Who Is Chris Gotterup? Personal Life, Career, & Other Details About the Golfer Explored

The golf world’s headlines have lately been brimming with one name: Chris Gotterup. Since turning pro two years ago, the New Jersey resident has been making waves on the Korn Ferry Tour and now on the PGA Tour too!

Gotterup has always been a sports enthusiast, rooting for the New York Knicks in the NBA or the New Jersey Devils in the NHL. Moreover, having devoted 12 years of his life to another sport altogether, the 24-year-old had no idea he would turn to golf as a passion. But well, the apple does not fall far from the tree. With a veteran golf player in the family, what else could have been his calling?

Golf runs thick in the Gotterup blood

Christopher Gotterup ak.a. Chris followed in his father’s footsteps when it came to golf. His dad, Morten Gotterup, is a senior amateur golfer from New Jersey and even has four New Jersey State Golf Association victories to his name. The 2012 New Jersey Pre-Senior Championship, the 2020 New Jersey Four-Ball Championship, and the 2022 New Jersey Senior Amateur Championship. His most recent win was perhaps his greatest, as he defended his NJSAC title in 2023 and hoisted the C.H. Smith trophy for the second time.

Before turning to golf, Gotterup was an avid lacrosse player and had played the sport for 12 years. And even though he changed paths and settled for a club instead of a stick, his younger sister, Anna Gotterup, didn’t. Another athlete in the family, Anna, attends the United States Naval Academy and competes on their women’s lacrosse team. The spring of 2023 was her rookie season with the Midshipmen.

Chris Gotterup, on the other hand, attended Rutgers and played four years of college golf there. In 2021, he transferred to Oklahoma University to play yet another year of collegiate golf. His amateur career was more than successful. He won the East Lake Cup and the Puerto Rico Classic, and was a runner-up at the Big 12 Championship, finishing in fifth place at the NCAA Championship, one shot shy of a four-man playoff. Gotterup even amassed a number of accolades to his name, including the Haskin Award and the Jack Nicklaus Award in the same year (2022).

After becoming the top player in college in 2022, the golfer turned pro. He even competed at the John Deere Classic shortly after, securing a T4 finish. Interestingly, as an amateur too, Gotterup has a top-10 on the PGA Tour, having finished T7 at the Puerto Rico Open. Sadly, those were perhaps the best of his highlights in the past two years. In total, the golf pro has competed in 26 PGA Tour events and missed the cut in 10 of them. The two above-mentioned events to date stand to be his two best finishes on the Tour.

On the Korn Ferry Tour, however, the 24-year-old has had better luck. Having played there in both 2022 and 2023, he has competed in a total of 28 events and even grabbed three top-5 finishes in them. Notably, he’s missed only six cuts.

Chris Gotterup is undoubtedly looking for his next “insane” moment in golf

Golf is undoubtedly Gotterup’s biggest passion. Even his Instagram page is flooded with posts, mainly about the sport. However, apart from that, he also enjoys listening to music and spending time with his family, as is evident by the many ‘family trip’ photos on his profile.

Gotterup has no doubt already had many highlights in the golf world, be it his stunning top-5 finish on the Tour as an amateur or riding in a cart with Donald Trump—an experience he dubbed “insane”! And no doubt, there are many more to come. Will the next be at the Myrtle Beach Classic, where he currently holds a four-stroke lead over Erik van Rooyen, Robert MacIntyre, and Jorge Campillo? He certainly hopes so.

“I practiced all those days at home for a day like tomorrow. It’s going to be hard. There’s a lot of good guys behind me. I’m going to have to bring it,” he said after the third round on Saturday. Whether he will be able to “bring it,” though, remains to be seen!