CROMWELL, Conn — Chris Gotterup has made the cut in 75% of the tournaments he’s played in his young PGA Tour career, and he doesn’t plan on stopping there.
Gotterup, 22, finished his collegiate career at the University of Oklahoma after spending his first four years at Rutgers. He made the most of his one year in Norman, winning the 2022 Haskins and Nicklaus awards as the country’s top college player, and finishing T-7 in his first-ever Tour start at the Puerto Rico Open in March. After turning pro, he missed the cut at the RBC Canadian Open, but followed that up by playing the weekend at the U.S. Open and Travelers Championship.
Gotterup has chosen a different career path than his competitors from this past college season. He earned Canada status via PGA Tour University, but is opting to take advantage of Tour sponsor exemptions while other PGA Tour U grads play on the Korn Ferry Tour or in Canada. Oklahoma State’s Eugenio Chacarra, Gotterup’s primary challenger for Player of the Year, announced he will be joining the LIV Golf series.
Gotterup said he hasn’t been aware of any offers from LIV Golf and if he does get an offer from the Saudi-backed tour, the New Jersey native doesn’t plan on “entertaining it too much.”
“Hopefully [my future is] on Tour,” Gotterup told GolfChannel.com after his round Saturday. “Yeah, that’s, that’s the goal. So now, I know I’m good enough. And I know that I just gotta keep grinding.”
Full-field scores from Travelers Championship
Gotterup already knows a thing or two about the grind. He was the 2019-20 Big Ten Player of the Year and a first-team All-Big Ten selection at Rutgers.
He then left his home state to join Oklahoma’s golf program, and his career took off. He finished the season ranked No. 1 by Golfstat and nearly won the NCAA men’s individual title, too. A few late blunders with the putter left him one shot short of joining a four-way playoff for the title.
But it’s safe to say that his college experience was a positive one.
“I would have never been able to get to Oklahoma if I didn’t have Rutgers,” he said. “And then I would have never been able to get [on Tour] if I didn’t have Oklahoma. So there’s certain things that I’ve built along the way that have really helped my game. And just comfort-level and self-confidence a little bit, but other than that it’s simple.”
There have been some challenges along the way despite moderate success in his first few Tour starts, but Gotterup is embracing the learning curve.
“It’s been difficult, but fun,” he said after being asked how the adjustment to Tour life has been. “You know, just change your lifestyle, honestly, going from, you know, having everything done for you in college. And now I gotta do it all on my own, for the most part. I’m happy to have a good team, that helps me with my stuff. But yeah, it’s, it’s different. But the golf stuff, at the end of the day, good golf takes care of everything.”
And though there’s still plenty of room for improvement, Gotterup couldn’t be happier with how things have gone up to this point.
“I look at my career now, it’s been crazy,” he said. “If you told me I’d be talking here with you five years ago, I would have told you you’re crazy.”