On the latest episode of The Scott Verplank Show, Verplank is joined by PGA Tour rookie and OU alum, Chris Gotterup. The two pros discuss Gotterup’s journey, from his four years at Rutgers, to his phenomenal season with the Sooners, and his road to joining the PGA Tour. They also discuss Gotterup’s New Jersey roots, lacrosse, and what the future holds.
Verplank will be talking to top pro golfers from the past and present on his Sellout Crowd show, sponsored by EMAQ (https://emaqgroup.com/)
Episode highlights:
0:10-5:55 Transferring to OU
5:55-7:55 Staying in Oklahoma
7:55-13:03 Growing up in New Jersey
13:03-15:15 Korn Ferry Tour
15:15-18:51 Schedule for 2024 and music
18:52-20:23 Gotterup’s potential
20:23-24:25 Best players from Rutgers and OU
28:28-30:12 The value of playing multiple sports as a kid
Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane
Social media: Bobby Howard
Director of Content: Mike Sherman
Welcome to the Scott verplank show part of the sellout crowd Network today I’m going to be speaking with Chris gdup young man who is a rookie on the PGA tour transferred to OU out of ruers uh made a good move he’s got a big future
Ahead of him so let’s hear what he has to say so let’s get on with it hello welcome to the third episode of the Scott verplank show um I’ve been I’ve had uh the pleasure of interviewing a couple of PGA Tour guys um previously and I have another one today uh young
Guy he’s a rookie on the PGA tour um went to the University of Oklahoma um think he’s going to be a has the potential to be a real Superstar so uh welcome to the show Chris thanks for having me yeah I’m sorry Chris got her
Up I want to make sure I get it right here cuz make sure everybody knows your name so hey tell me how in the world did you get the OU from New Jersey yeah that’s a good question I get to ask that one a lot um it was kind of
Just the crazy Perfect Storm of Co um me wanting to go far away from New Jersey to get better and um and honestly you know when the year before I got there that was Quaid uh Garrett rean and Brightwell and so it was kind of like the perfect mesh of all those guys
Leaving and they needed someone and you know it kind of just all came together well so now you went to ruers correct yeah for four years did you graduate rkers yeah I graduated from there now did you have to um did you have to take classes at OU or get a
Graduate degree or something or or what how’s that work I took classes but um it wasn’t uh it wasn’t really going toward W anything cuz their master’s degrees were two years so I wasn’t I wasn’t going to be there for two years so I just wanted to be be eligible yeah you
Knew you were going to turn pro and get after it that way so I got a hey I got a question because I don’t you can maybe you didn’t explain it to me because I don’t know anything about it but I was talking to uh coach hibble your your
Coach down the golf coach at OU and we got to talking about how you kind of got headed towards OU but you entered the transfer P portal so is that like the commercials you know where it’s like a whirlwind you know and it sucks a guy
Off a telephone pole and there you go or I know you’ve seen those uh college football commercials so what do you do to enter the transfer portal um you basically I’m G to probably for it’s been almost three years now since I did
It but um I remember I had to fill out a form and just say you know this was official um and uh and that’s really it and then you know it just has to get approved obviously you know you can’t there has there’s there’s some type of I mean well
I would hope there’s some type of rules to you know you can’t just you have to give reasoning and stuff like that and um you know and it has to get approved by school um but I mean I try to do it the right way so it it got approved and um
And yeah and then and then remember I was playing US Open I think locals um when it like officially kicked in and I got off the course and turned my phone on and like it immediately it was I mean it was just it was uh it was crazy and I was like
All right this is pretty cool you know I felt like a kid again cuz I never really had you know going to school before I never really had that like recruiting process you know I I went I was going to Ruckers um just because that was the
Best school that I could go to at the time and um it was kind of fun well yeah like how many schools showed up in the portal looking at you I mean I probably got contacted by 50 50 schools um but you know I narrowed it down quickly and I I
Wanted to get it over with too I didn’t want to drag it out too long and waste my time and everyone else’s time right did Oklahoma State were they in the portal looking at you um I talked to Coach Bratton once and that was and that was it it didn’t go too
That’s kind of like when um it’s kind of like when I was in high school I got the the golf coach at OU called me and I was friends with him already and we talked one time and I said coach my whole family went the University of Texas my
