Chris Gotterup Is Becoming a Superstar. Ben Kohles Just Lived Every Golfer’s Nightmare.

Chris Gotterup didn’t just win the 2026 John Deere Classic—he served notice that he’s quickly becoming one of the biggest stars in professional golf. If he played with more emotion and swagger—more like Spieth and less like Scheff—he’d already be a bona fide star.

Starting Sunday five shots behind the leaders, Gotterup went out and posted a ridiculous, bogey-free 9-under 62, the lowest round of the week. That’s not exactly the best strategy if you want to lift a big trophy on Sunday, but it works.

His final total of 20-under was enough to edge Max Homa by one shot, earning Gotterup $1,584,000 and another PGA TOUR trophy, his 4th in the last 12 months.

Homa did just about everything he could to finish on top, firing a stellar 64 on Sunday, but when a guy shoots 62 in the final round, sometimes all you can do is politely applaud and cash your $959,200 runner-up check. Homa has mostly struggled the past few years after ascending to marquee tee-times status. So a 2nd place finish at Deere Run may be the final turning point for him to re-ascend to star status.

Then there was Ben Kohles.

This one is going to sting for a while.

Kohles played terrific golf all week and stood on the 72nd hole tied for the lead. A par would have forced a playoff. Instead, his approach found the water, a double bogey followed, and just like that, his first PGA TOUR victory disappeared. Golf has an incredible ability to humble even the best players, but this one bordered on cruel. Rather than lifting the trophy and collecting a $1.5+ million payday, Kohles left with $466,400 after falling into a tie for third with Lucas Glover and Lee Hodges. That’s more than a $1.1 million swing. Ouch.  

Sunday also proved that making a charge at TPC Deere Run isn’t nearly as easy as everyone assumes.

Nearly 20 players began the day within striking distance. Social media was predicting fireworks. The leaderboard looked primed for chaos. Instead, most contenders apparently received the memo that pars are perfectly acceptable.

Lucas Glover, who started the day tied for the lead, managed a closing 69 and never really threatened. Lee Hodges also shot 69, which was solid but the number needed to keep pace with Gotterup’s video-game golf. Jackson Suber closed with 69 to finish tied for sixth, while Zac Blair signed for 70 and watched his fairytale chance slowly disappear.

Even proven champions couldn’t manufacture the magic. Zach Johnson reminded everyone why he loves TPC Deere Run with a respectable 66, but respectable wasn’t nearly enough, and maybe, at the end of the week, he wished he had teed it up in the Senior Open alongside his aging buddies.

Rickie Fowler quietly pieced together another solid week, yet never found the Sunday birdie barrage fans were hoping for. On a day when someone needed to go ridiculously low, most of the field settled for “pretty good.” Unfortunately, “pretty good” more often than not loses out to 62s.

The only player who actually stepped on the gas was Gotterup.

Nine birdies. Zero bogeys. No panic. No mistakes. Just relentless golf.

More importantly, he’s beginning to look like the kind of player who doesn’t just win tournaments—he intimidates fields.

That brings us to this week’s Genesis Scottish Open.

Gotterup returns as the defending champion, and based on the way he’s playing, we wouldn’t be surprised to see him do it again. In fact, if we’re putting our money anywhere this week, it’s probably on Chris.

His game is practically built for links golf. He absolutely hammers the ball off the tee. Whether he’s ripping a driver or a 2-iron, the ball runs FOREVER. He can hit irons low enough to knife through the wind. And his biggest not-so-secret weapon: He can eliminate misses on the left side of the golf course. When everyone else is fighting crosswinds and hoping the ball behaves, he looks unbeatable. The other guy teeing it up in Scotland and England in the coming weeks who carries that same weapon: Scottie Scheffler.

And then comes Royal Birkdale.

The Open Championship sets up beautifully for everything he does well. Length matters. Ball flight matters. Patience matters. Keeping the ball out of trouble matters even more. Gotterup checks every one of those boxes. If he arrives with the same confidence he showed at TPC Deere Run, don’t be surprised if he’s firmly in contention heading into Sunday.

Sitting here today, typing this blog post, one thing is certain: the 2026 John Deere Classic delivered everything golf fans could ask for—a Sunday charge, a heartbreaking collapse, and a reminder that professional golf can be spectacularly unfair. We hope the John Deere is thrown a lifeline and stays on the PGA TOUR schedule in 2028 and beyond. The tour is headed to a new two-tier model, and the tourney sits squarely on the chopping block. What it has in spades is respect from the players who love the course. Just ask Zach Johnson how he feels about it. It also boasts a longtime sponsor in John Deere. It’s just too bad the course isn’t located in a Chicago suburb. If it were, the tourney would never fade away.

Winners and Losers from Sunday at TPC Deere Run:

Winner: The course. It looked great on TV and held up to the rainy overnight conditions it was forced to endure. The final stretch of holes is as good as any on tour. We would be very disappointed if the tourney is shuttered after the tour sets its schedule in 2027/2028.

Loser: Ben Kohles. His pull hook from the fairway and short missed putt on 18 were hard to watch. And much harder for Ben to live through. He’s a good player. One that should win on the tour. We are going to root for him, so he can put the memory of what unfolded yesterday on the final hole behind him.

Winner: Zach Johnson. He skipped the US Senior Open to tee it up in his favorite hometown PGA TOUR event and posted a T-9. Pretty impressive for the little guy from Iowa.  

Loser: The USGA. It’s ridiculous that amateurs can’t pocket the earnings from PGA TOUR events. Amateur Preston Stout posted four rounds in the 60s and finished up T-15. If allowed, he would have made roughly $150k, which is less than he makes in NIL. We say let the kids bank the cash. Amateurism died when college athletes started making millions, and today, amateurs who play professional tennis can take home prize earnings. Why not golf?  

Winner: Captain America. Keegan made the biggest jump Sunday (29 spots) after posting a 7-under 64. He’s had an up-and-down year. Maybe this final-round display will spark a strong finish for him in England in two weeks.

2026 John Deere Classic prize money payouts