Big expectations now define Chris Gotterup’s career after John Deere Classic win

SILVIS, Ill. — The headline on PGATOUR.COM 51 weeks ago read: “Chris Gotterup unexpectedly outduels Rory McIlroy for career win at Genesis Scottish Open.”

Expectations will be decidedly different when the slugger from Little Silver, New Jersey, puts a tee in the ground this coming week at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland.

A warning to McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and all others in a stellar Genesis Scottish Open field: Chris Gotterup is coming – and he’s coming in hot.

In what he deemed a warm-up for his defense in Scotland, Gotterup got blisteringly hot on Sunday, firing a 9-under 62 in the closing round of the John Deere Classic to claim his third win of the season and the fifth of his career in sizzling come-from-behind fashion.

Certainly, his own expectations are growing now, even if it’s hard for the famously chill and unassuming dude to express them.

“Yeah, I think it’s always a work in progress,” Gotterup said of his standing in the game. “We’re all crazy golfers. The bads feel really bad, even though they're not that bad, and the goods feel like you're unbeatable. Today I obviously had a really good day.”

It was a really good day that helped him join Matt Fitzpatrick as one of two three-time winners this year, lifted him to sixth in the FedExCup standings and will bump him up several spots from his current No. 14 position when the next Official World Golf Rankings are released.

“Yeah, I'd be lying if I said this year wasn't a massive success,” he said. “Hopefully keep it going into the end of the year.”

On the expectation front, Gotterup admitted winning wasn’t on his mind as he took the first tee Sunday, starting an hour ahead of 54-hole leaders Lucas Glover and Lee Hodges, with another nine players between himself and the lead.

“Not before I hit my first tee shot, that's for sure,” Gotterup said, “but I got off to a great start, put myself in the mix, and then obviously kept it going.”

Gotterup climbed the leaderboard by making five birdies on his first seven holes, and that’s with a two-putt par at the soft par-5 second after his drive brushed a tree and left him in an awkward lie in the rough. He made up for that with a 344-yard bomb over new bunkers at the muscled-up, par-4 fourth, where a gap wedge from 140 yards to inside 5 feet out led to a birdie.

After making the turn with a 5-under 30, Gotterup grabbed a share of the lead with his third back-nine birdie at No. 14. He moved to 20-under par for the tournament with a nervy 14-foot birdie putt at the par-5 17th. He posted his winning 20-under 264 score, and then waited on the range while other contenders fell aside.

Gotterup dodged his biggest challenge when journeyman Ben Kohles, who had tied the lead with a birdie at the par-3 16th, failed to birdie No. 17 and then dunked his approach in the left-side pond at the closing hole.

Ultimately, Gotterup finished a shot ahead of runner-up Max Homa, a six-time PGA TOUR winner, who also charged from behind with a closing 7-under 64 but failed to make birdie at No. 18.

Gotterup’s 62 tied the lowest closing score by a John Deere winner, matching Sepp Straka's winning Sunday rally in 2023. He won by playing to his strength: his driver. Gotterup gained 5.413 off the tee, which led the field at TPC Deere Run. His putter produced as well. Gotterup needed only 23 putts in his final round, including 13 one-putts, none bigger than that 14-foot, slight downhill curler that sealed the win at the penultimate hole.

That putt and the entire hole were proof of the growth of the still-emerging standout. He got a bit unlucky when his 328-yard drive rolled through the intermediate rough and against the collar of the taller stuff.

“It was going to be hard not hitting that ball right with the rough on the toe of the club, but I hit it in a decent spot,” he said of an approach that wound up short-sided in a collection area, 50 feet from the hole with a hill about half that high to cover. His approach wound up 14 feet from the flag, and his roll for birdie never left the hole.

“To have a putt that matters and then roll it in is awesome,” he said of that grinding effort. “Yeah, I don't know if I'd be here two years ago, but you learn out here.”

One pivotal moment in Gotterup’s development was a T4 finish at the John Deere in his fifth professional start in 2022.

“That really kick-started my whole career, honestly,” he said. “At that time I had no status anywhere. To get a fourth here was the biggest tournament of my life at that point.”

Another key lesson was missing out on last year’s Ryder Cup at Long Island’s Bethpage Black, near his native New Jersey.

“It definitely wasn't like a ‘Why is this happening to me moment?’" he said of not being one of six captains’ picks. “It was more of, ‘All right, this was a great learning process.’ It definitely was something that motivated me to play well this year.”

Despite his success in Silvis, Gotterup will have a different caddie at The Renaissance Club. Brady Stockton, who has carried his bag since April of last year, will return from a brief maternity leave. His brother Patrick returns to his day job at Elevate, a New York-based global sports agency, after helping Sunday’s win.

Patrick also caddied for his older brother on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2023 and during his amateur career. It has been gratifying, he said, to see Chris’ steady growth into a decorated college player at Rutgers and then at Oklahoma State and through each step of his professional career.

Now, Chris Gotterup is a proven, five-time winner on the PGA TOUR.

Certainly, success in any given week won’t be unexpected.

“I knew he had the tools. And then he kind of just took each step towards that progression,” Patrick said. “I think he'll say he didn't know how good he could be, but it's kind of all come to fruition, and it's pretty cool to watch.”