New Jersey’s Chris Gotterup is more than a British Open dark horse

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Lee Westwood is, as a former world No. 1 and a player who’s finished in the top five of 12 major championships, a pretty good judge of talent.

And after playing the past two days alongside Chris Gotterup, the pride of the Jersey Shore as a native of Little Silver, N.J., Westwood came away “really impressed.’’

“I’d say over the last couple of weeks with the [Open] qualifying and then the practice rounds and then playing with Chris today, I’ve seen some really good young talent in the qualifying,’’ Westwood said. “There’s so many good young players about now, but they’ve come through the qualifying.

“Obviously, Chris is a different kettle of fish,’’ Westwood went on. “He’s got very impressive game. The way he penetrates the ball and plays off this links turf, it’s ideal for links play. He can keep it down, drill it out there with a driver, looks to have a good short game, nice putter.