What a difference a year makes.

Chris Gotterup (Bridgestone TOUR B X) started the PGA Tour season this year with one career victory, last year’s Scottish Open.

He returns to the Scottish Open with three wins this year, including last week’s John Deere Classic, following up on wins in the Sony Open in Hawaii and the WM Phoenix Open.

The fact he even played in the John Deere Classic speaks volumes about his gratitude to the tournament sponsor, which gave him a sponsor exemption four years ago at his request. He was a rookie on the PGA Tour and to that point he had played in only four tournaments, making the cut in three of them, including a T7 at the start of the season in the Puerto Rico Open. He was a T43 and a T35 in the others in which he made it to weekend play.

He placed a respectable T4 in the John Deere Classic in his debut. He missed the cut the next year and placed T21 last year, then went out and won the Scottish Open. He went on to finish third in the Open and recorded a T10 to finish off the season in the 3M Open.

Who could have predicted this would be a breakout season for the 26-year-old native of Maryland who graduated from Oklahoma?

Because of the sponsor exemption four years ago, Gotterup felt indebted to the tournament and that’s the reason he played in it.

Under the proposed PGA Tour rule changes for 2028, there will be no sponsor exemptions, so he benefitted from it.

Gotterup played in the Travelers Championship the week before the John Deere, posting a T30, after playing in the U.S. Open the week before that in which he recorded a T43.

Many of the tour’s top players skipped the John Deere Classic to rest up for the Scottish Open and The Open the following week.

So, there was Gotterup, with his brother Patrick on the bag, firing a nine-under par in the final round on route to the win. He began the day five shots off of the lead.

Matt Fitzpatrick (Titleist Pro V1x) is the only other PGA Tour player to record three wins this year, but one was with his brother Alex (Titleist Pro V1x) in the Zurich Classic team event.

Gotterup is clearly in contention for player of the year honors. Without a win in three of the four majors this year, he will likely not win. But The Open is still to be played along with several other events, including the year-end Tour Championship.

Don’t count out Gotterup just yet.

It’s hard not to like Gotterup, who carries himself very professionally and is exciting to watch because he is so strong off of the tee. He also is reminiscent of old-time golfers because he carries some extra pounds. He doesn’t look like he spends a lot of time in the gym, similar to many of his competitors who are slaves to workouts, but the way he’s playing there’s no reason to change.

DEVASTATING LOSS FOR KHOLES: Ben Kholes, (Titleist Pro V1x), searching for his first PGA win in 120 career starts, looked to be in good position to potentially break the winless streak heading into the final hole tied with Gotterup at 20-under par.

But he sprayed his second shot into the water and ended up recording a double bogey and tying for third.

That’s the nature of professional sports and golf, in particular. It’s not how well you start but how you finish, right up to the end.

THIS AND THAT: Nice to see Max Homa (Titleist Pro V1) finish with his best result in three years, placing second. Homa is one of those nice guys you want to see do well…How about Zach Johnson (Titleist Pro V1x) placing T9? He turned 50 this year is eligible for the Champions Tour…I picked Gotterup and Blades Brown (Callaway Chrome Tour X) as my two choices in the PG Golf pool and finished on top by a slight margin. I wasn’t the only one who tabbed Gotterup. It was the first time this season I finished on top in the PG Golf pool. Unfortunately for me, I am so far behind that I am nowhere close to the top.