From the eighth-to-last twosome, non-member and World No. 671 Christopher Gotterup birdied his final three holes toward a bogey-free 5-under 34-32=66 in R4 of the John Deere Classic to wrap on 17-under 267, up six spots to a career-best T4.
The 22-year-old, who arrived off a T35 at last week’s Travelers on a sponsor invite, was making his tourney debut this week, also on a sponsor invite. This was his fifth career TOUR event, fourth as a pro, bettering a T7 at the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open in March in his only TOUR start as an amateur. That’s two top 10s in five events, and this one gains him an exemption into next week’s Barbasol, but according to his post-tourney comments (link below), he’s taking a pass (for now): “Yeah, going home. I need to take a day or two to just get my feet under me and see my family, dogs, and just get back to normal life for a bit.” The New Jersey resident, who recorded rounds of 65-67-69-66, the 65 his best so far, totaled two eagles and 21 birdies against eight bogeys, and ranked 2nd SG: Tee-to-Green (13.164) and 55th SG: Putting (-1.497), losing strokes with the flat stick in three of four rounds (R1/R3/R4).