Chris Gotterup ready for Major tilt over weekend at Aronimink

Chris Gotterup feels he is ready to contend for a maiden Major after carding the lowest round of the week on day two of the US PGA Championship.

The American's career has been on a stunning upward trajectory since he held off Rory McIlroy to win the Genesis Scottish Open and move into the world's top 100 last summer.

The following week he finished third at The Open and this season he has two wins on the PGA TOUR which helped him move into the top five on the Official World Golf Ranking.

He was met with tough, windy conditions in round two at Aronimink Golf Club but carded six birdies and a single bogey for a 65 - the lowest round of the week by two thus far - to put himself right in contention heading into the weekend.

After such a swift rise, this is just his sixth Major appearance and, while he may be coming in somewhat under the radar, he is confident he can challenge for one of golf's biggest titles.

"So far I've been just trying to put myself in the best position possible and trying to be in a good flow out there both mentally and within my golf game," he said. "Today was definitely a much better version of that.

"I think for the most part any time that you can get in the mix, you just get more and more comfortable. And that's not going to say that anything is easy to win. Every tournament that I've won has been a challenge. So hopefully give myself a challenge come Sunday.

"I'm just trying to put myself there, get the experience if possible, and if it comes through, great, and if not, I'll learn from it.

"I feel like, if I'm playing well, I can compete anywhere.

"I feel like you've got to keep putting yourself in position and you hope that one day it breaks through and it was your time. But as long as you can keep putting yourself there, I think that's all you can do."

With his peformance at Royal Portrush and now in Pennsylvania, Gotterup has certainly proven he has what it takes to play in the wind and the 26-year-old revealed he enjoys applying the creativity needed when fighting the elements.

"There's a certain aspect of creativity that's needed," he said. "Even if it's a generic shot, if it's blowing 30 off the right, you've got to be able to craft something that is manageable to get it in the middle of the green.

"I feel like I've gotten a lot better since turning pro at being OK with hitting it to 30 feet being a good shot, and I think there's a lot of that out here. So I think there's a lot of aspects of being patient and I feel like I've gotten better at that, but also just being creative and being willing to execute a shot that you might not try and pull off in a normal week.

"When you're hitting four iron from 190 out here and you're trying to cut it 20 yards to try to hold it up against the wind, it's something that I've gotten used to playing in more wind and, yeah, it doesn't make it any easier to execute, but you just have to be in the moment to hit those shots, and I've been in a couple of those and hit it. So hopefully keep doing that."