6/8/2022 other sports Edit

Former Rutgers star golfer Chris Gotterup qualifies for U.S. Open

Chris Nalwasky • TheKnightReport

Beat Writer

Former Rutgers golfer and Big Ten Player of the Year, Chris Gotterup, qualified for the PGA Tour's U.S. Open on Monday in Purchase, N.Y.

Gotterup shot a 3-under-par 67 at Century Country Club, and then carded an even-par 70 later in the day at Old Oaks Country Club. His total 36-hole 3-under-par 137 gave him a tie for first place and he secured a spot in next week's U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, MA.

The tournament runs June 16-19.

He is the first Scarlet Knight to qualify for the U.S. Open since Frank Esposito in 1992 at Pebble Beach.

"You grow up and watch that on TV, and I would say it's the one I want to win the most," Gotterup told Jimmy Roberts of Golf Channel. "It's the United States Open. It's brutal, it's tough, and it's kind of like how northeast golf is. I'm excited to get up there for sure.

"You see the video of Tiger Woods at Torrey Pines on 18 make that put and whole place goes insane. That's the first thing that comes to mind."

Chris Gotterup while at Rutgers (Ben Solomon/Rutgers Athletics)

After spending four years at Rutgers, Gotterup spend a fifth as a redshirt senior at Oklahoma where he won the Jack Nicklaus Award as the Division-I Collegiate Player of the Year. The Jack Nicklaus Award, which was created in 1988, recognizes the top men’s players in Division I, II, III, NAIA and NJCAA in conjunction with the Golf Coaches Association of America.

Gotterup was also named a Ping First Team All-American in 2021-22 after notching 10 top-10 finishes. The Little Silver, N.J. native finished tied for fifth place at the NCAA Championships

Gotterup won the East Lake Cup and the Puerto Rico Classic, while finishing runner-up at the Big 12 Championship and one stroke back at NCAAs.

The win at the Puerto Rico Classic qualified him for the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open where he took seventh.

Gotterup who just turned pro, will compete in the RBC Canadian Open on the PGA Tour this weekend, June 9-12, at St. George's Golf Course as a sponsor exemption.

"In about 30 minutes I'm going to drive t LaGuardia (Airport) and I'll be in Canada (Monday night)," Gotterup said in his interview with GC. "Hopefully I'll get a good start to my professional career. It's going to be a fun June. I have some nice stuff lined up, and to qualify for the U.S. Open is icing on the cake."

After the U.S. Open, he is slated to partake in the Travelers Championships and the John Deere Classic as well.

Gotterup, who went to Christian Brothers Academy and guided the Colts to a NJSIAA Tournament of Champions title in 2017, was the 2019 Player of the Year by both the New Jersey Golf Association and the Metropolitan Golf Association. Gotterup won the New Jersey Open and the MGA Amateur that year as well.

At Rutgers, Gotterup was a First Team All-Big Ten performer in 2020 and won the Les Bolstad Award in 2019-20 as he had the lowest conference stroke average). Gotterup owns program records in par 3 scoring, par 4 scoring, par 5 scoring, and number of par or better rounds.

“The toughest part wasn’t picking Oklahoma. The toughest part was leaving Rutgers,” Gotterup recently told Golfweek. “Because I built myself there, I changed who I was and changed my game there. And with the COVID year we were given I felt it was the best decision for me to try something else. I did my four years at Rutgers and I loved it, but the opportunity was there and I felt like I had to take it.”