Chris Gotterup won the 2026 John Deere Classic, his third win of the season after clinching the 2026 Sony Open and the 2026 WM Phoenix Open.
Approaching the last hole, the tournament seemed to be heading to a playoff or a Ben Kohles victory. Kohles was tied with Gotterup at 20-under, sitting in the middle of the fairway on the 18th hole. However, disaster struck when his approach shot found the water on the left side of the green. Kohles went on to three-putt for a double bogey, leaving him tied for third with Lee Hodges and Lucas Glover at 18-under and one stroke behind Max Homa.
Meanwhile, Gotterup started the final day five strokes back but vaulted up the leaderboard after five birdies in his first seven holes. Four more birdies on the back nine gave him a final round of 62 (-9). His nine birdies match his career high in a round. Not a bad day to have your brother on the bag.
Gotterup’s five wins tie him with Rory McIlroy for second-most wins since May of 2024. Only Scottie Scheffler has more, with 10 wins during that time.
Gotterup is also the defending champion next week in Scotland for the Genesis Scottish Open. When asked how this week can be used as practice for that event even though the type of golf is different, he answered, “I think just getting good tournament reps is helpful. I felt like the last two weeks I was kind of grinding through some stuff. Obviously this week I came out and played great golf.”
The PGA Tour will have two events on the schedule for next week that are co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour. The Genesis Scottish Open is one of five Rolex Series Events. In the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open, Gotterup became only the sixth American to win the tournament. The ISCO Championship is an alternate on both tours that gives entry to The Open Championship to the leading player who is not already exempt. William Mouw won the 2025 ISCO Championship, his first career victory.
