Aldrich Potgieter is quickly making a name for himself in the world of professional golf.
The 21-year-old South African only left the amateur game behind in 2023, but he made headlines the following year with a 59 at the Astara Golf Championship, before claiming his maiden title at the 2024 Bahamas Great Abaco Classic.
That helped him become one of 30 Korn Ferry Tour players to secure a PGA Tour card via its points list. He didn’t waste time making an impression after his step-up, either. Potgieter missed the cut in his first two PGA Tour events of the 2025 season, but he more than found his groove in his third outing, the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
There, he was among the leaders heading into the final round before finishing T15. Still, his reputation as one of the brightest talents in the game continued to flourish.
Before turning pro, Potgieter had already made a name for himself, not least by winning The Amateur in 2022.
At the Royal Lytham & St Annes tournament, his caddie was compatriot Christiaan Maas, a promising golfer in his own right, who has reached as high as ninth in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
After turning pro, Jake Roos was seen caddying for Potgieter. Roos is a fellow pro who claimed six wins on the Sunshine Tour between 2008 and 2013, and two Challenge Tour events in 2014. He clearly excels as a caddie, too, as he helped Potgieter to a T2 at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in December 2024.
The biggest win of Potgieter's professional career came with his maiden PGA Tour title in 2025 at the Rocket Classic. At that point, his caddie was Australian Rance De Grussa, who had previously worked with the likes of Minjee Lee and Jason Scrivener.
More recently, Potgiter has employed a new bagman, Luke Hopkins. He is the former caddie of Ben Martin.
As well as previous caddying experience, Hopkins also has plenty of know-how as a player, having been on the Clemson golf team before embarking on a professional career that included a spell on the SwingThought Tour.
Despite leaving that career behind to focus on caddying, he proved he still has what it takes at the 2023 Players Caddie Competition at the Players Championship.
Hopkins, who was still caddying for Martin at the time of the event, had one attempt at TPC Sawgrass's iconic island green at the 17th in the competition, sending his shot to within four feet seven inches to beat over 100 rivals.
Following that, Hopkins explained to Golf Digest that he had a simple philosophy for success, saying: "I forget who said it first and made it famous, but it really is 'aim small, miss small.'
"Pick your target, commit to it and forget it. This ball needs to go to this target. You can't think about what happens if it goes in the water, because on that hole, it could go in the water in all kinds of ways.”
Whether he is using similar straightforward advice with Potgieter or not, the partnership appears to be working, with some eye-catching performances in 2026 as his career goes from strength to strength.
