Chris Gotterup runs pulls away from field to win 2026 Sony Open, first tournament of PGA Tour season

The first tournament of the 2026 PGA Tour season produced a winner who has made a habit of raising trophies in his limited time on the circuit. Chris Gotterup blended power and touch like a seasoned veteran at the 2026 Sony Open as the third-year player crafted a masterclass on Sunday with a final-round 64 to put him at 16 under for the tournament, two strokes clear of runner-up Ryan Gerard.

Gotterup's triumph at Waialae Country Club marks his third on the PGA Tour in as many seasons as he entered the winner's circle in Myrtle Beach his rookie year before outclassing Rory McIlroy at the Scottish Open last summer. The 26-year-old now trails only McIlroy (eight) and Scottie Scheffler (four) among active players in terms of consecutive seasons with a PGA Tour win. He is also the sixth player since 2024 to collect three or more wins.

After opening his season with a 7-under 63, Gotterup entered the final round at 10 under and two strokes behind Davis Riley, the 54-hole leader. Riley had converted one of his previous two 54-hole leads on the PGA Tour and looked comfortable in the position early with two birdies in his first five holes.

However, just as Riley appeared to be settling into his own, a rough three-hole stretch saw him pencil bogey, bogey, double bogey onto his scorecard. The door flew wide open, and Gotterup stepped through.

The big-hitting right-hander overpowered the classic Seth Raynor design, chopping off doglegs and taking egregious lines off the tee, doing so without sacrificing any semblance of accuracy. Four front-nine birdies saw him capture the lead by himself before he took full control of the tournament in the middle of his back nine.

For all his power off the tee, Gotterup got going thanks to his touch on the greens. He dialed up birdie connections from 21 feet on No. 12, 26 feet on No. 13 and 12 feet on No. 17 to put the tournament on ice just as Gerard was beginning to breathe down his neck.

With only the par-5 finisher remaining, Gotterup flighted another beauty into the middle of the fairway. A layup, a wedge to the middle of the green and two putts were all that remained as Gotterup stepped up to the challenge and in doing so may have stepped up in class. Grade: A+

Here are some of the other notable finishes on the 2026 Sony Open leaderboard.

T4. Robert MacIntyre (-12): MacIntyre entered the week as the third-highest-ranked player in the field, and he looked the part on Sunday. The world No. 8 fired a final-round 63 -- the lowest of the day -- that included five front-nine birdies and zero dropped shots. MacIntyre was finally able to combine his approach play and putting and noted his frustrations on the greens earlier in the week had boiled over so much that he snapped his putter on Friday. There was none of that over the weekend as he started his season on a high note.

"This is one of my favorite golf tournaments of the year, to be honest," MacIntyre said. "This is one of the best golf courses we play all year. Any one of the guys out there can play this golf course on their day. You don't have to bomb it. You can be short. It's just a proper test of golf, more like what we would play in Europe when we go to Valderrama, Belgium. You got to shape the ball. Obviously, the breeze gets up, but yeah, this is a great start. A lot more to come. 

"But always a massive reminder of attitude has to be spot on. Last year, I felt like I done a great job of that. Yeah, I think expectations first two rounds have kind of affected me with that, but yeah, starting to manage it better. Obviously nice when you're playing well. It's easier to manage. Something I really got to switch on for the rest of the year." Grade: A-

T13. Hideki Matsuyama (-9): The former tournament champion snuck his way into the weekend thanks to some late-round heroics on Friday and parlayed that into a strong Moving Day. Matsuyama was sensational from tee to green on Saturday in particular, carding a third-round 65 that featured seven birdies and just about nothing made on the greens. Matsuyama pushed it as deep as 9 under through his first five holes in the final round, but two bogeys and no birdies across his next 11 holes put any chance of a Sunday surge to bed. Grade: B

T24. Jordan Spieth (-7): There were plenty of positive signs for those in the Spieth camp as he opened with two straight 68s before a Sunday 69. At various points of the tournament, he flashed in all areas of the game, but he just seemed allergic to momentum. Every time he took one step forward, he took one step back and was never able to create a snowball effect of rolling one quality hole into another. That could stem from multiple areas, but close-range putting is a place to start. 

"I thought I kicked some rust off," Spieth said. "I thought it was better than a month ago. Certainly, a lot of positives to go off. Historically, I've had a really hard time on these greens; that continued this week. But I'll go into some more familiar ones coming up the next few events. I got either a week or two weeks, depending on when I play next, to kind of trim the fat a little bit and get tighter and more consistent. 

"But I was very happy with the control of the ball, especially in the conditions. Then today was a day-to-day take advantage and got off to a nice start, and unfortunately, was a just little off today with the striking and with the putting. Days like that happen. You kind of hope they happen on Monday and not on Sunday. It was a little bit of an off day, but all in all, coming into the week, I felt pretty confident about where things were at, so I would've liked to maybe finish higher. It was a nice finish, birdieing the last couple and feeling like I can take some momentum into the beginning of the season and hopefully get on a nice little run." Grade: C+

T40. Vijay Singh (-5): Amid outside criticism for using his career money list exemption this season, the soon-to-be 63-year-old beat players like Brian Harman, Tom Kim, Collin Morikawa and Keegan Bradley in his first non-major start on the PGA Tour since the 2021 Honda Classic. Spanning even further back, the finish represents Singh's first made cut on the PGA Tour since the 2020 Memorial. It is unknown just how much the three-time major champion will play on the PGA Tour this season (he is not in next week's field at The American Express), but so far so good through the first week. Grade: C

MC. Collin Morikawa: On a golf course that was perfect for him on paper, Morikawa penned an underwhelming two-round performance. The two-time major champion struggled with his swing in the calm conditions Thursday morning and watched as his putting problems persisted into Friday afternoon. Morikawa had a chance late in the second round to recover from his opening 72 and make the cut, but a couple of misses from short range across his final three holes were the final nails in his coffin. Grade: F