It would be easy to look away from the first PGA Tour event of the year, or pay even the slightest bit of attention to it. A solid young pro wins in Hawaii against a sunny backdrop and a dull PGA Tour field. How much is in it?
A lot, if you just look a little closer.
Gotterup, at 26, represents much of what pro golf has become and continued to evolve in recent years. He also thinks he can be a big part of the country’s future and will benefit greatly from it.
For starters, he turned pro in 2022 and took the maximum number of sponsorship exemptions, just as many young, promising stars do. This was right when LIV Golf was launched, and just as the PGA Tour realized it needed to create more pathways for players like him. A few of his collegiate opponents took the leap to LIV. Gotterup opted for the traditional route, with his collegiate performance earning him membership on the Korn Ferry Tour via the Tour’s “PGA Tour University” rankings.
But once he graduated from KFT, Gotterup found a busy scene. The Tour had created Signature events with a limited number of participants, controversially pushing some experienced pros out of the tournaments they were used to playing and into the second rung of the Tour stops. Many Korn Ferry Tour (and DP World Tour) graduates simply couldn’t compete in tournaments, even if they had a badge in their wallet that read “PGA Tour Member.”
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However, they had to fly to Hawaii the week of the 2024 Sony Open to go through PGA Tour orientation. Gotterup was “one of those guys,” as he said Sunday night, who was stuck in a conference room for eight hours and unable to hit a competitive golf shot during that week in Hawaii two years ago — a problem the Tour resolved in 2024 by limiting membership since then.
Rookies take all the starts they can get, so Gotterup played every Tour event he was allowed to play. The 13th consecutive was an opposite field event (played at the same time as a Rory McIlroy win), the 2024 Myrtle Beach Classic, which Gotterup won by six. Has everyone been paying attention? Probably not. But that’s life on the rise. Not many people were paying attention this week when he won the Sony Open to kick-start the 2026 season, a perfect ending to a strange three years with that tournament.
Sony from 2024: Not in the field, but in the city for orientation.
Sony from 2025: Missed cut.
Sony from 2026: Victory, calm as ever.
He becomes the most recent player to win three Tour events in 70 starts or fewer, joining Tom Kim, Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele.
Gotterup’s post-round press time offered a few additional reminders of why he seems to be a player born from this particular PGA Tour era (not to mention the fact that he’s making it as far as anyone). First, he not so gracefully mentioned that the Tour’s retirement plan was a top priority after taking that third victory. If you can lock yourself into a few PGA Tour seasons, the retirement plan is as good as it gets. He then talked about how seriously he took his statistical shortcomings from 2025 – proximity from 300 to 500 feet and putts made from 30 to 20 feet – and was working on them in the offseason. This week he felt like he had just recreated all that work.
Finally, Gotterup was asked about the future of the Sony Open as the tournament is at risk of being dropped from the Tour’s schedule from next year. He is well aware that the tour he plays on in 2027 will look different than 2026 – and perhaps drastically so – but knows it doesn’t pay to get involved in details beyond his control. He stumbled through a statement, eventually undercutting it by saying, “I’m just spouting nonsense.”
What he can control is how straight he can hit a golf ball, and the people who do that best will be made endlessly rich by this Tour, no matter what the schedule looks like. He is now 17th in the world rankings and is already answering questions about the upcoming Presidents Cup. ‘I hope so [Brandt Snedeker] watched,” Gotterup said.
Sneds certainly was, even though most of the country could have had their TVs calling the NFL playoffs. They have time to come over and catch him at the Signature Events now that he’s qualified for every meaningful tournament for the rest of the year. They will also have time to see him at TGL, the Tour’s midweek simulator competition, where he has already filled in twice for the injured Justin Thomas. His 1-iron stinger earns a lot of online affection as he slides under a virtual hanging cliff.
What he’s done lately doesn’t leave PGA Tour fans with much of a choice. They’ll be getting plenty of Chris Gotterup in the coming months (and probably years). Tour executives would say that’s exactly the point.
The author welcomes your comments at sean.zak@golf.com.
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