Chris Gotterup has been on fire at the start of the 2026 PGA Tour season, with two wins and a T-18 in his first three events of the year.
Meanwhile, Scottie Scheffler has a win and a T-3 in the two PGA Tour events he has played, and is currently sitting second behind Gotterup in the FedEx Cup standings.
Gotterup admitted he was well aware of Scheffler’s presence on the leaderboard on Sunday at the WM Phoenix Open.
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It would have been impossible to ignore it, given what the 29-year-old has done over the past four years.
Scheffler has won 20 PGA Tour events since February 2022, including four major championships.
It’s fair to say that Scheffler wasn’t anywhere near his best at the Phoenix Open, but he still finished inside the top-3.
That level of golf will be seriously hard to compete with.
Johnson Wagner makes Chris Gotterup prediction after Phoenix Open win
Former PGA Tour player turned golf analyst, Johnson Wagner, is a huge fan of Gotterup.
Gotterup is now ranked as the fifth best golfer in the world. This time last year he was languishing outside the top 200!
When speaking on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio, Wagner was asked whether Gotterup can be the main man to challenge Scheffler this season.
“It seems like he’s gonna be,“ Wagner admitted.
“I mean, he’s starting to be one of the most consistent guys in professional golf.
“And it’s fun to see him do it with his swing, too, because I would not call it the most technically sound swing.
“He’s a feel player. It seems like there’s a lot of timing involved with his swing, but he absolutely pounds it.
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Gotterup began his 2026 in fine style with a win at the Sony Open…
“He can flight it in so many different ways, he hits that bullet cut when he needs to get it in play.
“Chris Gotterup man, he’s just a gamer. He’s a gamer, and I mean, we talked after he won Sony, like Dustin Johnson won every year for multiple years.
“Like, Gotterup’s won now on the PGA Tour four times, in just a little over two seasons.
“This is his third season on the PGA Tour. I wish he had been on the Ryder Cup team last year. He brings this sort of ‘it’ factor in grind and just desire to compete that is incredible.“
Chris Gotterup’s 2026 PGA Tour stats
Gotterup’s game is so well-rounded.
He absolutely bombs it off the tee, is a very strong iron player, and when he’s hot with the putter, he is hard to beat.
Here are his stats on the PGA Tour in 2026:
| Stats | Gotterup’s 2026 rank |
| Strokes gained off the tee | 2nd |
| Strokes gained approach | 21st |
| Strokes gained around the greens | 14th |
| Strokes gained putting | 64th |
| Strokes gained total | 2nd |
It’s clear to see from those numbers that he is strong in every department, although his putting can be streaky.
If he tightens up his putting stroke, Gotterup could well challenge Scheffler in the biggest events over the next few years.
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