[Photo: Mike Mulholland]
After playing four straight tournaments and five of the first six to start the PGA Tour season, Chris Gotterup could have used a week off from golf. Instead, he decided to take his father and brother on a little excursion. Their destination was Augusta, Ga.
A two-time winner this season, Gotterup had never played Augusta National Golf Club, but after earning his first invitation to the Masters, he now had the license to get in a practice round last week with a member of the club.
Related: Chris Gotterup’s early-season breakout and the golf ball driving it
“It was one of those things that you just kind of always hope to be able to go there,” Gotterup said Tuesday at Bay Hill Club, where he is making another tournament debut at this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. “Then to be able to play a meaningful round there … obviously, everyone in the world of golf would love to go play a round there. Being able to have the build-up to the Masters is awesome. To be able to share that, my brother and my dad had never played either. To be able to go down there with them and share that whole experience was really cool.”
Ranked sixth in the world after wins at the Sony Open in Hawaii and WM Phoenix Open, the 26-year-old Gotterup had never stepped foot on Augusta National. Even when he had chances to do so in the past while attending sponsor events during Masters week, he waited. He wanted to wait until he qualified for the year’s first major. He and his family made the most of it.
“We spent the full day. We played the Par 3 [Course]. We got it all taken care of,” he said.
His favourite hole, he said, was the straightaway par-4 seventh. “It’s just like, it’s so simple. You just have to hit a good tee ball and you have to hit the right shot coming into the green,” Gotterup said. “Just visually when you step on the tee box you’re like, wow, this hole is really cool looking.”
What else stood out for the third-year tour member whose power is sure to be an asset during the tournament?
“I think like the one that really … the chute on 18 is much tighter than TV gives it credit for,” Gotterup said. “I would say, like 2 with no people there. The 2nd green is so wild-looking because it looks so massive on TV. Obviously, the framing of all the people behind you makes it look even bigger. It’s just like the green’s just thrown in like perfect grass. So it looked much smaller and different.
“Then I would say 1 green was much more severe than TV gives it credit for. You have a tough tee ball. Then you have to hit a good second shot to get it in the right section.”
When Gotterup mentions getting it all taken care of at the home of the Masters, that experience went beyond playing the course. Yep, there was shopping involved.
“A couple hats. I got my brother and my dad something,” he said. “Then I got my mum, sister and girlfriend taken care of. Yeah, that’s mandatory. I got some playing cards and some other little things like that.”
Little things now. Who knows what big things he might collect in April?
