SCOTTSDALE – The 2026 WM Phoenix Open was up in the air as it came down to the closing stages between a handful of golfers, with Hideki Matsuyama leading the field. Chris Gotterup was further down the list of golfers. At one point on the back nine, he sat four strokes off the lead.
Gotterup made a late charge.
The current FedEx Cup standings leader shot 5-under over the last six holes to finish 16-under, tying Matsuyama and forcing a playoff where he defeated Matsuyama on the first sudden-death playoff hole by making a 27-foot birdie putt on the 18th green.
“(I was) just trying to make sure I didn’t bomb it by the hole and get it down there and put some pressure on Hideki,” Gotterup said. “For it to find the hole like that is really awesome.”
The key hole for Gotterup in regulation was the 18th, where he drove his ball into the right rough. He hit his approach shot to a close 2-foot, 10-inch putt, which he made with ease.
On the other hand, Matsuyama struggled to close the tournament despite, at one point, having better than a 94% chance to win. He parred the drivable par four 17th, but disaster struck on the 18th.
Matsuyama drove his tee shot into the church pew bunker, a tough place from which to hit. He then hit the lip of the bunker and missed the green, and failed to get up and down for par.
“(I) didn’t have my best stuff, but hung in there,” Matsuyama said through translation. “I wanted to avoid the playoff as much as I could, but I just hit a bad tee shot there in regulation at 18.”
In the playoff, Matsuyama hit his tee shot into the left water. The two-time WM Phoenix Open winner hit his third shot on the green, but it didn’t matter as Gotterup made his third. Matsuyama struggled with driving all day, finding only three of 14 fairways.
Gotterup finished the fourth round a while before Matsuyama, so he stayed loose by hitting balls on the first hole. While there, he watched Matsuyama’s finish.
Gotterup’s best days came on the bookends of the tournament, with an 8-under 63 on Thursday and a 7-under 64 on Sunday. In the middle rounds, he only mustered an even-par 71 and a 1-under 70 on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Gotterup survived a late charge from Michael Thorbjornsen, who eagled the 15th hole. That gave him a one-stroke lead over Matsuyama at 17-under. Thorbjornsen bogeyed the next two holes, missing the green on the par-three 16th and driving his ball into the water on the 17th, faltering to a tie for third, one shot off the playoff.
“You put yourself in those positions more and more, you get more comfortable,” Thorbjornsen said. “I don’t think I failed out there. I’m just learning.”
Thorbjornsen has yet to win on the PGA Tour, but the American could break through to get his first victory with performances like this.
The world’s No. 1 ranked golfer, Scottie Scheffler, made a run as well. He started the day five shots back and posted a 7-under 64; good enough for a tie for third. His opening round of 73, 2-over, hurt his chances.
“I put myself in a tough position after the first round, but three really solid days,” Scheffler said. “Today was another really good round.”
Akshay Bhatia, Si Woo Kim and Nicolai Højgaard all finished tied for third as well. Like Scheffler, Kim had a Thursday round of 73. Højgaard’s triple bogey on the second derailed him, as he took a trip to the desert that required a penalty drop.
This is Gotterup’s fourth win in his career. He has won two of the three tournaments he has entered this year.
“I’m just really enjoying being out here right now, and I’m having fun,” Gotterup said. “I feel confident in what I’m doing and feel like I have played well enough to feel confident to be able to be in those positions.”
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