PGA Tour rookie narrowly misses history at Mexico Open but joins exclusive club in process
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Aldrich Potgieter joined an exclusive club with his 61 at the Mexico Open and almost made history in the process.
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When Aldrich Potgieter gets hot, almost no course is safe.
The 20-year-old PGA Tour rookie’s ability to get blistering hot was on full display on Friday during the second round at the 2025 Mexico Open at VidantaWorld. The South African prodigy went out in 29, including five straight birdies to close his front side. With three par 5s in front of him on the back nine at Vidanta Vallarta, Potgieter had a chance to shoot 59 and become the first player to shoot in the 50s on both the PGA Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour. Potgieter shot 59 in the second round of the 2024 Astara Golf Championship in Bogota, Colombia.
But history was not in the cards as Potgieter only birdied one of the three par 5s on the back nine and wound up shooting a 10-under-par 61. However, the lone par-5 birdie Potgieter carded on the back nine was impressive. He hit his drive on the 661-yard par 5 331 yards. Potgieter hit driver off the deck for his second, hitting it 323 yards to the green, which gave him 22 feet for an easy two-putt birdie.
While Potgieter did miss out on joining the PGA Tour’s 59 club, his 61 did place him on an exclusive list.
Per golf stats guru Justin Ray, Potgieter became just the fourth PGA Tour player in the last 40 years to shoot 61 or lower before the age of 21. Patrick Cantlay (60 at the 2011 Travelers Championship), Tom Kim (61 at the 2022 Wyndham Championship) and Nick Dunlap (60 at the 2024 American Express) are the others.
“Started off really good with five birdies in a row on the front nine and that helped a lot to get momentum,” Potgieter said after his round. “Made a really good chip-in for par on 10 [after driving it into the water] to keep the momentum going. I knew on the back nine there was a couple of par 5s — three par 5s that I still had available to me. I just tried to birdie those three and come up with a good score. Yeah, made some bonus birdies and didn’t birdie the par 5s, which were unfortunate. Yeah, really happy with today.”
Potgieter missed the cut in his first two starts as a pro before popping at the Farmers Insurance Open with a third-round 67 that put him in the final group. However, Potgieter melted away on Sunday, shooting a final-round 78 to finish in a tie for 15th.
The young South African will look for a different result this weekend at Vidanta Vallarta. Potgieter knows that even if he doesn’t hold onto his four-shot lead over the weekend, a good result will be a massive boon to his chances of keeping his card.
“Last year [on the Korn Ferry Tour], I had that win early, played pretty good at the start of the year, and then disappeared a little bit. I don’t want to be in that position to be playing for my card in the last event of the year again,” Potgieter said, referencing his 29th-place finish on the KFT despite winning the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic. “Yeah, just trying to put a good result up this week and keep the momentum going forward to the other weeks.”
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Josh Schrock is a writer and reporter for Golf. com. Before joining GOLF, Josh was the Chicago Bears insider for NBC Sports Chicago. He previously covered the 49ers and Warriors for NBC Sports Bay Area. A native Oregonian and UO alum, Josh spends his free time hiking with his wife and dog, thinking of how the Ducks will break his heart again, and trying to become semi-proficient at chipping. A true romantic for golf, Josh will never stop trying to break 90 and never lose faith that Rory McIlroy’s major drought will end. Josh can be reached at josh.schrock@golf.com.
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Averaging over 320 yards off the tee, Aldrich Potgieter (61) powers way to Mexico Open lead
VALLARTA, Mexico — Aldrich Potgieter showed his ability to shoot low Friday in the Mexico Open, powering and putting his way to a 10-under 61 that gave the big-hitting South African a four-shot lead going into the weekend at Vidanta Vallarta.
Potgieter chipped in for par after a tee shot into the water on the 10th hole. He failed to birdie two of the shorter par 5s on the back nine. He still had an outside chance at another sub-60 round, having shot 59 on the Korn Ferry Tour a year ago.
Those hopes ended with a tee shot into the bunker on the par-5 18th hole, and an approach that came up short into a bunker. The ball stayed near the lip, making it difficult for him to get the 20-yard bunker shot close. He two-putted from 25 feet for par.
“But it was OK,” he said of the par. “I knew I made a lot of extra birdies throughout the day where that wasn’t going to hurt me.”
