Chris Gotterup takes lead with new personal best 36-hole score

Chris Gotterup carded a flawless 9-under 61, tying the course record at The Renaissance Club, to take the 36-hole lead at 11-under at the Genesis Scottish Open. He made 140′ 8″ of putts in round two, compared to 51’ 8” in round one.

“I definitely got off to not a great start,” said Gotterup. “Was really hitting some wayward shots and just trying to hit some solid shots and started to find a little rhythm. Definitely put together a solid nine holes and felt like that was good momentum coming into today.

“Not a lot of wind in the morning which was obviously beneficial. But yeah, it’s funny, when it flips you get some holes that you like and some holes that you don’t like and vice versa. I think there’s definitely certain holes that feel nice. Nice three pars to finish.

“You just take what you can get, what the course gives you with the wind, and I think it’s much more pin location oriented and where you can get to in some spots you have to be smart and take your 30-footer on some holes.”

Gotterup topped his previous-best round on the PGA Tour by two strokes (63/R1/2025 Puerto Rico Open). At 129, he set a new personal-best 36-hole score on Tour (previous: 130/2024 ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic/won) after opening his round with a personal-best nine-hole score (29).

The American has won once in 61 Tour starts, winning the 2024 ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic by six strokes, his only top-10 finish in his last 56 starts on the PGA Tour.

England’s Harry Hall made one bogey at the par-4 2nd immediately followed by four consecutive birdies to make the turn in 32. He fired three more consecutive birdies from the 14th to close with a 64 and solo second place at 9-under. Hall’s only win on the PGA Tour was at the ISCO Championship this week a year ago.

Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg made three bogeys and closed with a 65 for a share of third place at 8-under alongside Englishmen Marco Penge and Matt Fitzpatrick.

Penge made six birdies, one bogey and one double bogey at the par-3 12th for a 67 while Fitzpatrick produced seven birdies for a bogey-free 63.

Rory McIlroy posted a second-round 5-under 65 in his bid to become the first player to win the Masters Tournament and Genesis Scottish Open in the same season. After closing the first round with three straight birdies, he birdied five of his first seven holes to start round two and is tied in sixth place at 7-under.

“I got off to a bit of a flyer,” said McIlroy. “The conditions were so benign this morning, hardly any wind. And the wind started to pick up a little bit on the back nine for us but still very, very manageable. I started to struggle a little bit. Hit a couple of wayward drives but did well to scramble for pars. Yeah, and disappointing to drop one coming in there but overall it’s a really good score and puts me right into the thick of things going into the weekend.”

Overnight co-leaders Sepp Straka of Austria and Jake Knapp of the USA both carded 69s and moved down into sixth place alongside Canada’s Nick Taylor (66), American Keith Mitchell (67) and Germany’s Matti Schmid (68).

Also part of the four-way tie overnight, France’s Victor Perez  carded a 70 and moved down into T12 at 7-under while Nico Echavarria shot a 72 and lies in T27 at 4-under.

American World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler trails by six at T21 following a second-round 68.

Defending champion Robert MacIntyre of Scotland made the cut on the number in his bid to become the first player to successfully defend at the Genesis Scottish Open.

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