Dad played baseball there and I think I’m going to go to Oklahoma State so so don’t waste your time on me and we’re still friends to this day uh David yat so yeah when you kind of get your mind made up what you’re going to do um you
Just do it looks like you made a good decision going to OU yeah it worked out nicely and it’s also tough I mean you know I wouldn’t want to be a coach with the portal right now and all this stuff I mean you know it had to like it had to
Be the perfect storm because I I didn’t want to go an extra year to school and pay for school to be honest so like and most teams had rosters already built up so it was it’s an interesting you know juggling act that they have to do yeah
No no doubt now did they give you a big nil deal to come to Norman no the nil stuff got approved as we were when we were in school so no I went I went uh I went honestly okay so you missed out on the big payday okay so coach hible told me
He didn’t really think you were coming because you said your dad played baseball at Pepperdine is that right my dad played tennis at Pepperdine yeah oh tennis okay yeah um and did you look at going there I visited there yeah um I went there from Norman I I maybe no I
Went home and then flew to California so I went to OU and pepperine in the same week um and you know I went to U first and I was pleasantly surprised and then I’d been to pepperine a bunch and and I like coach beard a lot and I just you
Know I just felt better in Oklahoma yeah well that I I think you made a good decision um now you’re so you’re still living here are you going to are you going to put Roots down here and and uh Stay playing golf here with all your buddies and at Oak Tree
National um I have more roots in Oklahoma than I ever thought I would have um already but uh yeah I mean I I mean you know I see you on the Range I see all the other guys on the Range and it’s a great spot and you know we were
Talking the other day um you know I’m definitely looking for you know maybe a place to escape for two months in the in the cold but other than that I really like what what we got going on here so um be hard for me to you know leave
Unless something crazy happens yeah well you know there’s there’s a long history of of golf in Oklahoma and and particularly at Oak Tree a lot of guys have successfully played the tour living here and uh I think kind of like you said as long as you have a place or an
Opportunity to go somewhere for you know two weeks a month two months whatever to warmer weather to kind of get your game sharp again then um it’s a wonderful place to be yeah for sure all right so if if ruers and OU are playing in football who are you pulling
For um you know I think I would pull for Ruckers just because it would mean more um for them to beat Oklahoma than it would for Oklahoma to beat them and it’ be kind of fun to watch with you guys and kind of give them something to not
Be happy about yeah well that that would be there’d be lots of red in the stadium um yeah so so you’re more of a Jersey Homer than you are an OU Homer at this point huh yeah for now for now yeah that’ll probably that’ll probably change
Especially uh if you go to a couple of these ball games when they have like Alabama and yeah thate that’ll be a different world when when those boys come to town that will be so um I was I I was talking to coach hibble
And he said that you came in in one year and we’re just the greatest team guy so obviously you came in with enthusiasm and you wanted to make the team better and he said he said yeah he he really was a great part of the team kind of
Took a leadership role and loved the spotlight so did you get that growing up in New Jersey or did you just that’s just the way you are all the time I don’t know I mean I definitely you know I played a bunch of sports growing up I
Played lacrosse I played u i I knew it I knew you played lacrosse I just looked at you and said guy had to play lacrosse being in Jersey yeah that was that was my other sport that I played and I I really liked it and uh I don’t know I
Was just always around like you know we the way I function and you know how I’ve grown up I I was always around people and like my friends and family friends and stuff like that so I’ve always been good with you know different people um whether we’re from the same walks of or
Not um and I don’t know I just you know I at Ruckers I kind of was the same way and um I don’t know I I try to do everything the right way and I think you know if I can set a good example then people will
Follow and we’ll be a better team for it but I’m also not afraid to uh you know poke the bear a little bit and get some people you know get under some people’s skin too so um yeah I think you know I I just enjoyed being around the guys and the around coach
