Chris Gotterup's golf career takes flight after big wins

The young fans were assembled along the pathway behind the 18th green at the TPC Sawgrass as Chris Gotterup’s group finished their practice round earlier this week ahead of The Players Championship.

“Chris, can you sign?”

“Mr. Gotterup!”

“Mr. Gotterup, can I get a ball?”

Compare that to last year when Gotterup was making his Players debut.

“I would walk off and they would be like, ‘Who is that guy?’” he told me.

Now the kids know. Ditto for the older fans. Same for every fan of every age.

Winning the Scottish Open and finishing third in the Open Championship in consecutive weeks and starting this season with two wins (Hawaii and Phoenix) in his first three starts this year tends to generate attention.

“Now, they want my autograph and that’s cool and I try to be aware of that,” said Gotterup, who is scheduled to start his second round at 9:04 a.m. on Friday, March 13. “Obviously, we have a lot going on out here every week, but when you win and win again, your name gets out there more. It’s fun.”

Fun has been watching Gotterup’s rise since last July. He entered last year’s Players ranked 219th in the Official World Golf Rankings.

He is now seventh in the world.

More: Chris Gotterup goes giddyup to win 2026 Sony Open in Hawaii

Hard work comes to fruition

Chris Gotterup of the United States signs autographs for fans prior to THE PLAYERS Championship 2026 at THE PLAYERS Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass on March 10, 2026 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

The first thing I asked Gotterup is how different his life is compared to last March when he arrived at Sawgrass. He had made only three of eight cuts and posted only one finish of better than 25th (tied for 16th in Puerto Rico).

“I don’t know how different my life is,” he said. “Obviously, golf-wise, things are different.”

(What an understatement.)

Gotterup shot a pair of 73s at The Players and missed the cut.

“I learned a lot; I didn’t have the game required to play well here,” he said. “Now I have more shots and I’m definitely more comfortable in certain situations.”

Like where?

“Hole (Nos.) 2 and 10,” Gotterup said. “I really stood out there last year and thought, ‘I don’t know what the hell I’m going to hit here.’”

On those two holes last year, Gotterup went bogey-par on No. 2 (a par 5) and par-birdie on No. 10 (a par 4). What bit him was the par-4 14th (double bogey-double bogey).

Gotterup’s biggest takeaway from his first two competitive laps around Sawgrass?

“You can’t shy away from anything,” he said. “There isn’t one hole where you’re safe. There is trouble lurking around every corner and you have to execute every shot.”

It took a few weeks post-Players last year for Gotterup to up his execution. Beginning in Dallas, he finished tied for 15th and then tied for 13th in Myrtle Beach. (He didn’t even play in the Masters or PGA Championship). Solid and definitely better than missing the cut.

But then two thunderbolts.

Gotterup shot a second-round 61 and a final-round 66 to beat Rory McIlroy and Marco Penge by two shots in Scotland. Cha-ching to the tune of $1.575 million. The next week, at the Open Championship, a second-round 65 helped him to a third-place finish. Cha-ching to the tune of $1.128 million.

Golf is a classic you-just-never-know sport. A guy can’t hit it straight or can’t buy a putt and starts stacking up missed cuts. But then, suddenly, he starts striping it off the tee, gets their short game in order and gets some breaks like an errant shot going tee-tree-fairway or a hole-out from the bunker to steal a shot.

The key is keeping the roll rolling.

Gotterup finished 2025 with $3,555,294 in earnings, 28th on Tour.

“It was a lot of hard work behind the scenes coming to fruition to step up on the tee and execute shots,” he said. “To be able to do it under the gun against those (top players), it was, ‘I have it if I can bring it to the table.”

Proving 2025 was no fluke

Chris Gotterup celebrates after winning the 2026 WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale.

Gotterup started this year by bringing that same mindset and performance to the table.

A final-round 64 to win in Hawaii by two shots over Ryan Gerard.

Another final-round 64 (including five birdies in the final six holes) to rise from 10th into a playoff win over Hideki Matsuyama in Phoenix.

Entering The Players, he was fourth on the money list at $3,837,375 and the only two-time event winner.

Compared to last March, Gotterup said: “I’m in a different place in golf and where my game is at. I feel pretty comfortable in certain situations. I’m happy with where I’m at and trying to keep it going.”

That’s how the very good ones become the great ones. By keeping it going. They don’t miss cuts. They finish in the top 20 even when they feel like they are operating with their C or D games.

In between his wins, Gotterup finished tied for 18th in La Jolla and then tied for 37th in Pebble Beach (after an opening-round 64), missed the cut in Los Angeles and finished tied for 18th in Orlando (final-round 76).

“The last couple of weeks, I’ve been brought down to earth a little bit,” he said. “There is definitely some sort of re-set and you put that in the past. You have to prove it again (every week).”

Gotterup has followed up his breakout 2025 with a terrific start to 2026. His competitors have noticed. Same for the young, old and every-age-in-between fans. Chris Gotterup is here to stay.

Contact O’Halloran at rohalloran@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Chris Gotterup’s golf career takes flight

Read the full article here