By Rich Chrampanis
SILVIS, Ill. – In 2022, Chris Gotterup wrote a letter to John Deere Classic Tournament director Clair Peterson seeking a sponsor’s exemption into the PGA Tour event. He vowed in his letter to “make the tournament proud.” Gotterup got that sponsor invite and finished in a tie for fourth to score his first big paycheck fresh out of college.
Four years later, Gotterup again lived up to his promise, winning the tournament that springboarded his pro golf career.
The Little Silver native had a sizzling final-round 9-under-par 62 to roar from five shots back and win the 2026 John Deere Classic for his fifth career PGA Tour title. The Sunday charge featured a front-nine 30 to climb the leaderboard and a clutch birdie on 17 that proved to be the difference.
Winning the John Deere had sentimental value already, but Gotterup’s third win of 2026 had even more meaning; his younger brother Patrick was on the bag as his caddie. Gotterup’s regular caddie, Brady Stockton, welcomed a child last week, opening the door for Patrick Gotterup to step inside the ropes with his older brother.
“I really like this tournament. They’ve been super nice to me,” Gotterup said. “To have Patrick out here with me… it’s just so awesome.”
The arrangement had been planned months in advance. The result was something neither brother could have expected.
“Obviously, Brady, who caddies for me normally, had a kid last week, and we kind of planned this out a couple of months ago,” Gotterup said. “We were just planning on having a fun week and obviously try to come win, but to have it actually happen is cool and just a special moment that we’ll never forget.”
Patrick caddied for Chris while his brother was on the Korn Ferry Tour, working his way to full-time PGA Tour status. Patrick now works as manager of product development at Elevate in New York City; the CBS national broadcast appealed to his current boss to give him an extra day of PTO after guiding his brother to victory.
On how he felt about winning the John Deere Classic, Gotterup said, “I got a spot here in ’22 from Clair. It really kick-started my whole career, honestly. At that time, I had no status anywhere. To get a fourth here was the biggest tournament of my life at that point.”
There is a common thread in Gotterup’s three wins in 2026 – Sunday dominance. He fired a 64 to win the Sony Championship in Hawaii and his 64 at the Waste Management Open got him into the playoff and an eventual win against Hideki Matsuyama in Phoenix. In the Quad Cities Sunday, he was even better.
After a birdie on the opening hole and a bogey on the second, Gotterup caught fire. He made four birdies over the next five holes to move into contention and was 5-under through seven holes.
“I felt like if I could get off to a good start, I could at least throw my name in the mix,” Gotterup said. “Obviously got off to a great start and then was, like, when I was 5-under through 7, I was, like, all right, now I’m in the mix.”
Gotterup kept climbing the leaderboard with a bogey-free back nine. His short game and putter delivered throughout the final round. He needed just 23 putts, one-putted 13 greens and converted all four of his scrambling opportunities.
The biggest moment came at the par-5 17th.
After his tee shot finished against the edge of the rough and his second shot left him with a challenging up-and-down, Gotterup drained a 15-foot birdie putt to get to 20-under-par.
“To roll that putt in felt like, all right, I’m going to give this a good chance,” Gotterup said.
He finished his round at 9-under and headed to the practice range to stay loose while waiting to see if his score would hold up. Ben Kohles was sitting at 20-under and had a chance for his first PGA Tour win in his 120th start heading into the 18th hole. But Kohles’ second shot pulled left and landed in the water, which ultimately led to a heartbreaking double bogey.
It’s a reminder of the intense pressure of winning on the PGA Tour, which makes Gotterup’s five victories at age 26 even more impressive.
The victory continued a remarkable run for Gotterup, who has now won five times on the PGA Tour and added another chapter to his history at the John Deere Classic. One year ago, Gotterup finished tied for 21st in Illinois and was ranked 158th in the world. One week later, he outdueled Rory McIlroy to win the Scottish Open and followed that with a third-place finish at the British Open. He’s now sixth in the FedEx Cup point standings and is ranked seventh in the world with career earnings now topping $14 million dollars.
The only other golfer to have four wins on the PGA Tour in the last 365 days is Scottie Scheffler. Scheffler’s first three rounds of 66-68-68 appeared to have Gotterup out of contention, but a magical Sunday changed all of that.
“I really felt like I grinded it out this week,” Gotterup said. “Today it kind of all came together, but the first three days I didn’t have my best stuff. I talked about it earlier in the week that even my not-so-good stuff has gotten a lot better, which is great. Then obviously to come out today and to shoot 9-under was awesome. Definitely not what I had in the cards, but I’ll take those cards dealt to me, for sure.”
Things have come full circle for the Christian Brothers Academy grad. Patrick was his caddie on the Korn Ferry Tour three years ago and he’s now seen his brother become one of the biggest names in the sport.
“I think the pressure of being on Korn Ferry, and your whole life is to make it to the PGA Tour, and there’s a lot of pressure in that,” Gotterup said. “I feel like I’ve matured a lot and gotten a lot better at dealing with adversity and just growing up, I guess.”
A year ago, Chris Gotterup was a virtual unknown overseas. Now he’s returning to the Scottish Open as the defending champion; one week later, he’ll look to contend for his first major championship at the British Open.
“We’re all crazy, golfers. The bads feel really bad even though they’re not that bad, and the goods feel like you’re unbeatable,” Gotterup said. “This whole year has been really good, if you look at it in a big picture, but I obviously got off to a great start and was grinding it out in the middle of the year, but that’s not unexpected.
“Obviously, hopefully this kick-starts some other great stuff. I’d be lying if I said this year wasn’t a massive success. Hopefully I still have some tournaments left, and hopefully keep it going and running into the end of the year.”
The article originally appeared in the July 9 – 15, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
