New Jersey’s Chris Gotterup tied for tenth place and shot three-under-par in the 108th PGA Championship. Held at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, it was yet another solid performance put together by one of the top ranked golfers in the world.
Aronimink is located in the suburbs west of Philadelphia and only about 15 miles away is the Delaware River, the borderline between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Playing so close to the Garden State drew friends and family to come see Gotterup play, giving him that feeling he was home.
“My parents were here today, girlfriend her family were here today and yesterday and a couple of buddies were here, so it’s been fun in that respect. It makes it feel a little bit more like you’re at home for, you know, for how much we’re on the road and you don’t get to feel that that much. So it’s been nice.” Gotterup said. “I slept in my own bed on Sunday, so I take that as a win when I can get it, and yeah, it’s just, you know, it’s nice to be back, you know, wearing a sweatshirt and being in the Northeast.” – PGA golfer Chris Gotterup
This was a bounce back from Gotterup’s last PGA Championship appearance as well as his last major. After missing the cut in this tournament in 2024 and finishing T-24th in The Masters in April, he hung around the top of the leaderboard for most of the weekend. Here is a round for round recap for the Little Silver native:
ROUND 1:
Nobody had an edge on the course Thursday. With three under being the best score, the pack was incredibly tight. Gotterup was on the opposite of where he wanted to be, tied for 66th with two strokes over par. Having two bogeys within the first five holes and three more through the rest round did no justice. Though he shot three birdies, it wasn’t nearly enough to refurbish the damage. Gotterup finished the day with a score of 72.
ROUND 2:
It was as if Gotterup went a full 180. Despite a bogey at the second hole, he’d be flawless the rest of the day, never going under par, and shooting six birdies. His score of 65 was five strokes under and ended up being the best of the second round. With moving day approaching, his performance put him comfortably tied for third place and in a great position.
ROUND 3:
With how things were going in the tournament, it would’ve been not only incredibly hard, but widely impressive if Gotterup worked the same magic he did the round before. He was on pace to potentially do just that until there was a derailment. While shooting two birdies in the first half, the back nine wasn’t as pleasant. Back to back bogeys and one more at the end at 17 put him at +1 on the day and a pickle heading to the final round where he was now -2 and tied for 11th.
ROUND 4:
Gotterup needed a big day after a rough third round and being five strokes behind the leader. While he never shot a bogey or worse, the lone birdie he achieved through 18 holes for a -1 score was far from enough to make him a contender headed towards the end. The lack of a push put him in a position where a major miracle was needed that of course never came. As Aaron Rai held up the Wanamaker Trophy, Gotterup finished the tournament tied for 10th.
Though it wasn’t the way he wanted things to go, this was yet another impressive performance in the young career of Chris Gotterup. In only his third season participating in the PGA TOUR, he has finished tied 10th or better in two out of the four major tournaments. He’ll look to get back on track at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson next weekend and hope to win his first major at the US Open in June.
