When Chris Gotterup won the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open by two shots over Rory McIlroy, the headline on PGATour.com read: "Chris Gotterup unexpectedly beats Rory McIlroy." But nearly one year later, when he erased a five-shot deficit in the final round to win the John Deere Classic, it wasn't unexpected.

It was simply his third PGA Tour title of the season, tying him with only Matt Fitzpatrick for the most titles this season. And after the win, Gotterup described the whole journey as a continuous "work-in-progress."

"I think it's always a work in progress," Gotterup told PGA Tour reporters after the win. "We're all crazy, golfers. The bads feel really bad even though they're not that bad, and the goods feel like you're unbeatable. Today I obviously had a really good day."

The 5x PGA Tour winner, who had already won the Sony Open and the WM Phoenix Open before adding the John Deere Classic, shared his perspective in the same interview shared by TenGolf.

"This whole year has been really good. If you look at it in a big picture, but I obviously got off to a great start and was grinding it out in the middle of the year, but that's not unexpected. Yeah, obviously, hopefully this kick-starts some other great stuff," Gotterup said.

After winning the Phoenix Open, Gotterup missed the cut at The Genesis Invitational. Then he finished T56 at THE PLAYERS Championship and only had two top-10 finishes in 13 starts since his last win. A T6 finish at the Texas Children's Houston Open was his best result in this grind.

But he once again found his form just before the Genesis Scottish Open, where he will play next week to defend his title.

"Yeah, I'd be lying if I said this year wasn't a massive success," Gotterup said. "Hopefully I still have some tournaments left, and hopefully keep it going and running into the end of the year."

How Gotterup won from five shots back

Gotterup started Sunday's final round five shots behind co-leaders, Lucas Glover and Lee Hodges. He teed off in a group with Zach Johnson and Ben Griffin, not even in the final pairing.

That changed fast. He birdied four of his first five holes and added one more birdie on the front nine. By the turn, he was completely back in the tournament. He kept the round bogey-free, picked up back-to-back birdies at 13 and 14 to move within a shot of the lead. He then birdied the par-5 17th to take a share of the lead.

He finished the round 9-under-par to end up with a 20-under total.

The player with the best chance to beat him was Ben Kohles. Kohles birdied the 16th to tie Gotterup at 20 under, then missed a 15-foot birdie try at the par-5 17th. On the 18th hole, he needed only a par to force a playoff.

But his ball found water, and he ended up with a double bogey to finish in a three-way tie for third.

Max Homa did everything he could to spoil the party. He caught fire on the back nine, carded four consecutive birdies, and closed with a 64 to finish alone in second at 19-under. It was his best PGA Tour finish in more than three years.

Glover and Hodges both shot 69 and finished tied for third with Kohles.

Read more at Club Golf!

Written by

Md Saife Fida

Edited by

Shubhi Rathore