North Berwick, Scotland – The most difficult task for Chris Gotterup was to wake up on Friday. As he proceeded, he tied the track record at a 9-under 61, and really didn’t stop until he got caught up in a two-shot lead over the weekend at the Scotland Open.
The Gotter Up rolled on three long putts, and was longer than ever from the tee, immersed in the spectacular morning day and very little winds at the Renaissance Club.
Harry Hall (64) was two shots behind, with refreshed Rudig Åberg (65) leading the group with three shots.
Aberg is off the rest he needed – a trip back to Sweden after a year, a chance to meet friends and refresh himself by eating his mother’s special sausage.
He overcame a bogey bogey start with eight birdies on the next 15 holes. So he became the only player out of the top five he played in the afternoon. At that time, the wind was blown away along the Force, and the course was resilient enough to irritate Scotty Schaeffler and many others.
Schaeffler, the world’s number one player, had a three-putt pair. At one point, after seeing the pad folded, he raised his thumb and extended his arms in a mock celebration. It wasn’t that bad. He still shot 68 and was behind six shots.
Gotterup, the Rutgers star who finished his final season in Oklahoma, was 11 under 129.
Rory McIlroy had five birdies in the back nine (he started in 10th), then turned it into 65 and joined the group at 7 under 133.
Schauffele has a much lower score like 66 and rarely gets frustrated with anything. This was different. The weather was as ideal as you would get in these parts, but it was just a bit of wind, not a very blue sky or a bright sun.
“It was there for filming,” Schaufele said.
That’s exactly what Gotterup did. He was still a bit of a jet lag and was struggling to deal with the 5:15am alarm when he was sleeping. He closed it for a few more birdies. He made 30 footers in the tough seventh hole. And he closed the front nine at 29 after making a birdie from 20 feet.
Three more birdies put him 9 under on the next five holes. Two more birdies – one hole was a par 5 – allowed him to break the 60.
“It didn’t cross my brain at all,” Gotterup said. “I thought 10 (under) was cool. I think it’s the worst round in tournament golf. I have no complaints.”
Gotterup is leading the way in which he can grab one of the three spots available for open championships, along with leading the tournament. It’s nice to stay with an extra week – he will play the last two weeks, with a flight to California scheduled for Monday, and will play a PGA Tour event at Lake Tahoe, but that’s not why he came.
He loves coming to Scotland for a week, like last year (and missed the cut). Plus, he happened to look at the predictions and it was ideal all week. It was already sold out on Saturday and tickets on Sunday are getting faster, so fans have also picked it up.
“Perhaps there aren’t that many places,” Gotterup said.
He won the Myrtle Beach Classic, an opposing field event last year. He plays looking like a pure athlete. It spent 12 years playing lacrosse as a child in New Jersey and then decided to spend more time on golf.
“Lacrosse helps me speed. It’s a similar move,” he said. “When you’re filming lacrosse, I try to rip it as hard as I can. When I grew up, I hit the ball as hard as I could, and that’s just how I grew up playing.
He doesn’t know about the rough and tumble Scottish games of Sinty, a favorite sport of defending champion Robert McIntyre. The look of Gotterup makes him fit in quickly.
MacIntyre was pleased to reach the weekend. The wind blows wildly in the afternoon, and the sun burns greenery and makes it resilient, making it difficult to find a good score. The cut settled at 1 under 139. McIntyre made a birdie for his later years, and Justin Thomas made a six-foot birdie on the 18th hole, which turned into numbers.