The first tournament of the 2026 PGA Tour season produced a winner who has made a habit of winning trophies in limited time on the circuit. Chris Gotterup combines the power and touch of a veteran at the 2026 Sony Open, with the third-year player putting on a masterclass on Sunday with a final-round 64 for a tournament total of 16 under par and a two-shot lead over second-place Ryan Gerrard.
Gottarup’s win at Waialae Country Club was his third on the PGA Tour since entering the winner’s circle at Myrtle Beach in his rookie year before defeating Rory McIlroy at last summer’s Scottish Open. The 26-year-old currently trails McIlroy (eight) and Scottie Scheffler (four) for most consecutive season wins on the PGA Tour among active players. He is also the sixth player since 2024 to record three or more wins.
Gotterup started the season with a 7-under 63 and entered the final round at 10 under, two strokes behind leader Davis Riley after 54 holes. Riley changed one of his last two 54-hole leads on the PGA Tour, making two birdies in his first five holes and appearing to be well on his way up early.
But just when Riley seemed to be starting to settle into his groove, a rough three-hole stretch saw him record a pencil bogey, bogey and double bogey on his scorecard. The door swung wide open and Gottap stepped inside.
The big-hitting right-hander overpowered the classic Seth Rayner design, cutting off doglegs and creating outrageous lines off the tee, all without sacrificing any apparent accuracy. He single-handedly took the lead with four birdies on the front nine and was in complete control of the tournament midway through the back nine.
Even though Gotterup put all his effort into his tee shot, his touch on the green kept him going. A 21-footer on the 12th, a 26-footer on the 13th and a 12-footer on the 17th put the tournament on ice just as Gerrard began to catch his breath.
With only the finisher left on the par 5, Gottap hit another beautiful shot into the center of the fairway. Gotterup stepped up to the challenge, with a layup, a wedge to the middle of the green, and a two-putt all he had left, and in doing so, he might have stepped up in class. Grade: A+
Here are some of the other notable finishes on the 2026 Sony Open leaderboard.
T4. Robert McIntyre (-12): McIntyre entered this week as the third-highest ranked player on the field, and he fulfilled that role Sunday. The No. 8 player in the world shot a 63 in the final round, his lowest of the day, including five front-nine birdies and zero drop shots. McIntyre was finally able to combine his approach play with his putting, but said his frustration on the greens earlier in the week boiled over so much that he broke his putter on Friday. That wasn’t the case over the weekend as he started the season strong.
“Honestly, this is one of my favorite golf tournaments of the year,” McIntyre said. “This is one of the best golf courses we play all year round. Any player there can play on this golf course on any given day. You don’t have to bomb. You don’t have to be short. This is just a good test of golf, close to what you play in Europe when you go to Valderrama in Belgium. You have to shape the ball. Obviously there’s going to be some wind, but yeah, this is a great start. There’s a lot more to come.”
“But you always have to be very aware of your posture. Last year, I felt like that worked out for me. Yeah, I think the expectations in the first two rounds affected me a little bit, but yeah, I’ve been able to deal with it better. Obviously when you’re playing well, it’s good. It’s easy to deal with. That’s something I really have to switch on for the rest of the year.” Grade: A-
T13. Hideki Matsuyama (-9): The former tournament champion managed to make it through the weekend thanks to late-round heroics on Friday and parlayed that into a strong moving day. On Saturday in particular, Matsuyama had a sensational performance from tee to green, posting a 65 in the third round and making seven birdies, but was unable to make much of anything on the greens. Matsuyama improved to 9 under through the first five holes of the final round, but with two bogeys and no birdies over the next 11 holes, any chance of a surge on Sunday ended. Grade: B
T24. Jordan Spieth (-7): There were many bright spots for Spieth’s camp. He scored 68 points in the first two games and scored 69 points on Sunday. At various points in the tournament, he showed flashes in all areas of his game, but just seemed allergic to momentum. Every time he took a step forward, he took a step back and couldn’t create the snowball effect of rolling one quality hole into another. It can come from multiple areas, but close range putting is a good place to start.
“I thought I knocked the rust off,” Spieth said. “I thought it was better than it was a month ago. There are certainly a lot of positives. Historically, I’ve had a really hard time on these greens, and that continued this week. But for the next few events I’m going to try greens that I’m more familiar with. Depending on when I play next, I’ll give myself a week or two to get some of the fat off and get it tighter and more consistent.”
“But I was very happy with my control of the ball, especially in the conditions. Then today I took advantage of what I’ve been able to do every day and got a good start, but unfortunately today I was a little bit off with my hitting and putting. It happens a lot on days like that. I just hope it happens on Monday instead of Sunday. A little off day. But overall, I felt pretty confident about my situation going into the week, so I probably would have liked to have finished higher. It was good. I finished well and got a birdie in the last two, so I feel like I can get some momentum going at the beginning of the season and have a good run. ” Grade: C+
T40. Vijay Singh (-5): Amid outside criticism for taking advantage of the career money list exemption this season, the soon-to-be 63-year-old defeated the likes of Brian Harman, Tom Kim, Collin Morikawa and Keegan Bradley in his first non-major start on the PGA Tour since the 2021 Honda Classic. The finish line further back marks Singh’s first appearance on the PGA Tour since Memorial in 2020. It’s unclear how much the three-time major champion will play on the PGA Tour this season (he won’t be in the field at next week’s American Express), but things are looking good so far through Week 1. Grade: C
M.C. Colin Morikawa: On a theoretically perfect golf course, Morikawa recorded an overwhelming performance in two rounds. The two-time major champion struggled with his swing in mild conditions Thursday morning and watched his putting problems continue into Friday afternoon. Morikawa had a chance to recover from an early 72 late in the second round to advance, but several misses from close range in the final three holes sealed the deal. Grade: F
