Chris Gotterup ‘badass’ sister providing inspiration ahead of his Masters debut
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The meteroic rise of PGA golf star Chris Gotterup is well known. Chris this week will make his Masters Tournament debut.
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His sister Anna's story is just as impressive.
The siblings grew up in Little Silver. Anna is a senior lacrosse player for the nationally ranked Navy team who was dangerously close to losing her left leg due to a rare vascular condition called Popliteal Artery Entrapment Syndrome.
It’s a condition that caused the former Red Bank Catholic star’s calf muscle to atrophy down to a small fraction of its normal size. Her early outreach for treatment is credited with saving the leg and preserving her athletic and military careers.
All this while Anna has also been preparing for what comes after graduation - when she will spend five years on active duty and become an officer. In September as a potential Navy pilot, she'll attend flight school.
"It hasn't been easy for that young lady," dad Morten Gotterup said, "but she's kind of a badass."
The family will be in attendance when Chris, 26, tees it up in Augusta as a highly ranked newcomer that the golf world has been abuzz about; the 2025 Scottish Open champion said he'll "treat it like a normal week and try to play well."
Chris also played youth lacrosse but specialized in golf when he entered Christian Brothers Academy and he went on to have an elite collegiate golf career at Rutgers for four years and the University of Oklahoma for a final season.
There's a special spot in his heart for his little sister, Chris said.
"For me it's been cool because this is something she's been wanting to do her whole life," he said. "She's gone through a lot of ups and downs. I get a lot of love just because I play golf, but what she's doing is pretty amazing. Putting a lot of things to the side and sacrificing a lot of stuff for the country and all the people that are on her team... I have a much greater appreciation for what she does, in the military, now that she's involved. It's just really cool as a brother to see her do that and I think she deserves a lot of notoriety, and I probably get more than I should."
Likewise, Anna said: "Lucky enough for me, I'm going to be able to go Sunday at the Masters to watch him play this season - assuming he makes the cut, which I already pressured him on. That'll be awesome. I'm really excited to get down there to watch him play in such a prestigious tournament."
Growing up with lacrosse, golf and all things sports
The third Gotterup sibling - Patrick, who works in sports marketing and occasionally caddies for Chris on the PGA Tour - is the "glue kid" of the family, Morten said.
Morten and his wife Kate said sports naturally were always a common theme as they raised their family in Little Silver - Kate played field hockey and softball in high school; Morten played tennis at St. Mary's College in California and has been one of New Jersey's top amateur golfers.
"There are kind of two sets of parents: There are the ones convinced that at 10 years old their kid is going to be in the Hall of Fame for whatever sport and the other set of parents that are like 'can we get this over with' because Bobby doesn't know how to catch a ball,'" Morten sid. "We were somewhere in the middle with our kids. We knew that they were always athletic, Patrick might've been the most athletic out the three maybe, Anna is probably there, and Christopher's obviously very good but we never had visions that it would work out like this ever."
"She's just been super tenacious and not given up on trying to get back and play lacrosse at the high level," said Kate by phone last Friday while she was driving to see Anna and Navy play in Annapolis against Boston University. The seventh-ranked Midshipmen won 16-1. "Last year she worked her way back and then tore her MCL, so that was another setback, then she got herself back from that over the summer and this year's been pretty cool to see her play quite a bit."
'I'm still gaining that strength back'
Anna during her freshman year at Navy realized her leg wasn't right.
In cases of Popliteal Artery Entrapment Syndrome, muscles or tendons behind the knee compress a major artery. It restricted blood flow to Anna's lower left leg while running and her foot would go numb.
After CAT scans, MRIs and surgeries, she was able to get back on the field. If she would have waited longer to get it checked out, she may have not have had a leg, a doctor told her. She sat out her freshman lacrosse season. .
"I don't think I'm ever going to be back to the capability that I had before I had surgery freshman year, but I do feel very healthy and I'm definitely getting stronger even now four years later," Anna said. "I'm still gaining that strength back. If I didn't know I had surgery, I'd say that I feel pretty solid."
That Anna has made such a strong recovery is no surprise to Troy Madison, the lacrosse coach at Red Bank Catholic when she played there.
"You can tell she had something special. Really a motor that never quit even as a freshman, wanting to get on the field, and would kind of do anything she was asked to do and willing to play anywhere and go in," Madison recalled.
Anna said her goal this year is to help Navy win the national championship. The team was 11-0 - marking the best start in program history - before losing to No. 15 Loyola Maryland in late March. As of April 3, Anna has six goals and a career-high seven assists.
"I think I play a little more careful to say the least," Anna said. "I think I'm more aware of my surroundings and if I'm going to get trucked, I'm probably not going to try and go for that cut or go for that drive, because there's still something in my brain that says a little scary. But I'm starting to get over that fear, especially this season. Definitely a little more timid than I played before but getting over it."
"She's got a sense of put your head down and get through it. And her leg injury was very serious," Morten said. "It was not as much about playing Division I lacrosse, it was about whether she'd be even fit to stay in the Naval Academy. The little girl's dream at 5th grade was potentially going to be taken away by something she didn't have control over. But she attacked it, she is stronger for it. She had similar stuff with her eyes... she had to go to through some various surgeries to get her eyes so that she can fly."
The future
Navy athletes after graduation generally have an obligation of five years of active duty, something Anna says she's "totally fine" with.
The Iran War and global instability have her parents worried.
"It's very cool when your daughter is in high school and starting off in the Naval Academy - 'oh yeah, I want to be a fighter pilot' - it's very cool, until it becomes real," Morten said. "But this is one of those moments where I think she's fully aware of the consequences of her decision and it's all she wants. This is not my story selfishly telling her I want you to be safe, I don't want you to do it. It's recognizing the risks that she's undertaking and being as supportive as possible and just kind of moving on."
For Anna, she's pursuing a goal she set in elementary school.
"Everybody definitely has their concerns and their questions...that's not really for me to worry about because it's not my call," Anna said. "I'm just gonna do what I'm told and do the best that I can and train hard and be prepared for anything."
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ golf: Chris Gotterup at Masters talks sister Anna's Navy lacrosse story