Chris Gotterup spent most of his Friday at Aronimink Golf Club doing exactly what he had been watching everyone else fail to do. The 26-year-old American carded a 5-under 65 in Round 2 of the 2026 PGA Championship — the lowest score posted at Aronimink so far this week — and walked off saying it still never felt like the kind of round it looked like.
"I felt like I grinded it out nice today and finished it off strong at the end with a couple birdies in a row," Gotterup said. "Even though I played pretty well today, I don't think it felt easy at any point out there."
The number, in the context of the week, was almost an outlier. Round 1 averages had bordered on penal, the wind howled through the morning wave, and Round 2 produced a steady drip of bogeys from players who hit what they considered fine shots. Gotterup's read on Aronimink in those conditions was direct.
"Out here, I think it's a little more, you know, almost U.S. Open-esque," he said when asked what he prefers to watch at home. "I think I'd like it somewhere in the middle if I was a fan. The 16-under is a good tournament and a good number to shoot for for the week."
For Gotterup, the score came largely from the work he did on the greens. He started a string of birdies at the 11th and 17th with lengthy uphill putts that did not behave the way his pre-shot line suggested.
"I usually putt with the line and the line was useless on those putts," he said. "17, I probably played it three, four feet out to the right, and 11 was probably another two feet out to the right. I felt like I just was in a good spot for some of those putts."
His lone blemish was a three-putt bogey from 15 feet. Everything else, he said, was about being conservative enough to leave himself reasonable two-putts when the pin locations were not inviting.
"It's hard to say that anything clicks on this golf course with these pins and some of these holes. If I missed, I missed in the right spot and was able to scramble."
The round was a confidence-builder for a player who has been close before in a major. Gotterup finished third at the 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush, and he leaned on that memory when asked how ready he felt to win one.
"I feel like, you know, if I'm playing well, I can compete anywhere, and that's no different here. I felt like I played some of my best golf maybe ever as a pro that week and I came in third."
Asked whether Aronimink's setup felt fair, Gotterup paused before threading a careful answer. He was not the first player on the day to suggest a few pins had drifted past the edge of reasonable.
"I don't think it's unfair, but I do think for pace of play and certain aspects, there have been a couple — 14 today is probably aggressive," he said. "You're hitting a four-iron to a 10-foot circle and if it doesn't go there it's off the green, and if you hit it 40 feet left you have a very hard two-putt."
Gotterup's number, paired with playing the back nine clean and finishing with back-to-back birdies, was enough to push him into the weekend mix at his first PGA Championship in form. With the morning wave's wind expected to ease over the weekend, his Saturday tee time will be later, and his round, for now, sits as the benchmark for what Aronimink will allow.
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*Originally published on [Golf News Global](https://golfnews.global/article/chris-gotterup-65-pga-championship-2026-aronimink-us-open-esque-round-2). Visit for full coverage.*
