PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Chris Gotterup has turned “house money” at this week’s British Open into a potential rocket ship launch for his golf career.
“I’ve been saying all week that this is house money for me this week,’’ the Little Silver, N.J., native said Saturday after shooting 68 to get to 8-under par and in a tie for fourth — six shots behind leader Scottie Scheffler. “I wasn’t even planning on being here come a week ago. Anything’s a bonus. I fully expect to give it my best, and we’ll see where that ends up.”
Gotterup won the Scottish Open seven days ago, a life-altering victory that earned him a spot in the British Open field this week at Portrush. And to say he’s taken advantage of it would be a massive understatement.
“I feel like I’ve gotten a bit of taste over the last couple of weeks of what it feels like out there with Oakmont [U.S. Open] and the Scottish Open and stuff like that,’’ he said.
Gotterup, who played his college golf at Rutgers and Oklahoma, said he’s trying not to overthink why he’s hitting his stride at the moment.
“I just feel like I’m starting to get more comfortable,’’ he said. “I feel like I’m starting to understand my game better and how I operate and what kind of golf is needed at certain places. I just feel like I’ve been very in control of my misses and my attitude.
“I don’t have an answer,’’ he went on. “I wish I had it. I would have used it a long time ago. Just something clicked, and I’m going to ride it as long as I can and learn from why stuff’s working well and just put it in my back pocket and try to take it to each tournament from there and learn along the way.
“It’s definitely been a nice learning process these last couple months, and I feel like I’ve done a good job of piecing things together and trying to figure out why stuff’s happening, good or bad, and use it for the future.’’
The 25-year-old Gotterup has put himself into the conversation as one of the rising young players in the game. More of what’s taken place the past two weeks and he might insert himself into the Ryder Cup conversation.
That’s a place he refuses to let his mind wander, because there is a job to finish on Sunday, when he’ll be one of the pursuers chasing Scheffler.
“He’s been the best player in the world for the past couple years,’’ Gotterup said. “I fully expect him to go out and play a great round tomorrow. I’m going to have to bring my best tomorrow, and I’m going to have to bring it anyways in terms of it being a final round in a major. It’s not just Scottie out there, there’s a lot of great players in the mix.’’