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After five straight birdies – and six overall – that led to front-nine 29, 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. Aaron Rai was solo third 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.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Mexico Open 2025: Aldrich Potgieter shoots 61 to lead by four shots
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