Soaring Chris Gotterup out to defend Scottish Open crown

Chris Gotterup had one PGA Tour win in an alternate-field event on his otherwise anonymous pro resume when he landed in Scotland last year.

After a second-round 61 pushed him into contention, he held off Rory McIlroy to win one of Europe's premier events and qualify for the Open Championship -- where he went on to place third in his debut.

Now back on the British Isles following his fifth career victory a week ago, Gotterup and a sea of the world's best players will take on links golf at The Renaissance Club when the Genesis Scottish Open tees off Thursday in North Berwick.

"The first two rounds you kind of play, they weren't exactly the marquee group and all of a sudden get kind of thrown into the fire in the last round," Gotterup recalled. "Yeah, it was a big day for me and kind of like the second step, it felt like, of my career on tour. Yeah, nothing but good memories coming back and it was nice to get back and feel like I know this place a little bit and not feel like I had no idea what was going on."

Gotterup, 26, rose to No. 7 in the world rankings after prevailing at the John Deere Classic on Sunday. He has more than earned his place in marquee groups now: He'll tee off with McIlroy and Robert MacIntyre on the first two days, a trio of the past three Scottish Open champions.

A longtime proponent of playing national opens, McIlroy expressed the importance of the Scottish on the golf calendar.

"This, to me, is the blueprint of what it can be and what can happen ... It's a perfect lead-in to the Open Championship," the Northern Irishman said. "You know, I've thought could the Canadian Open become co-sanctioned, as well, leading into the U.S. Open as well? That could be interesting, as well, trying to build out this series of national opens that have a bit more meaning behind them."

The Scottish fields have certainly become stronger since the DP World Tour and PGA Tour decided to co-sanction the event in 2022. Though a few players like Cameron Young and Englishman Justin Rose are skipping it to focus on next week's Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, the rest of world's top 10 and a host of PGA Tour and European veterans will get reps in on the par-70, 7,282-yard links course.

"Overall helps me get used to a different style of golf, and this is a links golf style of golf, and get used to the turf and conditions," said World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. "It always helps for me to get over here and play some competitive golf and get used to the time zone, especially."

The subplot for the week is the presence of seven LIV Golf members who are eligible to play via their standing on the DP World Tour. Chief among them are Spanish star Jon Rahm and Englishman Tyrrell Hatton, both of whom are warming up for the Open amid a long break in the LIV schedule as the league figures out its future funding.

"Although I love Valderrama (host of LIV Golf Andalucia), it's a fantastic week, this one gets you much more prepared for the Open and that's why so many players have come and played the Scottish Open before it was a co-sanctioned event," Rahm said Tuesday. "It's great to play a links golf event before a links golf event, and playing in the weather and the fescue grass (is) different than what we are playing year-round."

The home-crowd favorite will again be MacIntyre, who in 2024 became the first Scot to win his national open since Colin Montgomerie in 1999.

"Memories I've had from growing up to winning in '24, I mean, I don't know if anything is ever going to top that in my golfing career," MacIntyre said. "... This one, the Scottish Open, I'm always going to come back here as much as I can."

--Field Level Media