Aldrich Potgieter beats Patrick Reed, Jon Rahm and 71 others to career-best world ranking at Rocket Classic

Aldrich Potgieter won his maiden PGA Tour event at the 2025 Rocket Classic, which wrapped with a finale on Sunday, June 29. The South African golfer tied for the lead after four rounds. He won the event after defeating Max Greyserman and Chris Kirk in a sudden-death playoff.

With his victory, Potgieter jumped to 49th in the Official World Golf Ranking, surpassing Jon Rahm and Patrick Reed among others. He was ranked 123rd before the Rocket Classic, and with the victory, he made it to the top 50.

This week, Patrick Reed won the LIV Golf Dallas event; however, he did not receive any ranking as it was the Saudi league event, and slipped down to 57th place in the OWGR. Jon Rahm, the former World No. 1, slipped down to 63rd in the rankings.

Scottie Scheffler is still in the lead, followed by Rory McIlroy in second place. Xander Schauffele is ranked third in the world, followed by Justin Thomas.

Aldrich Potgieter made a huge jump in the OWGR in 2025. He was ranked outside the top 200 at the start of the season, and in the last six months, he managed to get into the top 50.

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Aldrich Potgieter opens up about his performance at Rocket Classic 2025

Aldrich Potgieter started his outing at the 2025 Rocket Classic on Thursday, June 25, with an opening round of 62. He played a bogey-free round, carding eight birdies and an eagle, but then struggled in the second round.

Potgieter carded 70 in the next round, followed by 65 in the third. With the final of 69, he managed to maintain his third-round lead and won the event by making a birdie on the fifth playoff hole.

Potgieter opened up about his performance in a post-round press conference. He said, via ASAP Sports:

"It was a big grind. I mean, it was a very long day, kind of couldn't get ahead of myself. I didn't get off to the best start, so I knew there was a lot of holes still available, still to get back. There was a switch that kind of went off when I lost the lead and I kind of felt like I can kind of chase something.

"I kind of had to pull myself out of the environment I was in before those first couple holes and get in that chase mode where I can kind of play some different golf, golf that I played the first three days. When that went off, I birdied the par 5 on 7, birdied 8, had a really good look on 9, so I felt the momentum switch there definitely," he added.

Earlier this season, Aldrich Potgieter was the runner-up at the Mexico Open, after losing to Brian Campbell in a playoff. However, at this week's PGA Tour event, he managed to secure his win.