2026 Masters<\/a> got off to a fast, fast start for Aldrich Potgieter on Thursday morning, and not in a good way.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old South African, who leads the PGA Tour in average driving distance this season, was out of sorts from the get-go, blocking his opening tee shot well right, and things compounded in a hurry from there.<\/p>\n
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Augusta National is home to some of the tightest lines in all of golf, and they only get tighter in areas where patrons stand around the greens. Potgieter and the leading edge of his lob wedge learned that the hard way on the opening hole as he completely skulled his pitch shot over the green up against a grandstand.<\/p>\n
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After carding a double bogey on the first hole, Potgieter settled into his round with three consecutive pars, but the golf course grabbed a hold of him on the Par 4 fifth hole and didn’t let go. A run of bogey, bogey, double bogey, double bogey, and he suddenly found himself at the bottom of the leaderboard, playing bogey golf at 8-over through eight holes.<\/p>\n
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Amen Corner wasn’t kind to the long hitter, either. After a bogey on No. 11, Potgieter found the water with his tee shot on the Par 3 12th, en route to his fourth double bogey of the day.<\/p>\n
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While Potgieter isn’t the first nor will he be the last to struggle mightily<\/i> around Augusta National, his specific pairing on Thursday made for quite the unique stage to completely implode.<\/p>\n
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Potgieter is paired with Rasmus Neergard-Petersen and 60-year-old, two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal for the opening two rounds of the tournament.<\/p>\n
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Olazabal, who is 39 years older than the South African, bested Potgieter by a stunning 10 shots on the opening nine holes. Potgieter posted a 44 across his first nine, while Olazabal had the magic working early and made the turn at 2-under.<\/p>\n
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