Even as Chris Gotterup enjoys a meteoric rise of his own, he’s mesmerized by the one quiet habit that keeps Scottie Scheffler a step ahead of the entire golf world.’

“I think there are a couple of things, but I think for me, having played with him last week, the first round, he struggled, and he would say that, too. But he’d like to go back out there the next round and know that he’s going to play well. The first round’s gone; reset and go shoot. Don’t let it carry over, and then the next round’s another even, and then you’re all upset and missing the cut, and then it carries into the next week, the next week. It’s like just washing it away,” Gotterup shared during the pre-tournament press conference for the 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

“Try to wash it away and just be ready to go for the next day. And if it goes well, great. If not, it’s more just the mindset: he’s not out of the tournament even if he—I don’t know what place he was in, but obviously not where he would want to be after the first round. I think that’s impressive. I think a lot of guys would agree.”

Scheffler entered the 2026 WM Phoenix Open as the favorite but struggled to a 2-over-par 73, featuring two flubbed chip shots on the 18th and 8th holes that visibly frustrated him. At the conclusion of Thursday, Scheffler was tied for 89th place, 10 strokes behind the leader. On Friday, Scheffler returned with a completely clean slate.

He fired a bogey-free 6-under 65 and made four birdies on the back nine to extend his cut streak to 66. And when the tournament ended, he finished T3, just one shot out of a playoff despite his opening 73. Most importantly, the Phoenix Open was not a one-and-done incident. It is a recurring theme.

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At the 2022 Phoenix Open, he trailed the leaders by nine shots after two long days. Instead of giving up, he shot a 62 on Saturday to jump back into the fight. He eventually beat Patrick Cantlay in a playoff to earn his very first career trophy. He showed this same grit at the 2024 Players Championship while fighting a sore neck.

He could barely swing, yet he fired a 64 on Sunday to win the big event. Later that year in Paris, he sat four shots behind Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele during the final Olympic round. He washed away the gap with a course-record 62 to win the gold medal.

How can he keep himself under this kind of pressure and be free? Scheffler believes in a philosophy where winning doesn’t define your POV.

“You win it, you celebrate, you get to hug my family, my sister is there, and it’s such an amazing moment. Then it’s like, OK, what are we going to eat for dinner? Life goes on,” Scheffler explained. “It feels like you work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for, like, a few minutes. It only lasts a few minutes.”

Chris Gotterup is rising through the professional golf ranks in the same fashion that Scottie Scheffler did in early 2022. Scheffler went from a winless rising star to #1 in just 42 days, after winning 4 titles in a span of six starts between February and April in 2022. Now, Gotterup is tracing that exact line, winning 2 events in 3 starts in 2026, rising into the world’s top five, and leading the FedEx Cup standings.

Chris Gotterup’s parallel ascent

While Gotterup is humble in his praise for Scheffler, his own trajectory is arguably just as historic. Gotterup began his journey at Rutgers before moving to Oklahoma for a historic final college season. In 2022, he became the unanimous No. 1 player in college golf, winning both the Fred Haskins and Jack Nicklaus Awards.

Then the breakthrough came at the 2024 Myrtle Beach Classic when Gotterup became one of the most prolific winners on the Tour. Since the start of 2024, only Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy have recorded more victories than Gotterup. He beat McIlroy himself to win the 2025 Scottish Open in a very tense Sunday finish. He started 2026 with a win in Hawaii and followed it with another win in Phoenix.

These wins moved him from world number 206 all the way up to number five. And he now sits at the very top of the FedExCup standings with over 1,000 points. And despite his ‘Mike Trout-like’ stature and tough-guy look, Gotterup is a man who wears his heart on his sleeve. After his win in Phoenix 2026, he became emotional and cried during his interview with CBS reporter Amanda Balionis.

Chris Gotterup’s remarks on Scottie Scheffler prove that golf is just as much mental game as it is physical. Who do you think has the best mental game in golf and will win the next big trophy at the 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am?