Round One of the Waste Management Phoenix Open is in the books. The leader was not one of the perennial favorites or one of the former winners. It was Chris Gotterup.
Gotterup deserves to get his flowers. Hopefully, I am not the only person willing to give this man credit, but his body of work is actually quite impressive. Gotterup is in his third season on tour. During his first season, he won a lesser known Myrtle Beach Classic by a nice and wide six stroke margin.
A year later, he edged out superstar Rory McIlroy in the Genesis Scottish Open. Winning that might not be every young man’s dream come true, but how cool is it to be the National Champion of Golf in all of Scotland, the land that gave birth to our great game.
This year has been fantastic for Gotterup. He came out swinging and won in Hawaii on opening weekend. Still, to that point, he was not really recognized as a premier player. Sure, he leads the FedEx Cup standings, but it’s so early. One of the household names will surely dethrone him, right?
No.
Chris Gotterup is the next household name in golf. Everybody has had their doubts because the sport is so well dominated by a laundry list of stars and competitors. It almost seems like a chore to learn more about some new guy when you have plenty of golfers to root for every week, but this is not just some new guy.
This is a meteoric rise. This is not the next coming of Tiger Woods (that will never happen), but this is the emergence of the next generation.
Gotterup can putt better than literally anybody. He can hit long putts the way the TV viewer expects. That happens to be a handy skill for him seeing as he is pretty mediocre (from a professional standpoint, of course) at getting onto the green.
Gotterup leaves himself plenty of tough putts and really does not wow anybody off the tee like some of his peers. Why is he so good then? It comes down to consistency. This guy is always good, but sometimes he is great.
If one were to look at the advanced stats, they would see that he consistently reaches a few parameters before each of his wins. He putts, putts from long range, and he scrambles. After just one round this weekend, he ranks higher in those categories than usual, and he is top ten in strokes gained by approach shots.
Technically, you cannot win a PGA tournament on a Thursday, but Chris Gotterup has put himself in position to be the betting favorite, and it is finally time we start respecting his game.
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