Um and they kind of you know they G they gave me the canvas to do kind of whatever I wanted within reason well uh that’s what it sounded like sounds like you need to get your button gear and get on Ryder Cup teams and president Cup teams because those
Are the kind of guys that the United States needs to to win those things so I’ll be looking for you to do that that’d be awesome hey where did you grow up what club did you grow up at in Jersey uh Rumson Country Club which is
Like this you know it’s in Rumson New Jersey which is where I’m from and then uh it’s just like is that is that up north yeah kind of it’s like dead center on the map of New Jersey but it’s like the far most Northeast part of like the
Jersey Shore area so it’s it’s right next to the beach and um you know it was the best place ever growing up we would go caddy there and then go to the beach for you know the afternoon and then go play 9:18 at night it was it was the
Best perfect kind of like cadd Shack you were one of the little kids cading and yeah causing mischief and then you go out on the golf course yeah exactly yeah well hey there’s so many great golf courses in that area too um it’s a wonderful place now have you ever played
Pine Valley yeah I’ve been lucky enough to go a couple times it’s uh it’s a cool spot oh it’s unreal um it’s it’s hard to believe that that’s you know you cross the railroad tracks and you basically like go into another world and it’s it’s incredible yeah where it is where it is
Too is it’s fascinating you go by this water park in in uh you know Trent New Jersey and then I’ll just said you’re at the best course in the United States it’s pretty crazy that’s yeah I mean that’s you’ve played there is that the best golf course you’ve ever played you
Think I don’t know I mean um it’s it’s up there for sure you know I for me Pebble Beach is pretty hard to beat um that’s a special place and there’s a couple other good ones uh one of my other all-time favorites is Fri head in
Long Island um just it’s similar to Pine Valley it’s just you know there’s no one there and you got the place to yourself and it’s just awesome yeah that’s a cool area for golf out there um yeah maybe here in the down the road you’ll get to play a couple us
Opens at at shinok Hills which is out in that area and that’s that’s right there at the top of the list too yeah that’s a good one so who did did you are you like everybody else your age was Tiger Woods your hero or your idol when you were growing
Up um yeah probably not I mean I I obviously am a big fan of tiger and I I wasn’t really like a guy that sat down and watched golf all the time um I was definitely more in fact with other sports um and I really haven’t started like I
Didn’t start watching golf until honestly I got to Oklahoma where it was on all the time um so like I never really had a favorite guy growing up obviously tiger was the the guy um but yeah golf was never like you know central part of my life until until
Recently okay well now hey have you thought anything thing about uh or had any kind of overtures with the live tour um not not really it it was briefly briefly mentioned leaving school and then at the time it was a death sentence um you know and it just it never got
Anywhere and I’m pretty happy where I am right now oh yeah no I think you should be so last year you made it through the uh through the corn fairy tour right yep finished high enough on that to get exempt status on the PGA tour so you started you’ve play how many
Tournaments have you played this year three uh two two yeah and how’s how mixed results I I guess yeah I started we started in MX um well I did and that was my first event in three months so that it was nice to shake the rest off
But I definitely showed some rest and um and then Tory Pines I played made the cut and played okay um you know didn’t play great third round or fourth round but um you know that’s a tough course and I you know I was definitely just
Kind of trying to get in a nice Groove and um yeah and you know I think you know I wasn’t expecting to come out and go guns blazing the first couple events um but I definitely just wanted to get you know back into the tournament Groove
And um you know I feel like you know it’s I know it’s a long season so I can just keep kind of improving and doing what I doing what I’m supposed to do it’ll all click at some point yeah know I I agree I think that’s an excellent
Way to I mean you’re you’re basically in like at the very beginning of a learning curve you know you don’t know the golf courses like a lot of the guys do you’re having to spend extra time kind of looking around basically just trying to soak it all in um but that doesn’t mean
That you can’t all you need to do is get comfortable and play your game and if you do that doesn’t matter what everybody else does um sounds to me like you kind of have that a little bit of that Outlook and I think that’ll probably serve you very well yeah for
