Former Rutgers golfer Chris Gotterup, from Little Silver, wins on PGA Tour
Little Silver native Chris Gotterup officially introduced himself to much of the golfing world Sunday, as the former Rutgers standout and PGA Tour rookie dominated the field at the Myrtle Beach Classic for his first professional victory.
The 24-year-old former Rutgers standout, who starred at Christian Brothers Academy, made local history by becoming the first former Shore Conference player ever to win on the PGA Tour, finishing at 22-under-par 262 for a six-shot victory at the Dunes Golf & Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
It was Gotterup’s putter that carried him through the final round, with a 15-foot birdie putt on No. 16 extending his lead to six shots, after the four-shot cushion he began the round with was trimmed to two early in the back nine.
“I felt like I had a really good gameplan all week. I just played my game,” said Gotterup in a television interview post-round.
He closed the win out with a birdie on the final green, with his parents, Mort and Kate, and brother Patrick, standing nearby, while providing the best Mother’s Day present imaginable.
“It saved me because I ordered some flowers and they weren’t supposed to come until tomorrow, but at least I gave her something today,” Gotterup said. “It’s awesome. They came down this morning.”
And Gotterup wasn’t the only former Shore Conference champion to shine on the Grand Strand.
Middletown’s Ryan McCormick, the ex-Mater Dei star who won a Big East championship at St. John’s, finished tied for fourth at 15-under-par 269, firing a 7-under-par 64 in the final round for his best finish of his rookie season. Both he and Gotterup qualified for the PGA Tour with their play on the Korn Ferry Tour last year, and were 1-2 on the leaderboard Sunday when McCormick went 6-under through his first 12 holes.
In addition to the $720,000 top prize in the $4 million event, Gotterup gets a two-year PGA Tour exemption and earns a spot next week’s PGA Championship at Valhalla, as well as events including the 2025 Players Championship and The Sentry, but not the Masters. He picks up 300 FedEx Cup points for the victory, vaulting him into contention to finish in the top 70 and qualify for the playoffs, where a total bonus pool of $100 million will be up for grabs over three tournaments.
The event was played simultaneously with the Wells Fargo Championship, a limited field “signature event” featuring top players in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Gotterup won the New Jersey Amateur and MET Amateur titles in 2019, was the 2020 Big Ten Player of the Year at Rutgers and was named the top player in college golf during his one season at Oklahoma in 2021-22. He’s the first Shore native to win a PGA Tour event since Rumson’s Vic Ghezzi Jr. won the 1948 Dapper Dan-Alcoma Tournament in Pittsburgh, the last of his 11 PGA Tour wins.
It was a tough start for the overnight leader, three-putting the first two greens to see his lead cut in half. But he responded by going four-under over his next three holes, including an eagle at the par-5, fifth hole.
“I felt good, even better than I thought I would coming out of the gate even though I made two bogeys,” he said. “To bounce back the way I did, that’s kind of how I roll. If I make a bogey I am going to get my head screwed back on straight, or at least attempt to, and bounce back.
“No matter what I’m going to grind it out. That’s always how I’ve been. This week it happened to be that the driver wasn’t working great but my short game really saved me, getting up-and-down from some spots you shouldn’t be able to get up-and-down from.”
