Chris Gotterup was one of the few to master the conditions of the early window at the PGA Championship.
The wind was howling at Aronimink, and even the world number one Scottie Scheffler had a torrid time wrestling with the golf course. But Gotterup had the low round of the morning starters, shooting a five-under 65 to throw himself into contention.
After he dropped slightly down the leaderboard with a one-over second round, Scheffler gave a nod to Gotterup and revealed what his relationship with his fellow American is like.
Scottie Scheffler says what impresses him most about Chris Gotterup
Scheffler didn’t have the answers to Aronimink like Gotterup did during Friday’s play. Gotterup, who showed his ability to play in gusty conditions during his win at the Scottish Open last year, looked completely at home in the swirling wind.
Speaking after his round, Scheffler said it’s cool to see players solve the challenge a difficult course presents: “I think you can always see it, and I think that’s what is great about the harder tests. A lot of times you see somebody figure it out.
“Like you see that in a lot of U.S. Opens, you see that in a lot of these tournaments. And, like you see it on a golf course like Riviera, like somebody always figures it out. I think that’s when you see a really good test. I think a lot of times you see the scores get so close together it may not be as good of a test.
“So when you see a score like that from a guy like Chris, he’s obviously a really talented player, and I think that’s a good thing. It’s got to be a heck of a round. And, yes, I did see it out there, but I was six shots off of that, so that was a pretty good round.”
Scheffler went on to say what he admires about Gotterup: “I played with him first couple rounds in Phoenix this year where he won. One thing that has impressed me about him is just his attitude, the way he goes about things. He’s not a guy that’s really going to get very flustered.
“He may get frustrated from time to time, but he’s never going to be a guy that is going to get overly frustrated and have it affect his next shot. He just has a really good attitude about the way he goes about things on the golf course, and in life, too.
“He’s a great guy to be around, fun guy to hang out with. He just kind of likes to have fun, he happens to be really good at golf, and that’s pretty much it. He just likes to have fun. And I feel like that’s kind of his personality is just like, yeah, I play golf, I’m pretty good sometimes, and other times I’m bad.
“I think that’s kind of how a lot of us feel. But I would say his greatest strength is probably his attitude.”
It sounds like the level-headed Scheffler sees a lot of himself in Gotterup, which bodes well for his career!
Chris Gotterup explains why he plays so well in the wind
Gotterup is becoming somewhat of a savant in windy conditions, and after shooting the low round of the tournament so far, he explained how he’s able to thrive in these conditions.
He said, “Yeah, I think there’s a certain — especially around here, there’s a certain aspect of creativity that’s needed. Even if it’s a generic shot, if it’s blowing 30 off the right, you’ve got to be able to craft something that is manageable to get it in the middle of the green.
“I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better since turning pro at being okay with hitting it to 30 feet being a good shot, and I think there’s a lot of that out here. So I think there’s a lot of aspects of being patient, and I feel like I’ve gotten better at that, but also just being creative and being willing to execute a shot that might, you know, you might not try and pull off in a normal week.
“When you’re hitting 4-iron from 190 out here, and you’re trying to cut it 20 yards to try to hold it up against the wind, it’s something that I’ve gotten used to playing in more wind.
“And, yeah, it doesn’t make it any easier to execute, but you just have to, you know, same thing, you’ve got to be in the moment to hit those shots, and I’ve been in a couple of those and hit it. So hopefully keep doing that.”
Gotterup will hope the wind keeps up for the weekend as he eyes the top of the standings!
