Cal Golfers Head to The Open Championship Without Momentum

Little-known American Chris Gotterup outdueled world No. 2 Rory McIlroy in the final round Sunday to win the Genesis Scottish Open, the warmup event to the Open Championship next week at Northern Ireland.

Cal grad Michael Kim shot an even-par 70 for the second day in a row and was unable to make a move from the middle of the pack. He wound up at minus-4 and tied for 34th place at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick.

Byeong Hun An, the other ex-Cal player still on the course Sunday, played  flawless first nine holes but came apart over the final nine and finished in last place at plus-8.

Gotterup, 25, shot a final-round 66 to pull away from McIlroy, with whom he shared the third-round lead. That gave Gotterup, ranked 158th in the world, a final score of 15 under for a two-stroke victory over McIlroy and Marco Penge, both at minus-13.

Gotterup won $1,575,000, nearly doubling his career earnings. McIlroy and Penge each took home $788,175.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who will be the co-favorite with McIlroy next week at Royal Portrush, shot a final-round 67 and finished in a tie for eighth and 9 under.

Also tied for eighth was Xander Schauffele, the world’s No. 3 player, who carded a 66 on Sunday.

Absent this weekend was Cal grad Collin Morikawa, No. 5 in the world. Morikawa failed to make the cut Friday, but will be at Northern Ireland hoping to contend for the Open title he won in 2021. A fourth former Cal golfer, Sampson Zheng, will play at the Open after advancing through a qualifier.

Kim, 31, got off on the wrong foot Sunday with bogeys on his first two holes. After birdies on Nos. 10, 13 and 16 he reached 1 under for the day and minus-5 for the tournament, climbing to a tie for 26th. But a bogey on No. 18 left him at 4 under over 72 holes.

Kim earned $52,950.

An, the 33-year-old South Korean, began the day in last place but shot 32 over his first nine holes — the back nine — thanks to three birdies and no bogeys. That inched him up to a tie for 71st.

But six bogeys over his final nine holes gave An a final-round 73 and left him in 79th place at 8 over par. His payday: $17,460.