Rough day for NJ’s Gotterup
BROOKLINE, Mass. — Chris Gotterup, the 22-year-old New Jersey native who made the cut Friday in the U.S. Open, his first career major championship, struggled to keep his momentum Saturday in the third round.
Gotterup — who grew up in Little Silver, played his youth golf at Rumson Country Club and then played four years at Rutgers and one year at Oklahoma — shot a 5-over 75 on Saturday and is tied for 49th.
One hole Gotterup has had problems with all week is the 503-yard par-4 15th hole, on which he took a four-putt double bogey Thursday, bogeyed Friday and bogeyed Saturday.
U.S. OPEN NOTES
After the second-round bogey, he said he was going to “take care of ’’ 15 on Saturday. Now he’ll have to wait until the final round.
This is Gotterup’s third professional tournament. He finished tied for seventh at the Puerto Rico Open, then turned pro and missed the cut last week at the RBC Canadian Open. He’s scheduled to play in the Travelers Championship next week and the John Deere next month.
➤ The weather conditions more difficult on Saturday, with cooler temperatures and more wind, and Denny McCarthy led the way with his early tee time and posted a 2-under 68 and has now moved into a tie for 11th at 1-over.
“I think I blacked out, I don’t even remember anything,’’ McCarthy joked. “No, I played really solid golf. I played really well [Friday] and shot even par. I wouldn’t say I was disappointed, but I felt like I could have shot 2- to 5-under [Friday], and I shot even.
“[That] kind of lit a little fire under me. I came out with the mindset today that I’m going to try to play great and shoot a number that gets me back in the tournament. And, I like playing in hard conditions, so it was a great day for that type of opportunity for me to come out and shoot a decent number and watch the guys in the afternoon have to play this place.’’
➤ One of the cool under-the-radar stories on the leaderboard this week has been Hayden Buckley, who began the third round at 4-under, one shot out of the lead. Buckley entered the week having missed the cut in six of his previous seven starts. He shot a thirdround 75 to fall to 1-over and tied for 11th.
Buckley met his caddie, Brian Mahoney, through an acquaintance several days before his first Korn Ferry Tour victory, at the LECOM Suncoast Classic last year, at which he was the 10th alternate.
He secured that win with a birdie on the first playoff hole and it came in just his 17th career start. Eventually, Buckley finished seventh on the Korn Ferry Tour’s overall points list for the finals and earned him his PGA Tour card.