After Winning the Genesis Scottish Open, the Little Silver Native Finishes Third at The British Open
By Rich Chrampanis
COUNTY ANTRIM, NORTHERN IRELAND – What did Little Silver’s Chris Gotterup have for an encore after beating Rory McIlroy head-to-head to win the Genesis Scottish Open July 13? How about a third-place finish at The 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland?
In the span of two weeks, Gotterup, a 2017 Christian Brothers Academy graduate, vaulted himself to house-hold-name status in the worldwide audience of golf enthusiasts.
“I expected to play well, but I don’t think I expected quite this well,” Gotterup said. “I don’t know what’s going on over here, but maybe my European blood in me a little bit has come to life.” (The Gotterup family has strong ties to Denmark.) And after missing the Scottish Open, Gotterup’s parents were on hand in Northern Ireland to cheer him on.
It was just the fourth time in his young career that Gotterup played in a golf major championship; he finished in a tie for 23rd at the U.S. Open in June. But Gotterup’s play in the U.K. elevated him to contending for the Claret Jug on his 26th birthday.
Following his win at the Scottish Open, Gotterup needed to cancel his flight to Lake Tahoe for the PGA Tour’s Barracuda Championship and reroute to Royal Portrush to prepare for a second straight week of links golf.
“It’s definitely just a different tournament,” he said. “Monday and Tuesday, earlier this week, I was really beat up and just kind of trying to… take it easy and rest and just trying to take it all in.”
Following a 1-over-par 72 in the opening round, Gotterup soared near the top of the leaderboard with a sensational 65 in the second round. The round was highlighted by eagles on the second and 12th holes with just one bogey on the day.
In round three, yet another eagle at 12 highlighted a rock-solid 68, putting him in a tie for fourth heading into the final 18 holes.
“This is house money for me this week,” Gotterup said. “I wasn’t even planning on being here a week ago. Anything’s a bonus. I fully expect to give it my best, and we’ll see where that ends up.”
On Sunday, the script was the same as the previous three days, with Scottie Scheffler dominating the field. Scheffler, the current No. 1 player in the world, was born in New Jersey but raised in Texas. After he double-bogeyed the eighth hole during the final round, Gotterup birdied to get within four strokes, but the 2025 U.S. Open Champion pulled away in the end, notching four straight sub-70 rounds to win The British Open at 17-under-par.
While Gotterup, who finished 12-under for the tournament, topped Scheffler by one stroke in the final 18 holes (67 to 68), everyone in the field was playing for second place. The former Rutgers golfer ended the tournament one stroke shy of runner-up Harris English, who shot 13-under.
“Obviously, what he did last week was awesome to see, going toe-to-toe with Rory at the Scottish Open, and I think this is his first time playing links golf,” English said of Gotterup. “It’s his first Open Championship. Obviously, his ball flight suits this place. He can flight it, he can smash it. So it’s awesome. I’ve played in, I don’t know, nine or 10 of these and finished 14th, and for him to first one finish third is pretty incredible. Got a heck of a game, and I know the best is in front of him. I don’t know why it took him so long to play well out here.”
The pride of Little Silver was talking about playing with house money following his third round at Royal Turnbush. Now, he’s bringing a whole bunch of money back home after his two weeks of life-altering play. Gotterup went into the Scottish Open with $2,768,333 in winnings in his PGA Tour career. He earned a combined $2,703,000 for winning the Scottish Open and finishing third in The Open Championship (also known as The British Open), nearly doubling his lifetime earnings. He is now ranked 27th in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), a rise of 151 spots.
Gotterup will now focus on the upcoming FedEx playoffs, where he currently stands in 23rd place. Social media was abuzz about including golf’s newest star on the upcoming Ryder Cup team; play is set for late September at Bethpage Black on Long Island. Keegan Bradley has six captain’s picks to fill out the roster after the first six spots are determined by points standings. The idea of a New Jersey native playing against Europe’s best for Team USA in the tri-state area would be electric.
“I haven’t thought about it at all,” Gotterup said of the Ryder Cup buzz. “I mean, it really wasn’t ever on my radar. You know, I obviously hope to play well and, you know, it would be a miracle, but now… I have no idea. But, you know, Northeast is my home and we’ll see what happens.”
After winning the Scottish Open, a Top 3 finish at The British Open was icing on the cake for Gotterup – proverbially and literally: He received a birthday cake on air during his live interview on Sky Sports TV in the U.K., proving there’s a new fan favorite beyond Little Silver and the Rumson Country Club.
“It was amazing,” Gotterup said. “I was saying all week I felt like here they have a really good understanding of what’s going on and the golf that’s being played. Obviously, I got a lot of love from last week as well. So it’s been nothing but awesome.”
The article originally appeared in the July 24 – July 30, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