Sure what’s your schedule coming up um well um I don’t know if I’m officially allowed to say but uh I’m I’m playing I’m hoping to play next week uh but after that we have um Mexico uh the new Honda which is cognizant I think and then um hopefully
Bay Hill and if not Puerto Rico all right so you’ll have a little stretch going here yeah kind of kind of you know they’ve added these signature event so that kind of makes the schedule a little more a little more choppy unless you’re in those which they just
Decided overnight how to get people in those apparently yeah um but you’ll be in those before long the um so I so this I I talked to a couple other guys what kind of music do you like um I’m a big electronic music guy um really like like Victor hin
Electronic no no not not not to his level I’m more of like an EDM guy like uh I don’t know how to describe it but it’s more it’s a little bit more chilled out um I like country music I like hip-hop I like I like everything they
Have country music in New Jersey yeah it’s pretty big pretty big yeah so do you like do you like get a song in your head when you’re playing or do you I mean like a lot of guys wear ear you know wear their little ear pods and I
Guess they’re listening to music when they’re hitting balls warming up for a round I do that I’ll throw I’ll throw one in cuz I still like hearing the sound of like the ball so I I’ll put one in just to it kind of just calms me down
Um kind of I don’t know keeps me at ease and um and I feel like if I’m in a good Groove with the music like not with the music but like if I can just get relaxed and you know feel good and I’ll play
Good yeah no I listen I uh I did that I’ve done that my whole career you kind of get a you kind of get a rhythm or a you know some sort of smoothness or relaxation with the music and then you you find yourself in between shots kind
Of singing songs you know to yourself or whatever and it kind of takes your mind away from you know all the other stuff going on around you yeah for sure but yeah I am so but it’s not like I was always wondered how Victor could listen to uh the headbanging
Swedish uh whatever it is punk rock and make that work for golf yeah I don’t know um I’ve heard I’ve heard a couple videos of you know his stuff and that music and it’s it’s something else yeah I think you have to grow up in Norway to
Appreciate that yeah in New Jersey or Texas or Oklahoma is not Norway yeah so hey you said you said something about uh oh I got a dog attack going on over here can you hear that uh yeah you can hear a couple dogs yeah well they’re
Uh somebody must be at the front door or they’ll have to wait hey um so you said something about sound is that really can you hear me yeah I can hear you we’re having an attack um hopefully they’ll sort it out here in a second such such
Is life with three dogs man um you said something about sound and and yesterday we were out at the the club and you know I haven’t known you near as long as I’ve known all these OSU guys and some of the other guys that are playing golf around
Oak tree but um you were hitting balls and I didn’t even I didn’t even watch what you were doing but I could hear the contact you were making and I’ve everybody I’ve talked to about you uh says you’re extremely talented um you know have a good head on your shoulders
Have a ton of potential and and think you have a you know you’re in a great spot if you can take advantage of it but the sound you were making hitting iron shots was a sound that not that many people can make and when you hear that
Sound kind kind of makes you stop so um I was really impressed with that it reminded me one time I was hitting balls um gosh I was like 50 years old playing in like one of my last tour events and it was in Greensboro and I was hitting
Balls right next to Tiger Woods you know and Tiger Woods sounds pretty good yeah when he’s hitting iron shots well my buddy Davis love comes up right next to us and he starts hitting balls and then all of a sudden I heard this different sound and I was like Wow Tiger’s really
Hitting it good and I turn around and it was Davis and that was the that was the week Davis won at 51 years old in Greensboro so I that’s what I that’s what you reminded me of yesterday making that sound I was like yep that’s going
To work if you just get out there and get comfortable so I you should little little things like that you keep telling yourself or keep believing in what you’re doing you have some good advantages and you’ll be able to you’ll make ruers and OU practice
Uh when it’s all said and done you might be able to you know become the I don’t know who’s the who’s the best golfer to ever play at ruers um I don’t like I think the guy who had the most success on like professionally Frank espito
Maybe do you know that name I do know that name yeah I think I think he is I think he’s the best that’s you professionally wise done the best and and it owe you I guess if you discount Charlie Co CU he was an Amer I guess Anthony Kim yeah Kim or
