The crowd erupted at the BMW Championship as Chris Gotterup narrowly missed a hole-in-one on the par-3 sixth.

The second round of the BMW Championship included a fan filled Bellerive, with people filling bleachers and the walkways as the PGA Tour returned to St. Louis for the first time since 2018.

And boy were they excited. Highly favored Tommy Fleetwood and three-time 2026 winner Gotterup stood on the sixth tee box and rifled off their tee shots. Except Gotterup’s was loud.

His ball stopped just inches from the cup, narrowly missing a hole-in-one that would have won him a new BMW if he was on the 16th hole.

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“I mean it’s easy to walk out there and think it matches and then, you know, you just have to hit the shots,” said Gotterup after the first round. “You got to be in the fairway out here for the most part.

“Just got to be able to take advantage of par-5s and some of the easier pins on the par-4s. But be able to hone it back on some of the tougher holes as well. So I think obviously I like when I show up and I see a big golf course.

“I think that, you know, makes me feel good to begin with. But, yeah, coming off a week like last week where it’s very A to B, and this week where you can kind of get out and get after it a little bit, it’s a nice feeling.”

Gotterup had a share of the lead after the first round and has secured his invite to East Lake, as the 27-year-old sits seventh in the FedEx Cup standings. Not only does he have the opportunity to earn the Tour Championship title, but he’s also in the running for the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year thanks to his three trophies.

“Frankly, it doesn’t totally matter,” said Gotterup referring to the player of the year award. “I’m trying to play the best I can.

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“If it works out, it works out. If not, I’ve had a pretty good year regardless. Really just trying to play well this week and see what happens. But, yeah, I haven’t really thought too much about it.”

The BMW Championship is a no cut event as the top-50 players on Tour tee off for the title in St. Louis and 20 will be cut heading into East Lake next week.