NORTH BERWICK, Scotland — Chris Gotterup had a plane ticket for California to play an opposite-field event in Lake Tahoe. The only change in itinerary would be to take down Rory McIlroy at the Scottish Open before a sellout crowd expecting the Masters champion to claim his 30th title on the PGA Tour.
Gotterup handled it all with poise to go with his great strength.
He delivered all the right shots — the short birdie putt on the par-3 12th to build a two-shot lead, the 10-foot birdie on the par-5 16th to restore a two-shot lead — and closed with a 4-under 66 to hold off McIlroy and Marco Penge of England.
The victory sends him to Royal Portrush for his British Open debut, an extended trip to links golf that is starting to suit him.
Time to cancel that flight.
«I might do it right now in front of you,» Gotterup said, the trophy at his side that also sends him to the Masters next year for the first time.
He earned those perks. Gotterup, tied with McIlroy to start the final round, drove into a bunker and had to make a nervy 4-footer for bogey on the opening hole. That was a reminder nothing was going to come easily.
«I definitely was the villain out there today,» he said. «I felt like I was ready and prepared mentally today. And that's kind of what I've been talking about over the last couple of weeks, that I've kind of gotten into the mix a little bit and just faded away a little bit. And today, my goal was to hang in there tough and I felt like I did that really well.»
He finished at 15-under 265 and moves into the top 50 in the world for the first time.
«Chris played a great round of golf. He was so solid,» McIlroy said. «Made the bogey on 15 but bounced back with a really nice birdie on 16. After he got a couple ahead, I
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