Chris Gotterup did more than win on Sunday at TPC Scottsdale. He changed the business math of the WM Phoenix Open in a way even the sport’s biggest names have not managed.

By the time the final putt dropped and the playoff chaos settled, the $9.6 million PGA Tour stop had turned into a ratings event that reset expectations for what this tournament can draw on television. That moment did not come from dominance. It came from tension, congestion at the top of the leaderboard, and a finish that refused to let viewers tune out.

That is where Gotterup enters the conversation with Scottie Scheffler.

CBS Sports’ final-round coverage of the WM Phoenix Open averaged 3.781 million viewers and peaked at 4.926 million, the most-watched final round of the event in seven years, according to Sports Business Journal data shared by Josh Carpenter.

That peak matters because it cleared a bar Scheffler has not reached at TPC Scottsdale, despite winning the event twice.

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Gotterup earned $1.7 million for the victory, but the larger takeaway came from what unfolded around the playoff. Ratings climbed as the tournament tightened rather than separated.

The American finished four rounds at 16 under par with scores of 63, 71, 70, and 64, tying Hideki Matsuyama and forcing extra holes. Matsuyama struggled with the WM Phoenix Open’s famously loud environment throughout the day and again in the playoff, where a ball in the water ended his chances and handed Gotterup his fourth PGA Tour title.

That sequence kept viewers locked in until the very end. The comparison to Scottie Scheffler is unavoidable because of precedent. Scheffler won the WM Phoenix Open in 2022 and 2023, yet his peak viewership topped out at 3.6 million and 3.7 million respectively. Those figures matched Brooks Koepka’s 3.7 million peak during his 2021 victory.

The last two editions before Gotterup’s win show how sharply this year stood out. Nick Taylor’s 2024 victory drew roughly 2.4 million viewers. Tom Detry’s 2025 win improved that number to 2.9 million, but still sat well below Sunday’s near-five-million peak.

Gotterup’s finish doubled the 2024 audience and comfortably cleared every recent benchmark at this event.

The ratings spike was not accidental. It was structural. Scheffler opened the tournament with a two-over-par 73 and flirted with the cut line before mounting a late charge. He finished tied for third, one shot out of the playoff, alongside Akshay Bhatia, Si Woo Kim, Michael Thorbjornsen, and Nicolai Hojgaard.

That cluster ensured no breathing room. Unlike wins where a star pulls away early, this finish forced constant scoreboard watching. Even Scheffler’s own 2022 win, despite ending in a playoff with Patrick Cantlay, did not feature this many viable contenders stacked behind the leaders.

Because of that, viewers stayed.

Jim Nantz’s early prediction about Chris Gotterup’s rise

Long before the playoff at Scottsdale, CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz had already flagged Gotterup as a player approaching a different tier. “He is in pretty starry company today. Very powerful player. If he can putt, he is going to be a serious guy on the PGA Tour for a long time. I feel like he is just getting started.”

That comment came during the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open, well before Gotterup turned Phoenix into a ratings statement. Through three starts in the 2026 season, Gotterup has already won twice at the Sony Open in Hawaii and the WM Phoenix Open, with a T18 finish at the Farmers Insurance Open. With 1,046 FedEx Cup points, he sits atop the standings.

The numbers suggest more than a hot streak. They suggest that when Gotterup is in the mix, the product holds attention deeper into Sunday than it has in years at this event.

His win at TPC Scottsdale delivered a trophy, a $1.7 million paycheck, and something harder to manufacture. It delivered a near-five-million-viewer peak that even the World No. 1 has not produced here.

That is not just a breakout moment. It is a signal that the PGA Tour may have found a new American draw whose impact shows up not only on the leaderboard, but on the broadcast ledger as well.