(Photo credit: Anna Carrington-Imagn Images)

Chris Gotterup fondly remembers his first time playing the Pebble Beach Golf Links course.

He made a bet with his father that they would play the iconic public course together when he broke par for the first time. When Gotterup accomplished the feat at 13 or 14 -- he can't remember which -- the pair, along with Gotterup's brother, played Pebble Beach.

His return trip to Pebble Beach, Calif., this week to compete in his first AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am event, although maybe not as sentimental, is undeniably more important.

Gotterup arrives as the hottest player on the planet, winning last week's WM Open to claim his second PGA Tour win in three events he's competed in early this season.

'It's fun. You know, everyone at home, I haven't been home in a while so it's nice to hear from everyone,' Gotterup said at his press conference Wednesday. 'I think my parents are coming out today. Yeah, it's been fun to share it with everyone. At some point when we get some time off, I'll go home and celebrate with everyone.'

Gotterup's surge has come quite out of left field. He was an incredibly successful collegiate golfer at Oklahoma, winning the Haskins and Jack Nicklaus awards in 2022. But he won just two of his first 68 PGA events over his first four seasons competing on the tour.

After winning the season-opening Sony Open in Honolulu Jan. 18 and finishing tied for 18th in the Farmers Insurance Open, Gotterup took advantage of a few stunning late mistakes by Japanese competitor Hideki Matsuyama to win the WM Open in a playoff.

In each of his two victories this season, he shot 64s in the final round to position himself incredibly well.

Gotterup, 206th in the OWGR rankings at this time last year, surged all the way up to fifth with last week's win. Out of seemingly nowhere, he's the second-highest-ranked American behind only No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.

Gotterup said that even Scheffler has started to pay attention to what he's doing in the wake of his remarkable season start.

'I think everyone understands out here how hard it is to win. We were joking around, Scottie was following me at lunch and he's like, 'I'm just going to eat what you're eating,'' Gotterup said. 'I was like, 'Yeah, he's doing pretty good on his own so I'm not too worried about him.''

Gotterup's surging start has him comfortably atop the FedEx Cup standings four events into the season. He's at 1,046 points, well ahead of Scheffler (625) in second and Ryan Gerard (542) in third.

He says he's trying not to spend attention on big-picture things, expressing gratitude for a circle of family, friends and coaches who are keeping him grounded through this sudden trajectory shift.

'I don't think I get too caught up in it all. I try to focus on what's in front of me and this week obviously is a big week for everyone,' Gotterup said. 'But all that stuff is very cool, like there's no denying that, but it doesn't stop what we're trying to do.

'My coach texted me, he was saying, he's like, 'Obviously enjoy Sunday but I want you to get out there and do some combines and send me some texts and make sure you're doing your stuff still and not get too caught up in everything.' Everyone keeps me in check and I try to keep myself in check for the most part, too.'

--Field Level Media