How long does a heater last? Chris Gotterup’s about to find out

BLAINE, Minn. — Wednesday at TPC Twin Cities was a washout. Storms slowed play for an hour in the morning and erased all of it in the afternoon.

And you know who probably didn’t mind? Chris Gotterup.

“Honestly,” he said, “probably a blessing in disguise with this weather today for me to just take another day to relax and get ready for this week.”

If anyone needs a breather, it might be Gotterup, the 26-year-old pro from New Jersey who left the States two weeks ago ranked 158th in the world and returned ranked 27th. He won the Genesis Scottish Open — the second and biggest victory of his career — and followed it up by finishing solo third at the Open Championship. (His total haul? A cool $2.7 million.)

Now he’s at the 3M Open in the Twin Cities suburbs and hoping his heater doesn’t run out quite yet. Over the last two weeks, only Scottie Scheffler has been better; he gets the nod thanks to his Claret Jug.

So, who is this guy anyway?

Gotterup grew up in New Jersey, played golf at Rutgers University and was Big Ten Player of the Year before finishing his college play at Oklahoma. He wears a golf glove but doesn’t strap it because it feels restricting. His PGA Tour bio also says he simply, “loves music.” (We would have followed up to get more specifics on the whole music thing, but due to weather his press conference Wednesday was in the clubhouse and only with PGA Tour Communications. We apologize.) He’s funny, too. When he won the Myrtle Beach Classic last year on Mother’s Day, he quipped: “I saved my ass because I ordered some flowers [for my mom] and they didn’t come. They’re not supposed to come until tomorrow, so I gave her at least something today.” And just last Sunday, at The Open: “I expected to play well, but I don’t think I expected quite this well.”

Inside the ropes, he can move it. He ranks 9th on Tour in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and eighth in driving distance (317 yards). He ranks fifth on Tour in clubbed speed (124.52 mph average) and 11th in ball speed (184.16 mph), which he says he has pushed to over 200 mph before. He’s also cracked a 2-iron, which doesn’t seem like an easy thing to do.

He led the Korn Ferry Tour in driving distance in 2023 and earned his PGA Tour card for 2024, where he won the Myrtle Beach Classic for his first victory but was otherwise uneven, making just 13 of 26 cuts and failing to record another top 10. He missed the playoffs and started 2025 searching, missing cuts in eight of his first 12 starts. But after a 75-70 MC at the Valero Texas Open, something seemed to click.

In his next start, two weeks later, he tied for 18th. Then tied for 12th. Then 15th. Then 13th.

He didn’t let up but instead showed signs that something big was coming. In his nine starts before his win at the Genesis Scottish Open, he finished 26th or better in all but one.

“I wish I knew what it was. I feel like I’ve been in great control of my mental part of the game,” he said. “I feel like I’ve just had a better understanding of how I work and how my game works and playing with what I’ve got for the day and the week and not trying to overcomplicate things, just trying to take apart the course, how I think I’m doing for the week. Yeah, it’s been a good couple weeks/months.”

In Scotland, he shot 68 in the first round but fired a blistering 61 on Friday. He had to grind it out on Saturday, he said, but it still got him into a final-round pairing with 54-hole co-leader Rory McIlroy, who unsurprisingly was the massive crowd favorite.

Gotterup shot 66 and won.

He shed tears in his winner’s press conference. He talked about the fight and the grind and how, yes, a two-time PGA Tour winner sounds much better than a solo winner. In a way, he proved to everyone, himself included, that the first win was no fluke. Then at Royal Portrush he proved he might not be going away anytime soon.

“Even at The Open I felt like, alright, I’ve done this, I’ve hit some quality shots under the gun,” he said. “I think it definitely carried over, and I don’t see why that won’t carry over into the future.”

Now he’s in yet another time zone trying to back it up again, this time at a water-laden country club that’s nothing like the courses he’s played the past two weeks. If he stays hot, the timing will be perfect. In just two weeks he’ll make his FedEx Cup Playoffs debut and try to get to the Tour Championship for the first time in his career. And don’t forget about the Ryder Cup, where he’s suddenly on the radar and would be a semi-local favorite at Bethpage Black on Long Island.

As Chris Gotterup has showed us, a lot can change in two weeks.

“I’m definitely in a good spot and I feel like I don’t really have much to lose,” he said. “I feel like I’m playing with house money.”

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