{"id":7762,"date":"2025-07-13T23:42:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T23:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/7762\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T23:42:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T23:42:03","slug":"chris-gotterup-keeps-nerve-to-hold-off-rory-mcilroy-and-win-scottish-open-european-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/7762\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Gotterup keeps nerve to hold off Rory McIlroy and win Scottish Open | European Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

East Lothian witnessed a David v Goliath story as Rory McIlroy<\/a> was denied victory immediately before his return to Northern Ireland for the Open Championship. Chris Gotterup, who arrived at the Scottish Open as the 158th-ranked player in the world, saw off McIlroy for the biggest win of his career.<\/p>\n

McIlroy\u2019s thoughts have already turned towards Royal Portrush and the major that has carried even more significance for the 36-year-old since he completed a career grand slam at Augusta National<\/a> in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no frustration,\u201d McIlroy said. \u201cI\u2019m really happy with where everything is. Looking forward to \u00adgetting to Portrush tonight, getting out on to the golf course early tomorrow and just turning my attention to that. I feel like I\u2019ve gotten out of this week everything that I wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gotterup\u2019s took the title by two, at 15 under par. He closed with a 66 in McIlroy\u2019s company. McIlroy shared second with Marco Penge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hung in there like a champ and finished it off in style,\u201d Gotterup said. \u201cI was ready for the challenge, I knew I was playing well this week so I felt comfortable. I was a one-time winner on tour but two sounds much better. I know if I feel like I did today, I can beat the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Gotterup watches his tee shot on the 11th hole. Photograph: Scott Heppell\/Reuters<\/p>\n

McIlroy, seeking a second Scottish Open in three attempts, had entered round four in a share of the lead. Few expected Gotterup to put up much resistance but the 25-year-old was nerveless. McIlroy\u2019s inward half of level par proved problematic as \u00adGotterup came home in two under. This was, however, McIlroy\u2019s finest tournament display since his Masters triumph.<\/p>\n

Gotterup had to withstand the extra pressure associated with being put on the clock for slow play during the closing stages of the tournament. By the 72nd tee, Gotterup was two clear. He will make his Open debut on Thursday. Nicolai H\u00f8jgaard will join him in the Open after finishing fourth in Scotland.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n

The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend\u2019s action<\/p>\n

Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n

At the Evian Championship in France, Lottie Woad came so close to becoming the first amateur since 1967 to win a women\u2019s major. The Englishwoman shot a final round of 64 to miss out on a playoff by one. \u00adAustralia\u2019s Grace Kim saw off Jeeno \u00adThitikul on the second sudden-death\u00a0hole. So much talk, though, was of Woad; the 21-year-old had won in Ireland on the Ladies European Tour<\/a> seven days earlier. She has now earned a card on the LPGA Tour, albeit it is unclear precisely when Woad will take up that option.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am going to take the next week and discuss with my family and coaches and then I\u2019ll make a decision after that,\u201d Woad said. \u201cI have always wanted to play on the LPGA. Whenever that is, it\u2019s going to be really fun and I am looking forward to playing in all the events.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"East Lothian witnessed a David v Goliath story as Rory McIlroy was denied victory immediately before his return…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-7762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}