more than that, rolling in a 27-foot putt for a birdie and the tournament title.
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Gotterup, a 26-year-old from Maryland who played college golf at Rutgers, struggled somewhat on Feb. 6 as he worked to make the cut to play Saturday and Sunday. He missed the cut in 2025 and 2024 at the WM Phoenix Open.
“Once I got over the hump on Friday, I felt, at this point, it didn’t matter what I did in the past,” he said. “I feel like I’m a different player than I was a couple years ago. Yeah, I was just trying to keep myself in the mix, and obviously didn’t do a great job of that on Friday and Saturday, but today I felt like I did a great job of that, and just tried to lurk and ended up sneaking in a playoff, and to end up on top is awesome.”
Matsuyama had hit his playoff hole tee shot in the water, and the stroke penalty that came with it had him at three strokes already when Gotterup sank his putt for a three.
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Gotterup rose to the top of the FedEx Cup standings with his second win in three weeks. He jumped ahead of world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who finished the WM Open in a three-way tie for third place.
Despite a five on the final hole, Matsuyama might have felt somewhat content about a playoff in Scottsdale. His two previous wins at the WM Open, in 2016 and 2017, came via a playoff.
But Matsuyama seemed uncomfortable. He checked his swing on his playoff tee shot, moments after he lined up his putt at 18, before backing out. Then his shot off the tee in the playoff hole went wide left, and Matusyama knew it after the swing, dropping his head in disgust.
It was the 22nd instance of a playoff since 1932, and seventh in the past 11 Opens.
Chris Gotterup of the United States celebrates with his caddie on the 18th green of the first playoff hole after winning the WM Phoenix Open 2026 at TPC Scottsdale on Feb. 8, 2026.
Matsuyama had victory in his grasp when the day began, though he held only a one-shot lead and was ahead of Gotterup by four shots. But a final-hole meltdown and Gotterup’s charge up the leaderboard brought on a playoff.
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An off-target approach after an errant tee shot forced Matsuyama into a long putt, which he missed for an eventual bogey.
“Was grinding all weekend,” Matsuyama said through a translator. “Didn’t have my best stuff, but hung in there. I wanted to avoid the playoff as much as I could, but I just hit a bad tee shot there in regulation at 18, and Chris made a good putt there in the playoff. So hats off to him.”
Gotterup, meanwhile, sneaked up on the field with each passing hole in the back nine. He birdied five of the last six holes in regulation after a bogey at 12.
“Certainly at that point I wasn’t like, I lost the tournament,” he said. “I didn’t think I had the tournament to begin with.
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“Just wanted to bounce back on 13 and then hit some high-quality shots coming in.”
Gotterup now has four career PGA Tour wins, including the Sony Hawaii Open last month.
“I’m just really enjoying being out here right now, and I’m having fun,” he said. “I feel confident in what I’m doing and feel like I have played well enough to feel confident, to be able to be in those positions.”
José M. Romero can be reached at jose.romero@gannett.com. Follow him on X at @RomeroJoseM or Instagram at @romerojosem.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Chris Gotterup tops Hideki Matsuyama for 2026 WM Phoenix Open title
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