Everything about Chris Gotterup is a sign of the times in pro golf

It would be easy to walk away from the first PGA Tour event of the year, or pay it just an ounce of attention. A tough, young pro wins in Hawaii against a sunny backdrop and a ho-hum PGA Tour field. How much for it?

A lot, if you look a little closer.

Gotterup, at 26, represents much of what the golf pro has become and has worked for in recent years. He figures to be a big part of her future as well, and will benefit greatly from it.

First, he turned pro in 2022 and received the maximum amount of exemption starts from sponsors, as many promising young stars do. That’s how LIV Golf launched, and how the PGA Tour realized it needed to create more paths for players like him. Some of his collegiate opponents made the leap to LIV. Gotterup chose the traditional route, with his collegiate performance earning him membership on the Korn Ferry Tour through the Tour’s PGA Tour University rankings.

But once he graduated from KFT, Gotterup found a crowded scene. The tournament had established Signature Events with limited fields, controversially pushing some veteran professionals out of tournaments they are used to playing and relegated to the second tier of tour stops. Many graduates of the Korn Ferry Tour (and DP World Tour) simply could not enter the tour even if they had a badge on their wallets that said “PGA Tour Member”.

However, they were asked to fly to Hawaii during the week of the 2024 Sony Open sit through the PGA Tour orientation. Gotterup was “one of those guys,” as he said Sunday night, stuck in a conference room for eight hours, unable to hit a competitive golf shot during that week in Hawaii two years ago — a very 2024 problem that the Tour has solved by limiting memberships ever since.

Beginners get all the starts they can get, so Gotterup played every single tournament event he was allowed to play. The 13th in a row was a reverse course event (played at the same time as a Rory McIlroy win), the 2024 Myrtle Beach Classic, which Gotterup won by six. Were they all paying attention? Maybe not. But that’s life at the beginning. Not many were paying attention this week when he won the Sony Open to kick off the 2026 season, a perfect end to a strange three years with that tournament.

2024 Sony: Not in the field, but in town for orientation.

2025 Sony: Lost cut.

2026 Sony: Victory, calm as ever.

He becomes the latest player to win three tournaments in 70 starts or fewer, joining Tom Kim, Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele.

Gotterup’s post-round press time offered some additional reminders of why he seems to be a player born of this specific PGA Tour era (to say nothing of the fact that he hits it the most). First, he not too gracefully mentioned how the Tour pension plan was at the forefront of his mind after his third win. If you can lock yourself into a number of PGA Tour seasons, the retirement plan is as good as they come. Then, he mentioned how seriously he took his stat deficiencies from 2025 — 100-150 yards and punts from 9-20 feet — and spent the offseason grinding them out. This week he felt like he had just recreated all that work.

Finally, Gotterup was asked about the future of the Sony Open, since the tournament is at stake to be dropped from the tour schedule starting next year. He is well aware that the tournament he plays in 2027 will look different to the one in 2026 – and perhaps drastically so – but he knows it’s not worth messing with specifics he can’t control. He balked at a statement and ultimately downplayed it, saying, “I’m just spewing bullshit.”

What he can control is how straight he can hit a golf ball, and the people who do that best will be infinitely richer by this tournament, no matter what his schedule looks like. He is now ranked 17th in the world and is already fielding questions about the upcoming Presidents Cup. “I hope (Brandt Snedeker) was watching,” Gotterup said.

Sneds certainly was, even if most of the country may have had their TVs dialed in to the NFL playoffs. They’ll have time to come and catch him at Signature Events now that he’s qualified for every meaningful tournament the rest of the year. They’ll also have time to catch him at TGL, the Tour’s midweek simulator league, where he’s filled in for a twice-already-injured Justin Thomas — his 1-iron getting a lot of love online as he slides under a hanging virtual rock.

Because of what he’s been up to lately, PGA Tour fans don’t have much of a choice. They’ll be getting a lot of Chris Gotterup in the months (and likely years) to come. Tournament directors would say that’s exactly the point.

The author welcomes your comments at sean.zak@golf.com.