Is Chris Gotterup A Top-5 Golfer In The World?

Chris Gotterup won the WM Phoenix Open after an incredible Sunday performance that included five birdies on his last six holes. 

I was lucky enough to watch his 27-foot playoff-winning birdie putt with my own eyes and let me tell you … the people like this kid.

Gotterup is now the No. 5 player in the world according to the Official World Golf Ranking behind Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood. The 26-year-old New Jersey native has won four PGA Tour events in the last two years. Only Scheffler (14) and McIlroy (five) have won more in that stretch. But is Gotterup legit? 

Is he truly a top-five golfer in the world?

Gotterup’s rise

Less than one year ago, Gotterup was ranked 209th in the world. He’s climbed 204 spots in 10 months. 

He’s not Scheffler but he’s become someone who (similar to Scottie) you can’t count out of a tournament. When we were watching Scheffler tear through the course on Sunday, you heard it over and over and over again: “You just can’t count this guy out.” We should’ve been saying that about Gotterup, too.

If you were watching, you’d know that Gotterup did exactly what Scheffler did on Sunday (shot -7). He just had a stroke lead on the world No. 1 to begin the day which ended up being the difference. Gotterup birdied five of his last six holes, forcing a playoff with Hideki Matsuyama (who did not have his best stuff on Sunday) and eventually his fourth Tour win in less than two years. 

Gotterup ranks first on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: off-the-tee and third in Strokes Gained: tee-to-green. He hits it long and straight and he’s cleaned up the other parts of his game that were costing him strokes and resulting in missed cuts.

Following a slow start in 2025, Gotterup has made 13 straight cuts, tied for sixth-best on Tour. Of those, five were top-five finishes and 11 were top-25 finishes.

He ranks first in the early 2026 FedEx Cup rankings.

Who else could take a top-five spot?

To consider Gotterup a top-five guy, we also have to consider who else should or shouldn’t take his spot. Here’s who I’m considering based on what I have seen, who I trust and, plainly, who I’m not surprised to see at the top of the leaderboard come Sunday.

Not in any particular order:

• Scottie Scheffler 
• Rory McIlroy 
• Jon Rahm
• Tommy Fleetwood
• Chris Gotterup
• Xander Schauffele
• Hideki Matsuyama
• Russell Henley
• Justin Rose
• Bryson DeChambeau
• Cam Young
• Ben Griffin
• Harris English
• Robert MacIntyre
• Viktor Hovland
• Matt Fitzpatrick
• Si Woo Kim

There are 17 guys on this list and I don’t think there are five guys I trust more than Chris Gotterup to go out and win a golf tournament. I think there are four, not five.

Hovland, Matsuyama, English, MacIntyre and Fitzpatrick are making cuts like it’s easy but these guys haven’t been winning like Gotterup. 

DeChambeau finished high at two majors last year but do we really know how good he is right now? Justin Rose just won but he missed the cut at the American Express the week before. Schauffele was that guy two years ago but now?? Everyone on this list has a question mark after their name.

Right now, Gotterup is among the few who have a really strong balance of consistency and the ability to close the deal on Sunday.

The other guys may have one or the other but Gotterup is demonstrating he’s got both. 

Again, is Gotterup a top-five golfer?

There are many different ways to look at it but my take is simple. The OWGR says he is fifth. I say he is fifth. His play speaks for itself and that convinces me he can beat anyone on any given Sunday.

That makes him a top-five player in the world. If you disagree, we’ll have to agree to disagree.