PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Chris Gotterup gave himself one hell of a 26th birthday present Sunday: a third-place finish in the British Open.
It’s actually been a hell of a birthday week.
A week ago Sunday, Gotterup changed his life with a win at the Scottish Open, the biggest victory of his career and a win that qualified him for Portrush this week, his first career Open appearance.
He outdueled fan favorite Rory McIlroy in the final grouping of the Scottish, which put added significance on the win.
The native of Little Silver, N.J., who played his college golf at Rutgers and Oklahoma, was handed a red velvet birthday cake as he did a post-round interview with Sky Sports.
He talked all week about how this week was “house money” and “free golf” for him since he wasn’t supposed to be here in the first place.
Gotterup turned that house money into pure gold with his performance, finishing 12-under par for the week, five shots behind winner and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and one shot behind runner-up Harris English.
His world ranking, which was 49th entering the week, climbed to No. 27, which puts him in position to play the FedEx Cup playoffs and to have a chance to get to the Tour Championship and — wait for this — insert himself into the conversation as a possible U.S. Ryder Cup team member.
When he was finished with post-round interviews, Gotterup crossed a large footbridge to get to the players clubhouse to meet up with his parents and found fans still in the grandstand yelling out his name and congratulating him.
A young fan below the bridge asked him for his hat, and he tossed it to him.
Before Gotterup came to Europe to play the Scottish, none of these people even knew who he was.
“At some point, I would have hoped to be in a position like this, but I don’t know if I would have expected it to come this soon,” Gotterup told The Post. “It’s really just been a whirlwind two weeks. I feel like my belief levels are improved. I’ve been surprised with how comfortable I’ve been in these scenarios, and that’s a nice feeling to know that I can step up to the plate and deliver when needed.”
English, Sunday’s runner-up and a PGA Tour veteran with multiple wins, was paired with Gotterup on Sunday for the first time and said he was “awesome.”
“What he did last week was awesome to see, going toe-to-toe with Rory at the Scottish Open, and I think this is his first time playing links golf,” English said. “It’s his first Open Championship. His ball flight suits this place. He can flight it, and he can smash it.
“I’ve played in nine or 10 of these, and my best finish was 14th. So for him in his first one, [to] finish third is pretty incredible. He’s got a heck of a game, and I know the best is in front of him.”
Gotterup’s caddie, Brady Stockton, talked about how “this has all happened really fast” and how impressed he is with the way Gotterup has handled it all.
“I feel like he’s just in a really good place mentally, and I know he’s put in a lot of hard work with that, and it’s paying off,” Stockton told The Post. “I had been saying to a bunch of people going into last week that if we can just get a top 10, I feel like he’ll be off and running. He just kind of had to crack through and get a little better result. He kept saying to me, ‘I’m playing well, and I feel like I should be getting better results.’
“It was just patience. So when last week came, he was ready when the opportunity presented itself.”