Abe oh yeah AB answer yeah see in my My Generation would be Andrew McGee he and I grew up together and he was you know he was a pretty good player you know Andrew yeah we played at uh in Arizona one time and we went out there and he’s
A he’s a who didn’t he oh yeah yeah yeah last time I was out there we uh he and I played um the two Dallas kids played Bob TW and willly wood on their home course and we beat their butt so they were not happy about that cuz Andrew Hardley
Plays anymore I me Andrew plays out there at Whisper rock but he doesn’t really compete um yeah Andrew’s a hoot he’s a good he’s a good dude to be around so yeah so you got some pretty good um you got some pretty good guys to to try to overcome what they’ve done
With like Abe and I guess Anthony Kim I mean do you ever see him or have you ever talked to him or is he was he ever around the OU program um coach said apparently he’ll like randomly show I never saw him um but Tyler who works at
Um The Club at OU and then Coach says he’ll just you know show up one day hit balls for a while while no one’s there um yeah know he just I think it’s very random that when he shows up but uh yeah the rumor mill has been has been flowing
With Anthony Kim stuff lately I know it’s um yeah there’s people reporting that he’s goingon to play on the Liv tour like as a individual or something like the sixth man he’s going to go play as an individual in tournaments um he hadn’t played in tournament in so long I can’t
Imagine that he’s uh I mean he could be he was pretty remarkable when he was hitting on all cylinders but couldn’t can’t imagine that he’d be real close to tournament ready yet but hey more power to him yeah I think people would like to see it so whoever whoever’s going to
Give him the platform why not go why not go play yeah I agree I mean it’d probably be good for it’d be good for golf now what about AB answerer does he uh does he stay in contact with any of you guys yeah um he he’ll come back and
Play the fundraiser event when we when when it works and and um I’ll talk to him here and there I’m good friends with a couple of his buddies too so randomly we’ll you know if he plays good or you know he’ll text us if uh if we play good
Or something like that and um so I mean he he’s been great he’s actually been helpful for me I’ve known him for before OU actually um and he actually was part of the reason why you know I asked him what he thought about school and hible
And all that stuff so um yeah he’s been he’s been great to me well that’s good I mean I think that’s you know what guys uh should do I mean they support the program that always helps down the road um try to help out the younger guys and
Just make you feel comfortable because it’s in everybody’s best interest if uh if AB plays good and the guys on the team play good you know it’s that’s good for everybody all right so tell me this you grew up in or yeah you grew up in New Jersey it’s really Pro country there
It’s not much College stuff at least that’s my take would you agree with that yeah it’s definitely more yeah Pro than than K Pro Centric so have you uh taken on the Oklahoma City Thunder as your team or are you still like a the Nets or
The Knicks or somebody like that I like the Knicks I’m not going to deny that but um we went to a Thunder game two nights ago um I mean I like it I think they’re I think they’re they’re young they’re cool and uh you know they’re it’s definitely nice to have a team
Close to your house so I’ll take the Thunder as my you know I’ll take them as one my one and two yeah well they’re they’re pretty good they they do a heck of a job down there what about football you have you converted to a Kansas City
Chiefs or a Dallas Cowboys fan no I’ll never do that what do you who you the Jets the Giants I’m a I’m a Colts fan as of like a couple couple months ago but I never had a team um you know everyone at home home is Giants or jets and Philly a
Good Philly mix too yeah um but I just never really like you know I never really had like a rooing interest for any of the teams um I don’t know why I just never got and then we went out to a Colt game um I don’t know a couple
Couple months ago and we got The Full Experience um with the owner Jim R and and I became a fan there so yeah that that’ll do it yeah it’ll do it yeah you got the Royal Treatment all right so tell me um like what’s the coolest thing
That you ever did playing lacrosse I don’t know anything about lacrosse other than you chase the ball with the stick and and throw it into the net so kind of like soccer but a little but a little different yeah I would compare it closest to hockey honestly um just the
Way like the the way it’s set up but um I mean the coolest thing that I can remember I guess it’s good and bad I we’re playing I we playing but I scored three goals and you know start the game in 30 seconds a minute and I played
