Chris Gotterup birdied five of the last six holes on Sunday at the WM Phoenix Open to ultimately earn his way into a playoff with Hideki Matsuyama. One more birdie earned him his second PGA Tour victory. He also won the season-opener, the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Gotterup’s -16 winning score came with a paycheck of $1,728,000. He won $1,638,000 for winning the Sony. That’s a total of $3,366,000 in the first 2 months of 2026. It certainly pays to golf your ball on the PGA Tour.
He closed the final round-7 under 64, making nine birdies on the day. Matsuyama led by one stroke going into the 18th hole. He battled a wayward driver all day, and on 18 he landed in the “church pew” bunkers and hit the lip getting out, leaving him with a difficult chip to the green. He bogeyed the hole, his first of the day, and the game was a foot for a playoff.
Gotterup and Matsuyama went back to the 18th hole for the playoff. Gotterup hit a bomb off the tee, finding the fairway, while Matsuyama hit his drive left into the water. Gotterup made birdie and won the tournament.
Matsuyama picked up a check for $1,047,400 for second place.
Scotty Sheffler, Akshay Bhatia, Michael Thorbjornsen, Nicolai Hojgaad, and Si Woo Kim tied for 3rd place at -15 and earned $439,680 each.
The 2026 WM Phoenix Open projected a total seven-day attendance between 500,000 and 800,000 people, maintaining its reputation as the most-attended event in golf. Sunday attendance alone was expected to exceed over 200,000.
The par 3 stadium hole has become iconic in golf.
On the whole, the crowd was well behaved. However when Matsuyama was about to putt on the 18th green during regulation play a heckler from the crowd yelled out causing him to back off. It happened again, as he was about to hit his drive on the 18th in the playoff. The fans in both cases booed the heckler saying “ that’s not cool, don’t do that.” With crowds this size it comes with the territory (remember the awful behavior at the 2025 Ryder Cup), but should not be tolerated. The crowd, self-policing, is one thing, but steps should be taken to stop this behavior.
It was a dramatic finish, and great theatre on Sunday afternoon as Scottie Sheffler, World No. 1, was tied 89th after an opening-round of 2-over 73 rallied in his final three rounds and closed with a 64. He missed a 24 foot birdie putt on the 18th hole that would have earned him a spot in the playoff. Even Superman has a bad day now and then.
The PGA Tour is off to the Monterey Peninsula to play iconic Pebble Beach this week- February 9 – 15.
2025 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am winner, Rory McIlroy, will be in the field along with Justin Rose, Chris Gotterup, Tommy Fleetwood, and Scotty Scheffler. The weather is always unpredictable at Pebble Beach, with possible showers in the forecast. No matter what the weather the golf will be dramatic and entertaining. It is must watch TV.
Enjoy your golf.
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