South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter Opens with a 67 at Aronimink

South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter is making just his sixth major championship start this week and his first in a PGA Championship.

That didn’t seem to faze him one bit. The long-hitting Potgieter, 21, went out early in the opening round – the second group off at 6:50 a.m. – of the 108th PGA Championship at Aronimink on Thursday. He fired a 3-under 67 to take the early clubhouse lead.

It was his lowest round to date in a major.

“I think it helped this morning being out so early,” Potgieter said. “So it was nice to kind of get in my own little space and kind of get a groove in early on. It's nice being in America playing here over the last two years and kind of coming to these big events, playing more Signature Events as well. I definitely feel this week I'm more comfortable.”

In his previous five major starts, Potgieter has missed the cut four times and his best finish was 64th in the 2023 U.S. Open. Thursday was a much different story.

Starting on the back nine, Potgieter drained a 44-foot uphill putt at the par-4 11th for his first birdie of the day. Back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 14 and 15 put Potgieter at 1 over, but he showed quick resilience with bounce back birdies on 16 and 17 to get back in red numbers.

No. 16 is a 551-yard par 5. Potgieter wedged his third shot to 8 feet and holed the putt. At the difficult, 241-yard par-3 17th hole, Potgieter stuffed his tee shot to 10 feet and knocked in the putt.

“I think I hit it on the right spots on the golf course, especially on the greens,” said Potgieter, who earned his first PGA Tour victory last June at the Rocket Classic. “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. Definitely made some long putts. So it was nice the putter was warm. And struggling off the tee a bit on the front nine when it was cold, but definitely got better on the back.”

Potgieter ended his day with a birdie on No. 18. He reached the massive 609-yard par 5 in just two shots, hitting an iron from 267 yards out that ran up onto the green. After two putts, he signed for his 67.

“It's nice to be on the leaderboard early on in the week,” said. “I think the last couple of weeks I didn't have that first round where I got myself close enough to the leaders, and kind of felt like I had to catch up a little bit. So it's nice to be in this position now and getting in before hopefully the wind picks up a little bit for this afternoon. It's nice to get out early and get the first day done.”

Potgieter, who became the youngest winner in Korn Ferry Tour history at the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at 19 years, 133 days in January 2024, will have plenty of time to rest before his second round at 12:15 p.m. on Friday.