NORTH BERWICK, SCOTLAND | It was a question worth asking. How did 26-year-old Chris Gotterup, who has won four times in the last 12 months, manage to shed the nerves which used to come his way?
“I haven’t shed them,” he decided. “It’s just that I’ve come to accept that you can’t run away from them.”
This week, the American is back at the Renaissance Club for the Genesis Scottish Open, the event he won by two from Rory McIlroy and Marco Penge a year ago. That happened to be the first time in his professional career that he had found himself playing alongside a leading light – McIlroy – in a final round. He wasn’t sure how he would react and, when he bunkered his tee shot at the first, he was thinking, “Oh s***, here we go.”
As it turned out, there was no collapse. He was level with McIlroy after nine holes and, from then on, Rory was the one who was struggling. Gotterup kept fighting as he added a 66 to earlier rounds of 68, 61 and 70 and, thereafter, he was only fighting back tears at the thought of how everyone at home would have been watching.
He had started that week last July at 158th in the world ranking, and what he has done since, apart from finishing third in the following week’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush, is to win the Sony Open in Hawaii in January, the WM Phoenix Open in February, and the John Deere Classic last Sunday. Now he is up to seventh in the ranking and you have to ask yourself “What’s going to happen next?”
Gotterup, who began his title defence this morning with a 2-under 68, was hoping that he would have a few more fans than he had last year when there were barely any cheers for him as against those for McIlroy. That was always going to happen, but what he didn’t realise was that the Scottish crowd had taken to him in a big way. He wasn’t best pleased with the referee who gave him a personal timing at the 16th hole, but so irritated was he with what he felt was an unfair complaint that he responded with an angry birdie.
Has he changed at all in the last 12 months?
“My personal life hasn’t but golf-wise it’s changed a lot,” he said. Regarding his personal life, he thought he could do with a bit more in the way of a normal existence. A normal existence which would include dropping in on his parents, his father’s three dogs and his girlfriend, Samantha Rae Monte, who works in the tourist industry and, in Gotterup’s opinion, is “super helpful.”
“I feel like when I come over here it’s a fresh start because it’s so different from what we’re used to. I just think the style of how you have to play out here and the creativity that goes with it is fun and challenging at the same time.” – Chris Gotterup
Then he forgot the “normal life” for a moment as he reminded himself that he was flying to Scotland, a land he loves. Not just because of the benefit of being able to practise on a links but because it’s different. He studies the views across the Firth of Forth and, barely had he touched down on Monday than he was playing at North Berwick.
“I feel like when I come over here it’s a fresh start because it’s so different from what we’re used to. I just think the style of how you have to play out here and the creativity that goes with it is fun and challenging at the same time. … Then, when you leave the course, I just like going into the town. It feels almost vacation-ish, even if it’s hard work.”
He can rest assured that he’ll be well-watched this week, even if there are six of the world’s top 10 and 14 of the top 20 vying for attention. Major champions Scottie Scheffler, McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Aaron Rai, and Shane Lowry have all been working their tails off on the range, with the same applying to Tommy Fleetwood, Robert MacIntyre, and Sepp Straka.
To a man, they have the feeling that they are playing two majors in a row. No wonder that the locals are eager to be among the 85,000 expected at the Renaissance as opposed to next week’s 300,000 at the Open.
Gotterup said the vibes were good as far as he was concerned, only before he disappeared to the putting green, he was faced with a touch of the stress he had known when he stood on that first tee with Rory a year ago.
Three women who work for South Korea’s SPOTV sports network had a handful of questions about his golf and the course. They nodded approvingly at his answers, though what didn’t work quite so well was when it came to the two-part spiel they wanted him to deliver at the end.
Part 1 inviting viewers to watch the tournament went fine. But Part 2 was the point where things went wrong.
Instead of telling his audience where they could follow all four rounds, he hit on one wrong channel after another, including the BBC, before arriving at SPOTV at his fifth attempt.