Sunday Swing | Chris Gotterup + Grace Kim's WITBs
Welcome back to another edition of the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. This week, the PGA Tour and DP World Tour’s best players traveled to Scotland for the only co-sanctioned event on the tours’ schedules, the Scottish Open. The Renaissance Club in North Berwick hosted the event for the seventh time, as the players got a warmup on a links course ahead of the highly anticipated Open Championship from Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland next week.
Chris Gotterup, the 25-year-old second-year player out of Rutgers shocked the field this week and claimed his second title on the PGA Tour, successfully fending off big names like Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick, Ludvig Aberg, and Wyndham Clark. Gotterup started strong with a 68 on Thursday, but what really propelled him to victory was his blistering 9-under par 61 on Friday that vaulted him to the top of the leaderboard.
His third-round 70 brought a lot of players back into the tournament, and he would ultimately share the lead after 54 holes with McIlroy, who had picked up big wins this season and won the Scottish Open in recent years. There was a brief moment on Sunday where Gotterup had lost the lead after a bogey on the opening hole.. From that point on, Gotterup’s game was steady, picking up three birdies before making the turn at 2-under. He would make two more impressive birdies at the 10th and 12th holes, ultimately allowing him to regain the lead. He never gave the lead back and was able to beat Rory McIlroy and Marco Penge by two strokes.
The win is certainly the biggest of Gotterup’s young career, having only last year’s Myrtle Beach Classic on his resume. It also goes a long way towards his FedEx Cup hopes as he moves all the way up to 39th in the season-long standings, and punched a ticket to his first Open Championship next week.
Winner's Bag | Chris Gotterup
American Chris Gotterup changed the trajectory of his career in Scotland this week after picking up his second PGA Tour victory, doing so with one of the more unique equipment setups on tour.
All WITB information is courtesy of GolfWRX.
Driver: PING G440 LST (9 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 70 TX
Gotterup’s strongest statistical category is typically driving, and this week was no exception. Using PING’s G440 LST driver (9 degrees) with a HZRDUS Smoke Black RDX 70 TX, Gotterup drove it beautifully and finished fourth in strokes gained off the tee. He is certainly one of the longer hitters as well, averaging 318 yards off the tee for the week.
5-wood: TaylorMade Qi35 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana WB 83 TX
He only had one fairway wood in the bag this week, a TaylorMade Qi35 5-wood, with a Mitsubishi Diamana WB 83 TX shaft. Gotterup is one of many tour pros opting for more loft in their fairway woods to gain more height and stopping power.
Utility iron: TaylorMade RSi TP UDI (1)
Shaft: KBS C-Taper 130 X
One of the most unique clubs in play this week was in Gotterup’s bag, the Taylormade RSi TP UDI (1-iron), was released 11 years ago in 2014. Gotterup played it with a steel shaft, the KBS C-Taper 130 X, making it super stout to produce a penetrating ball flight that is useful for links-style golf.
Irons: Bridgestone Tour B 220 MB (4-9)
Shafts: KBS C-Taper 130 X
Another very unique aspect of Gotterup’s bag is his irons. Launched in 2024, Bridgetone’s latest 220 MB irons (4-9 iron) with KBS C-Taaper 130 X shafts helped Gotterup get the job done on Sunday. Also of note, he is the only active PGA Tour card holder to be currently playing Bridgestone irons.
Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 (46, 52), TaylorMade MG Proto (56,60)
Gotterup’s setup around the greens features four TaylorMade wedges. His 46 and 52 degree wedges are the TaylorMade MG4s, while the 56 and 60 degrees are TaylorMade MG Protos designed with unique grinds for his wedge usage. These wedges helped Gotterup finish top 10 in both strokes gained around the green and scrambling for the week.
Putter: TaylorMade Spider X Tour
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Pistol 2.0
Another big factor in the victory this week was his putting, where he finished fourth on the week. Gotterup uses the popular TaylorMade Spider X Tour putter, a popular high-MOI mallet shape that is in the bag of many tour pros.
In the World of Women's Golf
In women's golf, they made their way to Evian-les-Bains, France for the Amundi Evian Championship, the 4th Major Championship of the year and it turned out to be an instant classic. Big names like Minjee Lee, Jeeno Thitikul and Solheim Cup standout Leona Maguire lurked at the top of the leaderboard for much of the week and were joined by the likes of Top Amateur Lottie Woad and 24-year-old Australian Grace Kim among others chasing the Evian Championship title.
A packed leaderboard made for a fun finish in Sunday's final round. Woad catapulted her way to the top of the leaderboard with a 7-under 64 in Sunday's final round, giving her the clubhouse lead at 13-under. Woad had to sit and watch as Thitikul and Kim came down the final stretch to see if that lead would hold or get her into a potential playoff.
Grace Kim, who had just 1 LPGA win to her resume entering the Evian Championship looked like she had taken herself out of contention with a costly double bogey at the par 4 12th hole that put her back to 10-under par with 6 holes to play. But back-to-back birdies at 15 and 16 helped her pull within one of Woad's clubhouse lead, and a stroke back of Thitikul going to 17.
Then Jeeno, the World No. 2, showed why she's one of the best players on the planet with a clutch birdie on the 71st hole to give her the outright lead at 14-under, and two clear of Kim with one hole to play.
This is where the tournament went absolutely bonkers. After finding the fairway off the tee on the par 5 18th, Kim had just 188 yards to the green, and hit one of the shots of her life, as she not only found the green, but put her approach to within tap-in distance for eagle that would pull her even with Thitikul, who just narrowly missed a short birdie on 18 to send this major championship to a playoff between Kim and Thitikul.
The two would replay the 18th hole, and unlike the first time she played the hole today, Kim's approach shot would not go her way, as her 2nd actually found the water hazard, putting Jeeno in the driver's seat, even after her 2nd found the rough just behind the green. Knowing she needed something miraculous, Kim would flip the script on Jeeno as she chipped in for eagle from near the hazard to force Thitikul to get up-down-for birdie. Jeeon would answer the call, draining a 8-10 footer for birdie to send this to a 2nd playoff hole, once again replaying 18.
This time, Kim not only found the fairway off the tee, but once again hit a sensational second shot, giving herself 12 feet for the winning eagle putt. Once again, Grace would come through clutch draining the eagle putt to clinch her first Major Championship and second LPGA Tour title.
Winner's Bag | Grace Kim
Grace Kim is a Cleveland/Srixon staffer with the majority of her bag comprised of these clubs. Here's a look inside her Evian Championship Winning WITB.
All Cleveland/Srixon WITB information is courtesy of Cleveland/Srixon.
