This week, Aldrich Potgieter is causing a stir at Detroit Golf Club with his strength and accuracy. As the final round approaches, the 20-year-old South African is leading the Rocket Classic (-19).

To win his first PGA Tour competition, Aldrich Potgieter needs perseverance, fortitude, and patience. At the 2025 Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club, the 20-year-old golfer needed five more playoff holes to defeat his rivals and win the trophy.

Potgieter had the opportunity to participate in the Pro-Am alongside Hogan Hatten, Jack Fox, and Jake Bates of the Detroit Lions prior to the event. During the final round of the playoffs, Detroit’s gifted kicker was seen supporting the South African golfer wearing green and white. After winning, Potgieter told WXYZ-TV that he now supports the NFC North team. “It has been fantastic. even participating in the Pro-Am alongside a few Lions players,” Potgieter remarked. “I guess I’m now a Lions fan. Perhaps the Lions will be the professional squad I have to find.”

It was challenging to maintain the 54-hole advantage because the leader had a rough start to his final round. “I also believe that sleeping on a lead is really different. Five or six guys were right behind me two shots off the bat, so I think if you’re one or two shots behind, you sort of have the mindset, alright, I need to play well,” Potgieter said. “I need to get a sense of how the day will unfold. I noticed some guys waking up early to climb the leaderboard. Even early in the playoffs, Potgieter maintained his composure throughout the last round since putts were not dropping.

He eventually made a putt that put him among the Tour’s youngest winners in decades.

Max, the person I was playing with, was also a really skilled golfer. I kind of thought, “Okay, we’ve got to change, we’ve got to play like we played the last three,” after losing the lead after five or six holes, Potgieter said. “And that was also my goal going into the day, but it’s incredibly difficult to commit and have faith in oneself to carry it out. There is a significant mindset shift that you must adopt. It was somewhat of a game-changer once I accomplished that. Potgieter ended at -22 (266), making him the seventh-youngest winner on the PGA Tour since 1983.