DETROIT — Aldrich Potgieter, standing on the practice green at Detroit Golf Club, said the most challenging part of his life was moving to Australia when he was eight and returning to South Africa at age 17 because the COVID-19 pandemic limited his opportunities to compete.
Potgieter is about to face another test.
The PGA Tour’s youngest player and biggest hitter is going into the final round of the Rocket Classic with a two-shot lead, hoping to hold off a pack of players, including Collin Morikawa, for his first victory on the circuit.
“The leaderboard’s so stacked,” Potgieter said after he had five straight birdies in a 7-under 65 to surge into the lead Saturday.
The 20-year-old tour rookie started the week averaging 326.6 yards off the tee — several yards longer than Rory McIlroy — and credits his multi-sport childhood.
“I played a lot of sports, rugby, wrestling,” the 5-foot-11, 211-pound Potgieter said. “Kind of did everything as a kid. Didn’t just focus on golf, so that kind of helped me build that strong foundation.”
Max Greyserman (66), Jake Knapp (66), Mark Hubbard (67), Andrew Putnam (67) and Chris Kirk (69) were two shots back. Three more players were another stroke behind.
“As long as you’re kind of hanging around on Sunday, that’s what counts,” Greyserman said.
Collin Morikawa, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 5 in the world, shot a 68 to start the final round four shots back. Two years ago in Detroit, he was outlasted by Rickie Fowler in a playoff. Morikawa, a two-time major champion, has not won on the tour since October 2023 at the Zozo Championship in Japan.
“Look, I know what’s at stake,” Morikawa said. “I want to find a way to get it done.”
In a nod to his native country, Potgieter’s white golf shoes have the South African flag on the outside of his heels.
He won the British Amateur at the age of 17 and became the youngest Korn Ferry Tour winner last year, paving the way for him to become the second-youngest player to earn a PGA Tour card through the minor league just after his 20th birthday. The youngest was Jason Day, who was 19 in 2007.
Potgieter was in a position to win earlier this year.
He lost a playoff at the Mexico Open in February, when Brian Campbell got a big break when his tee shot on the second extra hole went off a tree and back in play. He missed the next four cuts and seven of eight before he was tied for sixth at the Charles Schwab Challenge last month in his last PGA Tour start last month.
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While the Detroit Golf Club is one of the easiest courses on the PGA Tour, it will likely be challenging for the world’s 123rd-ranked player to hold off the competition.
Potgieter’s driver certainly gives him a shot, but he also flashed some of his finesse during his birdie streak on the front nine in the third round.
He opened with a birdie on a 35-foot shot from a bunker. His approach on the par-5 seventh was buried in the rough, pin high and 78 feet to the right of the cup. He lofted the ball past the hole and it rolled back toward it, setting up an eight-foot birdie putt.
At the 372-yard, par-4 eighth hole, he waited for Kevin Roy and Michael Thorbjornsen to exit the green because he was going for it.
Potgieter pulled out his driver and sent the ball over towering trees and through the green before it finally rested in the rough 374 yards from the tee. He went on to make an 11-foot putt for his fifth straight birdie and sixth of the afternoon to help him shoot a 30 on the front nine for a two-shot lead.
He cooled off on the back nine with a birdie at No. 13 and lipping out on a 7-foot putt at the 14th, missing a chance to birdie the par 5, and closed with five pars in a row.
“That front nine really helped me to get through,” Potgieter said. “A lot of par saves on this back nine.”