Attack which is kind of like the offensive side of it right and it was just and then I took a cheap shot I guess they had enough of it and I got cross checked like right here and I got knocked out cold and that was the end of
That I think that was one of the later of my La Crosse game so I remember waking up in the in the hospital and not being in school for a couple couple days so um yeah it was it was fun I loved it um but I got I got beat up pretty
Good well you’re you know you’re a pretty big pretty thick guy I was going to ask you how many guys you knocked out but it sounds like uh sounds like you got the wrong end of the deal and sounds like my basketball career when I was
About 13 years old yeah it trying to make make a layup and getting sh and getting stuffed into the back wall of the gym and say coach I’m done yeah the the only the only real damage I did is if I missed my shot I hit someone with
It and that one probably didn’t feel too great with the the cross Ball but um yeah it’s a it’s it’s violent you take you take a lot of shots your arms turn purple pretty quick hey I’m sure if you’re out there in the middle of it doing it probably
Like playing football it’s pretty it’s pretty fun but it looks violent like they wear a lot of pads it’s actually gotten huge around the country too so um I guess there’ll be a major league lacrosse league coming here before long I think I I think there is something on
ESPN I it is true that like you know there’s just not much of a pathway after school so it’s not probably not as popular as it should be yeah but you know like you said playing uh other sports as a kid I mean I when I talk to kids about or parents
I’m like kids need to play all the sports don’t focus on golf at a young age cuz it’s very probably very beneficial you athletically that you played lacrosse I mean you hit the ball a mile you’ve got to get some of that from your you know growing up doing
Playing a game where you’re like a hockey or where you’re running hitting throwing the ball as hard as you can so you you feel like that was probably a benefit to where you are now oh yeah for sure I I think like you said definitely
A you know I want to say there’s similar motions but I mean when you’re pulling left with the you know lacrosse stick as hard as you can it’s similar to golf so um and I think for me the mo the most important thing was not getting burnt
Out like like I said I didn’t really like golf was not it for me for a while so I like when I took it seriously that was like the first like probably in college honestly it was the first time I took it like this is my this is what I’m
Going to do so I like you know I start like I was always playing and stuff but you know I didn’t I wasn’t burnt out when I got to College of golf like I had I was just getting started so um I think all these kids that you know I I’m wrong
Too in a little bit of this but I think all these kids that are playing a tour circuit at 14 they’re going to not like golf that much by the time they get to you know 24 yeah golf will golf will do that to you as you know it’ll um it’ll make you
A little bit mentally imbalanced yeah at times so you can get worn out um all right so since you earli in the earlier in the show you you said you still favor ruer so to in the show can you sing the ruers fight song for
Us I honestly I know you can sing Boomer Sooner that’s not that hard I can’t I can’t sing that one I I know like the um this is bad I’ve it been a while but there was a uh it’s something along like the it’s something about the raran river
Which is like the river that runs through school something around the banks of the old raran and I don’t know how it goes I’m going to I’m going to ruin this but um and there’s like a Ru Rah Ru R and then like something along the banks of
The old Ran it’s something in those lines that’s all I very impressive hey that’s good dude I didn’t know I haven’t game in a while so it’s been it’s been uh it’s been too long to jog my memory and I don’t I don’t have it playing in the house
Ever well hey that I’d say actually that’s a really good answer because I I could I you know I went grew went to OSU and been around here forever and I don’t think I could recite all the words the only one that’s easy is the is the fight
Song and Norman they only have two words so yeah um we can we can settle on that if we have to do any kind of singing that’s fine all right hey well good luck to you um thank you for coming on I I um you may not be as well known around
Oklahoma as you should be or you’re going to be um I think you’re going to have you have a great chance to make a great mark on the PGA tour um so we’ll all be pulling for you uh all the Sooners and the Cowboys and your representing uh awesomely so go out
There and and kick some butt and uh come back and we’ll play some at Oak Tree appreciate it thanks for having me on all right you bet uh Chris got up thanks buddy
