It is hard to imagine that anyone had mentioned Chris Gotterup in the same sentence as the Ryder Cup before the 26-year-old hit his opening tee shot at the Genesis Scottish Open last month.
Chris Gotterup headed to the Genesis Scottish Open in 88th place in the FedEx Cup standings. He had already missed nine cuts earlier in the year. It appeared that he faced an uphill battle just to qualify for the playoffs.
However, everything changed across the pond. Gotterup won in Scotland and followed that by finishing third at The Open Championship.
With that, many are starting to see Gotterup as a potential Ryder Cup player at Bethpage in September.
Chris Gotterup suggests how he will react if he misses out on making the Ryder Cup team
Gotterup is currently 20th in the Ryder Cup qualification standings. But momentum is so important when it comes to those final couple of names who will make the team. And few have more momentum right now than Gotterup.
It would be a surprise if Keegan Bradley had been doing his research on the youngster throughout the entire year, which may count against him.
And it seems that Gotterup is fairly relaxed about his chances of making his Ryder Cup debut next month. Speaking on the Fore Play Podcast, Gotterup spoke about whether he has had much contact with Bradley, as well as how he would feel if he did not get picked.
“We have texted but nothing really further than that. I don’t have too much exciting news other than I have to go and play well this next couple of weeks,” he said.
“For me right now my focus is on East Lake. I have got to go and have a good couple of weeks here and earn my place there. It’s kind of like you take care of one thing and it might take care of the other, but I am well aware this is going to be a very hard team to make and my position, I have obviously been playing well right now and obviously it helps to play well at the right time,” he added.
“So if I made it it would be the coolest thing ever, but if I didn’t I have still had a pretty cool year. I am playing with house money at the moment. I shouldn’t say I don’t care, but I won’t be distraught if it doesn’t happen.
“Three weeks ago I was just trying to make the playoffs.”
Chris Gotterup in uncharted territory ahead of the FedEx Cup playoffs
Gotterup is definitely going to be in the spotlight over the next three weeks. This year marks the first time that he has featured in the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Given that he currently sits 22nd in the standings, he stands a fantastic chance of holding onto a spot in the top 30 and making it to the Tour Championship. It is going to take some very impressive performances from those lower down the standings in the next week or so to deny Gotterup his ticket to Atlanta.
If he plays throughout the playoffs like he did while over in the British Isles, the case for Gotterup will surely become too loud for Bradley to ignore.
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