Who Is Aldrich Potgieter? Get to Know This PGA Championship Contender

The 21-year-old South African, the longest hitter on the PGA Tour, is in the mix at the year's second major championship.

Aldrich Potgieter is one off the lead through 36 holes of the PGA Championship. | James Lang-Imagn Images

Casual viewers of the PGA Championship might have flipped on the ESPN telecast Friday and were confused who was leading. 

That would be 21-year-old Aldrich Potgieter. 

For the record, for those unaware, it’s pronounced: POT-gee-tur. 

Now, in his fifth major championship start, the longest driver on Tour is one stroke back of the 36-hole lead.

He was born in South Africa and attended Britsh Open champion Louis Oosthuizen’s Junior Golf Academy before moving to Australia at 8 years old. 

In July 2022, he put himself on the radar in the golf world, becoming the second youngest winner of the British Amateur Championship. He followed that up in 2023 by claiming the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley by 10 strokes, a record for largest margin of victory at the event. 

His Amateur Championship win got him into the 2023 Masters and U.S. Open. He missed the cut in Augusta, but finished 64th at Los Angeles Country Club that year.

A week later, he turned pro. And a few weeks after that, he carded a hole in one in a qualifier for the John Deere Classic on a 403-yard par-4. He still didn’t earn a spot in that tournament, but earned Korn Ferry Tour status at the end of the year through Q-School and won the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic in January 2024, becoming the youngest winner in Korn Ferry Tour history at 19 years, 133 days, topping Jason Day’s record from 2007.

Aldrich Potgieter sinks a 22-foot par putt to stay in the lead 👏

📺 ESPN | @PGAChampionship pic.twitter.com/LeoOQVRwh3

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) May 15, 2026

Two weeks later, he shot 59 on Day 2 of the Astara Golf Championship. 

Despite the win, he earned a Tour card by the skin of his teeth, finishing 29th out of 30 players to graduate from the Korn Ferry Tour, thanks to a final-round 69 in the Korn Ferry Tour Championship. 

The following Febuary, Potgieter had his “Hello, world” moment. 

Potgieter held the 54-hole lead at the PGA Tour’s Mexico Open and found himself in a sudden-death playoff against Brian Campbell (ironically, it was the Tour’s longest hitter vs. the circuit’s shortest). On the second bonus hole, Potgieter missed a 6-footer for birdie and lost. 

“Pressure’s a big thing,” he said after a final-round 67. “You can’t really beat it, you just have to learn and adjust to it next time you’re in this position again. I’m really happy with how I played this week and trying to do that the following week I guess. If you told me I would get second place before the week started, I would definitely have taken it.”

Afterward, he would miss seven of his next eight cuts. But his life changed at the Rocket Classic. 

Potgieter outlasted a bunched leaderboard in Detroit and topped Chris Kirk and Max Greyserman in a five-hole playoff, becoming the seventh-youngest Tour winner since 1983. 

“We had to give up a lot,” Potgieter said on the 18th green that day. “Moving to Australia, moving back. Emigrating is definitely not the easiest thing. Coming alone at the start of my career to the States and giving it a grind, and having my dad here has helped so much. Yeah, big thanks to my family, friends, coaches, everyone who's been involved to kind of get me to this point. I'm just happy to walk away as a winner.”

A pair of withdrawals and missed cuts ensued the rest of the season, but he was a champion, regardless. 

This year, the world No. 75 made only two cuts in his first seven starts. However, he since has three top 25s. 

Now, despite two bogeys to finish his second round at Aronimink, he has a chance at the biggest win of his life: the PGA Championship.