Power Nine: A Big Hitter’s Breakthrough and ‘Captain America’ Heats Up

Our weekly list of newsmakers also includes three who came up short in playoffs and the combatants in a rare senior dustup.

Aldrich Potgieter now can call himself a PGA Tour winner, not just the Tour's longest hitter. / Aaron Doster/Imagn Images

Every Wednesday, SI Golf will rank nine newsmakers from the golf world. Sometimes we'll cast a wide net. Tell us what you think on the SI Golf X account.

1. Aldrich Potgieter: Is a star born? The 20-year-old South African rookie, who is the longest hitter on Tour, won the Rocket Classic for his maiden victory in a five-hole playoff.  Now, he joins Seve Ballesteros, Rory McIlroy, Joaquin Niemann and Tom Kim as the only international players to win before turning 21. The sky is the limit, but he surely hopes to follow in McIlroy’s and Ballesteros’s footsteps.

2. Padraig Harrington: He won the U.S. Senior Open last week, but that’s not why he’s here. The 53-year-old lambasted NBC on-course reporter Roger Maltbie after the second round for not helping search for a lost golf ball. The exchange was caught on video and went viral, with many keyboard warriors disagreeing with Harrington’s stance.

3. Roger Maltbie: Of course there are two sides to every story and the venerable Maltbie, who won five times on the PGA Tour before becoming a broadcaster in 1991, didn’t believe he should have been part of the search team because he wasn’t competing and it would have defied his producers request to report what was occurring. He explained his stance the next day, saying, “All these checks I’ve gotten from NBC, (Harrington’s) name isn’t on any of them.” However, NBC’s Mark Rolfing reported on X that the two reached a detente. 

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4. Collin Morikawa: A T8 in Detroit and a caddie change are certainly notable, but when a reporter asked him about his split last Wednesday during the pro-am, Morikawa was quoted saying, “Ask me anything you want in my press conference later,” and then chastised him in the press conference for printing that quote. A day later, Morikawa doubled down on what he said. Those quotes were circulating on social media all week, and now, the two-time major champion is a surprisingly polarizing figure. 

5. Max Greyserman: Getting into the Rocket Classic playoff, he had multiple chances to claim his first win, but his putter went cold. It’s his fourth runner-up in the past year. The 30-year-old isn’t quite in Tommy Fleetwood territory, but after so many close calls, one might wonder when, or if, he’ll break through. 

6. Patrick Reed: The 2018 Masters champion won his first LIV event on Sunday. And after placing third at the Masters and finishing in the top 25 at the U.S. Open, some are calling for “Captain America” to be on the Ryder Cup team. LIV events probably shouldn’t have any weight in the decision-making for a captain’s pick, but that doesn’t mean people will stop campaigning.

7. Chris Kirk: He hit his approach on the first playoff hole at the Rocket Classic to 11 feet, but couldn’t get it to drop for the victory. Then, he three-putted the second bonus hole to fall out of the playoff. However, in 17 starts this season, it was his first top 10. 

8. Lexi Thompson: The semi-retired LPGA star played the Dow Championship (a team event in which she partnered up with Megan Khang) for her third start in as many weeks. Thompson fell just short of her first LPGA win since 2019, as the team lost in a playoff.

9. Cole Hammer: In last week’s Korn Ferry Tour event, he disqualified himself and fellow pro Nelson Ledesma for a rules violation. After hitting a 4-iron on the par-3 17th, Hammer looked at his playing partner’s caddie, who flashed four fingers at Hammer. Then Hammer lifted four fingers in response as confirmation. Assisting with club selection is against the rules (right, Brooks Koepka?) and Hammer reported the incident, feeling it was the right thing to do, explaining his decision to GolfChannel.com. 

Also considered: Somi Lee, Jin Hee Im, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Brooks Koepka, Richard Tedar, Kevin Kisner, Karrie Webb 

Dropped out from last week: Keegan Bradley, Minjee Lee, Tommy Fleetwood, Wyndham Clark, Jordan Spieth, Stacy Lewis, Justin Thomas, Russell Henley, Viktor Hovland