Potgieter tied the course record and was at 16-under 126, four shots ahead of Stephan Jaeger (64) and Brian Campbell, who birdied his last hole for a second straight 65.
It was superb display for Potgieter, who won the 2022 British Amateur at age 17 and last year became the youngest player (19) to win on the Korn Ferry Tour.
“I love the golf course. It definitely suits my game, I think, in a lot of aspects,” Potgieter said. “If I can keep putting well, I think it should be pretty good.”
His power and ball-striking stand out. His putter is what led to the 61, with Potgieter holing seven putts from the 10-foot range or longer. That doesn’t include the 10th, where his tee shot found the water, he came up just short of the green and chipped in from 20 feet for par.
He reached the 661-yard 12th hole in two by hitting driver off the fairway to just over 20 feet.
“I’ve been practicing, doing a drill on the driving range with teeing it really low and hitting it really good with the driver that way,” Potgieter said. “I was telling my caddie, ‘Let’s just do the same thing.’ It was a perfect number, so yeah, hit the perfect shot.”
Seven of his drives went 325 yards or longer.
Jaeger had another bogey on one of the five par 5s, this time by hitting wedge over the green at No. 12, and still managed a 64 to stay in the mix. He had six birdies on his last 10 holes.
“It’s one of those golf courses I feel like if you hit it nicely and you give yourself a lot of chances, the greens are so good it’s nice to make some putts,” he said.
Aaron Rai of England, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 29, had a 64 and was five shots behind.
Antoine Rozner came to his final hole needing birdie to move the cut line and knock out 12 players. Rozner had to make a 10-foot par to avoid missing the cut himself.
Two Masters-bound amateurs were among the 77 players who made the cut at 3-under 138. Latin America Amateur champion Justin Hastings of the Cayman Islands birdied three of his last four holes for a 67 and was at 136. U.S. Amateur champion Jose Luis Ballester shot another 69 and was at 138.
Also making the cut was Blades Brown, the 17-year-old who turned pro this year. He shot 69 and was 11 shots out of the lead.
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Big-hitting rookie shoots 61, leads Mexico Open at VidantaWorld by four shots
After five straight birdies – and six overall – that led to front-nine 29, followed by a pair of pars, Aldrich Potgieter arrived at the longest hole on the golf course, the 661-yard 12th hole.
It’s the first of three back-nine par 5s at Vidanta Vallarta, Mexico, host of the 2025 Mexico Open at VidantaWorld.
After unleashing a 331-yard drive, the big-hitting Potgieter hit his second 323 yards to reach the green in two. He would two-putt for another birdie to get to 7 under.
“I’ve been practicing doing a drill on the driving range with teeing it really low and hitting itreally good with the driver that way. I was telling my caddie, I was like let’s just do the samething,” he said. “It was a perfect number, so yeah, hit the perfect shot and had an eagle opportunity that I didn’t make, but it was good, yeah.”
Potgieter, who 13 months ago became the youngest winner on the Korn Ferry Tour at age 19, then birdied Nos. 13, 15 and 17 to get to 10 under on his round at the par 71 golf course. An eagle on the closing par 5 would give him a 59 and make him the first to shoot 59 on both the PGA Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour. His KFT 59 came just 50 weeks ago at the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic.
On the 18th hole, Potgieter’s second landed in a greenside bunker. His blast out did not go in, closing the door on the 59. He then missed the birdie for a 60 but tapped in for par for a course-record-tying 61 to get to 6 under to walk off the course with a four-shot lead over Stephan Jaeger, whose second-round 64 got him to 12 under, and Brian Campbell, who posted a second-straight 65 late in the day. Aaron Rai is solo fourth at 11 under.
“I love the golf course, it definitely suits my game I think in a lot of aspects. If I can keep putting well, I think it should be pretty good,” Potgieter said.
Potgieter is one of 32 rookies in the field in Mexico but he’s now in the best position to be the first among them to win on the PGA Tour. The last time there was a larger rookie pool on Tour was in 2011 when there were 35. Potgieter is one of six South Africans – and one of two South African rookies – on Tour in 2025.
He’s playing in his 10th Tour event and fourth this year. He tied for 10th at the American Express a month ago, his best finish to date.
A three-way tie for fifth has Ben Griffin, Isaiah Salinda and Akshay Bhatia.
