What’s next for Haskins winner Chris Gotterup? Time to see what he’s made of on the PGA Tour

3 June، 2022

23 1 minute read

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It’s been a stretch of golf unlike anything ever produced by a Jersey Shore player.

And it looks like just the start for Little Silver’s Chris Gotterup.

On Tuesday, Gotterup, who played his final season at Oklahoma after a standout career at Rutgers, was named the recipient of the Haskins Award, given annually to the top college golfer in the country.

“I definitely thought I could come in and play well. But I don’t think I expected to end up being No. 1,” he said.

Gotterup, ranked as the nation’s top player by Golfweek, won the East Lake Cup and the Puerto Rico Classic, while finishing runner-up at the Big 12 Championship and one stroke back at the NCAA Championships.

And that victory at the Puerto Rico Classic earned him a spot in the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open, where he finished tied for seventh.

Heading to the PGA Tour

Speaking of the PGA Tour, Gotterup will turn pro this week and has sponsor’s exemptions into three events over the next month, including next week’s RBC Canadian. And he’ll be looking to secure a spot two weeks from now at the U.S. Open at Monday’s sectional qualifier in Purchase, New York.

And by finishing seventh in the PGA Tour University rankings, he has an exemption on a PGA Tour international tour waiting for him.

Clearly, the decision to transfer to Oklahoma was a life-changing decision for Gotterup, the 2019 Big Ten Player of the Year.

“The toughest part wasn’t picking Oklahoma. The toughest part was leaving Rutgers,” he said. “Because I built myself there, I changed who I was and changed my game there. And with the COVID year we were given I felt it was the best decision for me to try something else. I did my four years at Rutgers and I loved it, but the opportunity was there and I felt like I had to take it.”

To say he took advantage of that opportunity would be an understatement.