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NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Aldrich Potgieter is redefining the term long driver on the PGA Tour.
“The speed this kid has,” said his swing coach Justin Parsons. “When he’s doing that, he doesn’t even look like he’s going that hard at it. He does it with ease.”
But on Thursday, his shortest club in the bag was his best. The 21-year-old South African made 137 feet of putts, including pouring in a 44-foot birdie putt at No. 11, one of six birdies on the day, en route to posting 3-under 67 at Aronimink Golf Club to share the early first-round lead with Stephan Jaeger and Min Woo Lee at the 108th PGA Championship on Thursday.
“It was nice the putter was warm,” said Potgieter, who ranks 122nd in SG: Putting this season but was first on the day. “I hit it on the right spots on the golf course, especially on the greens. I didn't feel like I had to putt over some of these big slopes we had. So I definitely left myself in really good positions on the green.”
On a chilly, blustery morning when he was among the first players to tee off, Potgieter became the second-youngest player to shoot 67 or better in the first round of the PGA – only Sergio Garcia, who was 19 when he shot 66 in 1999 was younger. Potgieter used his driver 10 or 11 times on the day but the launch conditions weren’t ideal to tee it high and let it fly.
“It's hard when the shaft is that stiff and your body's not working properly to get the ball speed up for the shaft to work as well,” he said.
That’s usually not a problem for Potgieter, who is listed at 5-10 and 210 pounds and topped all players in driving distance in 2025 with an average of 327 yards, a full six yards longer than Rory McIlroy, ranked second, and his tee shots measure 26 yards longer than the Tour average. Potgieter, who also led the Korn Ferry Tour in Driving Distance in 2024, is tops in distance on Tour again this season.
“I think it just kind of came naturally. I haven't done too much to get the distance that I got, it's just kind of been given to me. So happy with it, and just trying to control it, that's kind of the big thing we're trying to work on,” Potgieter said of his prodigious length. “Kind of did everything as a kid, didn't just focus on golf, so that kind of helped me build that strong foundation at the start, and I think that happened at the right time during my growth spurt that it helped me a lot.”
At the age of 20 years, 9 months, 16 days, Potgieter became the ninth-youngest Tour winner since the start of the 1983 season and youngest Tour winner from South Africa with his win at the Rocket Classic in Detroit in July. He was named the third South African winner of the Arnold Palmer Award, joining Ernie Els (1994) and Trevor Immelman (2006) as the Tour's Rookie of the Year. Now, it’s a question of how Potgieter can harness his superpower. Potgieter is off to a great start this week, something he said that’s been lacking this season. He’s opened with scores of 79 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, 84 at the Masters and 74 last week at the Truist Championship.
“There wasn't a lot of people out there this morning on the first couple of holes. So it was nice to kind of get in my own little space and kind of get a groove in early on,” he said.
Lee, a talented 27-year-old Australian with one Tour title to his credit, had the solo lead until he made bogey at the par-3 eighth, his 17th hole of the day. Jaeger, a 36-year-old from Germany, did his damage early, making five birdies on the front nine.
South African Garrick Higgo would have been tied for the lead, too, but he was penalized two strokes for showing up late to his 7:18 a.m. tee time. Higgo was still on the practice green rather than the area defined as the starting point at his designated tee time. The starting point for the first and 10th tees are defined by the rope, gallery stakes, green bike fencing and/or blue stakes, blue dots or blue lines, the PGA’s Rules Committee said. Higgo arrived one minute too late. His par on the first hole became a double bogey. Higgo bounced back from the two-stroke penalty and birdied his final hole, No. 9, to shoot 1-under 69.
“It is what it is,” he told ESPN after the round. “I think it shows a lot of mental strength how I kept it together…I’m super proud. I think a lot of guys would have shot a lot in that situation.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Aldrich Potgieter shares early PGA Championship lead with hot putter
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“The speed this kid has,” said his swing coach Justin Parsons. “When he’s doing that, he doesn’t even look like he’s going that hard at it. He does it with ease.”
But on Thursday, his shortest club in the bag was his best. The 21-year-old South African made 137 feet of putts, including pouring in a 44-foot birdie putt at No. 11, one of six birdies on the day, en route to posting 3-under 67 at Aronimink Golf Club to share the early first-round lead with Stephan Jaeger and Min Woo Lee at the 108th PGA Championship on Thursday.
“It was nice the putter was warm,” said Potgieter, who ranks 122nd in SG: Putting this season but was first on the day. “I hit it on the right spots on the golf course, especially on the greens. I didn't feel like I had to putt over some of these big slopes we had. So I definitely left myself in really good positions on the green.”
On a chilly, blustery morning when he was among the first players to tee off, Potgieter became the second-youngest player to shoot 67 or better in the first round of the PGA – only Sergio Garcia, who was 19 when he shot 66 in 1999 was younger. Potgieter used his driver 10 or 11 times on the day but the launch conditions weren’t ideal to tee it high and let it fly.
“It's hard when the shaft is that stiff and your body's not working properly to get the ball speed up for the shaft to work as well,” he said.
That’s usually not a problem for Potgieter, who is listed at 5-10 and 210 pounds and topped all players in driving distance in 2025 with an average of 327 yards, a full six yards longer than Rory McIlroy, ranked second, and his tee shots measure 26 yards longer than the Tour average. Potgieter, who also led the Korn Ferry Tour in Driving Distance in 2024, is tops in distance on Tour again this season.
“I think it just kind of came naturally. I haven't done too much to get the distance that I got, it's just kind of been given to me. So happy with it, and just trying to control it, that's kind of the big thing we're trying to work on,” Potgieter said of his prodigious length. “Kind of did everything as a kid, didn't just focus on golf, so that kind of helped me build that strong foundation at the start, and I think that happened at the right time during my growth spurt that it helped me a lot.”
At the age of 20 years, 9 months, 16 days, Potgieter became the ninth-youngest Tour winner since the start of the 1983 season and youngest Tour winner from South Africa with his win at the Rocket Classic in Detroit in July. He was named the third South African winner of the Arnold Palmer Award, joining Ernie Els (1994) and Trevor Immelman (2006) as the Tour's Rookie of the Year. Now, it’s a question of how Potgieter can harness his superpower. Potgieter is off to a great start this week, something he said that’s been lacking this season. He’s opened with scores of 79 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, 84 at the Masters and 74 last week at the Truist Championship.
“There wasn't a lot of people out there this morning on the first couple of holes. So it was nice to kind of get in my own little space and kind of get a groove in early on,” he said.
Lee, a talented 27-year-old Australian with one Tour title to his credit, had the solo lead until he made bogey at the par-3 eighth, his 17th hole of the day. Jaeger, a 36-year-old from Germany, did his damage early, making five birdies on the front nine.
South African Garrick Higgo would have been tied for the lead, too, but he was penalized two strokes for showing up late to his 7:18 a.m. tee time. Higgo was still on the practice green rather than the area defined as the starting point at his designated tee time. The starting point for the first and 10th tees are defined by the rope, gallery stakes, green bike fencing and/or blue stakes, blue dots or blue lines, the PGA’s Rules Committee said. Higgo arrived one minute too late. His par on the first hole became a double bogey. Higgo bounced back from the two-stroke penalty and birdied his final hole, No. 9, to shoot 1-under 69.
“It is what it is,” he told ESPN after the round. “I think it shows a lot of mental strength how I kept it together…I’m super proud. I think a lot of guys would have shot a lot in that situation.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Aldrich Potgieter shares early PGA Championship lead with hot putter
Continue reading...
