Get your scoring done on the front nine and weather the back nine.
That’s been the mantra this week in the 108th PGA Championship at an extremely challenging Aronimink.
Chris Gotterup, the 10th-ranked player in the world, played the back nine first on Friday in Round 2. Not only did he weather the storm but he posted a 2-under 33. Then, he ate up the front nine.
Gotterup quickly erased his lone bogey of the day on No. 2 with a birdie at No. 3 then birdied each of his last three holes – all on putt inside 7 feet – to shoot a tournament-best 5-under 65 for a share of the clubhouse lead at 3 under. Not a bad position heading into the weekend for a man playing in just his sixth major championship.
“I felt like I grinded it out nice today,” Gotterup said. “Finished it off strong at the end with a couple birdies in a row. But, yeah, even though I played pretty well today I don't think it felt easy at any point out there. Happy with the round, obviously, and, yeah, hopefully two more good days.”
Early in the week, many felt scores would be low at Aronimink. Until Gotterup’s 65, that hasn’t been the case.
He explained that score predictions can be deceiving at majors based on how the courses look in practice rounds and hasn’t been surprised to see Aronimink showing its teeth.
“When it wasn't windy, I mean, you're playing the practice rounds and every pin's in the middle of the green, so it looks easy and feels easier than it always is,” he said. “But, yeah, I was watching the coverage yesterday, and they were like, I can't believe the scores are this high. And then you see guys pulling 5-woods on par 3s and it's like, yeah, I mean, like, no one's going to be -- there's going to be a birdie maybe for the day on a hole where you're hitting 5-wood into a par-3. So, yeah, I don't think it's easy by any stretch of the imagination, but obviously whoever wins is going to have played the best. So that's all you can ask for in a tournament.”
Gotterup has shot the outright lowest round of the day three times in his PGA Tour career: 2025 Corales Puntacana Championship (67, R4), 2025 Genesis Scottish (61, R2) and the 2026 WM Phoenix Open (63, R1). He ended up winning the last two.
Gotterup’s best finish in a major came last summer when he finished third in the Open Championship. The four-time PGA Tour winner admitted the high finish at Royal Portrush has him feeling good heading into the weekend.
“I feel like, if I'm playing well, I can compete anywhere,” he said. “That's no different here. But I think it's just hard to say what it did for me other than build confidence. I felt like I played some of my best golf maybe ever as a pro that week, and I came in third. So like it's just one of those things where you just got to keep -- I feel like you got to keep putting yourself in position, and you hope that one day it breaks through and it was your time. But as long as you can keep putting yourself there, I think that's all you can do.”
