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NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. – On a morning when several golfers were left blowing in the wind at Aronimink Golf Club, Chris Gotterup birdied his final three holes to shoot 5-under 65 on Friday and climb right into the thick of the 108th PGA Championship.
How good was his 65, which was two strokes better than the next best score in the morning wave? World No. 1 and defending PGA champion Scottie Scheffler didn’t see the round but having played in the worst of the cold and wind too, assumed “it’s got to be a heck of a round."
“I did see it out there,” said Scheffler, who shot 71, “but I was six shots off of that, so that was a pretty good round.”
Following a 72 during a blustery first round, Gotterup, who started his second round on the back nine, finished with a flurry, making birdie on the final three holes.
More: Scottie Scheffler on Friday pins at the PGA Championship: 'Kind of absurd'
“Even though I played pretty well today, I don't think it felt easy at any point out there,” he said.
Gotterup is a New Jersey native who grew up 90 minutes away from Aronimink but had never been here until Monday. He said he’s embracing the sweater weather and enjoyed sleeping in his own bed on Sunday.
“I take that as a win when I can get it,” he said.
His parents and girlfriend are in attendance as well as several friends and they had to like what they were seeing. Gotterup, who already is a two-time winner on the Tour this season, ranked first in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green and second in SG: Approach Shot. That’s a pretty potent combination to shoot the low round of the day, something Gotterup has done on three previous occasions in his Tour career – at the 2025 Corales Puntacana Championship (67 in the final round), 2025 Genesis Scottish (61 in the second round) and the 2026 WM Phoenix Open (an opening 63). Here’s the rub: he ended up winning the last two.
Did Gotterup expect Aronimink to play as tough as nails as it has through two rounds?
“I mean, you're playing the practice rounds and every pin is in the middle of the green, so it looks easy and feels easier than it always is,” he said. “But, yeah, I was watching the coverage yesterday, and they were like, ‘I can't believe the scores are this high.’ And then you see guys pulling 5-woods on par-3s and it's like, yeah, I mean, like, no one's going to be – there's going to be a birdie maybe for the day on a hole where you're hitting 5-wood into a par-3.”
Gotterup noted how he hit 5-wood into the par-3 8th on Thursday but with the tee moved up, he only needed a 7-iron on Friday and struck for birdie.
“Is it unfair? Probably not,” he said of the course setup. “But is it going to make the round slow? Yeah.”
Gotterup got a taste of being in the trophy hunt at a major last summer at the British Open played at Royal Portrush, where he finished third. Scheffler said that Gotterup’s superpower is his attitude, noting, “He's not a guy that's really going to get very flustered.”
Aronimink, on a windy day, flustered some of the best but not Gotterup, who simply wants a shot at taking home the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday.
“I feel like you got to keep putting yourself in position, and you hope that one day it breaks through and it was your time,” he said. “But as long as you can keep putting yourself there, I think that's all you can do.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Chris Gotterup shoots 65 at PGA Championship
Continue reading...
How good was his 65, which was two strokes better than the next best score in the morning wave? World No. 1 and defending PGA champion Scottie Scheffler didn’t see the round but having played in the worst of the cold and wind too, assumed “it’s got to be a heck of a round."
“I did see it out there,” said Scheffler, who shot 71, “but I was six shots off of that, so that was a pretty good round.”
Following a 72 during a blustery first round, Gotterup, who started his second round on the back nine, finished with a flurry, making birdie on the final three holes.
More: Scottie Scheffler on Friday pins at the PGA Championship: 'Kind of absurd'
“Even though I played pretty well today, I don't think it felt easy at any point out there,” he said.
Gotterup is a New Jersey native who grew up 90 minutes away from Aronimink but had never been here until Monday. He said he’s embracing the sweater weather and enjoyed sleeping in his own bed on Sunday.
“I take that as a win when I can get it,” he said.
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His parents and girlfriend are in attendance as well as several friends and they had to like what they were seeing. Gotterup, who already is a two-time winner on the Tour this season, ranked first in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green and second in SG: Approach Shot. That’s a pretty potent combination to shoot the low round of the day, something Gotterup has done on three previous occasions in his Tour career – at the 2025 Corales Puntacana Championship (67 in the final round), 2025 Genesis Scottish (61 in the second round) and the 2026 WM Phoenix Open (an opening 63). Here’s the rub: he ended up winning the last two.
Did Gotterup expect Aronimink to play as tough as nails as it has through two rounds?
“I mean, you're playing the practice rounds and every pin is in the middle of the green, so it looks easy and feels easier than it always is,” he said. “But, yeah, I was watching the coverage yesterday, and they were like, ‘I can't believe the scores are this high.’ And then you see guys pulling 5-woods on par-3s and it's like, yeah, I mean, like, no one's going to be – there's going to be a birdie maybe for the day on a hole where you're hitting 5-wood into a par-3.”
Gotterup noted how he hit 5-wood into the par-3 8th on Thursday but with the tee moved up, he only needed a 7-iron on Friday and struck for birdie.
“Is it unfair? Probably not,” he said of the course setup. “But is it going to make the round slow? Yeah.”
Gotterup got a taste of being in the trophy hunt at a major last summer at the British Open played at Royal Portrush, where he finished third. Scheffler said that Gotterup’s superpower is his attitude, noting, “He's not a guy that's really going to get very flustered.”
Aronimink, on a windy day, flustered some of the best but not Gotterup, who simply wants a shot at taking home the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday.
“I feel like you got to keep putting yourself in position, and you hope that one day it breaks through and it was your time,” he said. “But as long as you can keep putting yourself there, I think that's all you can do.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Chris Gotterup shoots 65 at PGA Championship
Continue reading...
