Is the PGA Tour losing its identity?

New personalities like Potgieter need to Hulk-out as household stars; Stray Shots

20-year-old Rocket Classic winner Aldrich Potgieter has potential to be next big thing (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

As I watched the three-man playoff between a 40-year-old Chris Kirk, 30-year-old Max Greyserman and 20-year-old South African Aldrich Potgieter — the youngest player on the PGA Tour — it dawned on me that a good chunk of the public watching the Rocket Classic might not have any idea who these three guys are.

Kirk is not a household name, but with six career wins and over $34 million in earnings, the former University of Georgia player has largely flown under the radar throughout his career. Which is not a bad thing, but it’s hard to build a tour around him.

Greyserman has four runner-up finishes in his short 47 events on the PGA Tour. With earnings more than $7 million in his career, Greyserman has done all right for himself.

Unfortunately for the tour, Greyserman’s birthplace, Short Hills, New Jersey, is better known for the mall with the same name than the fact that Greyserman was born there.

Potentially the only positive for the PGA Tour comes in the form of Potgieter, the eventual winner in a five-hole playoff.

Now No. 49 in the world after his first victory on the PGA Tour, the South African has some personality and hardcore skills that the tour can work with. But he’s no Ernie Els, so he will need help to get the maximum out of him.

Of course, what happened in Detroit could be a one-and-done for the prodigiously long Potgieter, but it doesn’t seem that way.

Potgieter is the third PGA Tour winner under the age of 21 since the start of the 2020-21 season, joining Nick Dunlap (2024 American Express, 2024 Barracuda Championship) and Tom Kim (2022 Wyndham Championship, 2022 Shriners Children’s Open).

He is also the youngest South African to ever win on tour and one of only seven players since 1983 to win before turning 21. Three of those other six are Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth, so that also bodes well for the tour.

But what do they do with Potgieter? For that fact, what do you do with Brian Campbell, Joe Highsmith, Karl Vilips, Min Woo Lee, Garrick Higgo or Ben Griffin? They all won for the first time on the PGA Tour this season, and most people would be hard pressed to pick some of them out of a lineup.

In most cases, Gordon Sargent has received more column inches from the media and more adoration from the PGA Tour than the players listed above and he’s only made one career cut.

Some believe Sargent may prove to be a bust since struggling with his game in his last year at Vanderbilt University after the 22-year-old was the first player to earn his tour card from the PGA Tour University Accelerated program.

Once ranked No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, the long-hitting Sargent couldn’t break an egg in 2025 with his best finish a T22 in the Jones Cup. Not too long ago, we were ready to anoint Sargent as the next big thing.

We’ve done the same thing with many golfers: win one week and their opinion suddenly matters while and their game and swing are all something to be copied. But then they either fall back into the pack or step up to find themselves consistently in groups that are teeing off in the mid-afternoon on Sunday.

There is no way to know which direction Potgieter’s compass will turn, but what is important is how the PGA Tour showcases these potential rising stars.

Because the PGA Tour’s future depends on developing new identities fans can identify with.

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Stray Shots: Can Cantlay make grade?

By Peter Kaufman

1. Ryder Cup countdown: Stray Shots will be looking at the potential captain’s choices as the summer wends along. No question fortunes can change with the ensuing tournaments, but it’s certainly time to start the examinations.

There are only four spots in Team USA open, honestly. Because we start with the assumption that Keegan Bradley will either qualify automatically or will pick himself to play. I think there is no question he plays; the only question is whether he resigns captaincy to so do (doubt it).

And Collin Morikawa is presumably close to a lock as a captain’s pick, since he is the world No. 5 and currently sits seventh in Ryder Cup points which is just outside automatically qualifying.

Hence everyone else is fighting over four wild-card spots. The likely “everyone” pool right now comprises: Ben Griffin, Patrick Cantlay, Maverick McNealy, Andrew Novak, Sam Burns, Brian Harman, Harris English, Cameron Young and LIV golfers Patrick Reed and Brooks Koepka.

There are pros and cons for each of them. (BTW, at the last Ryder Cup in Rome both Europe and the U.S. had four rookies. Team USA already has one guaranteed rookie — J.J. Spaun whose rise from unknown to major champ has been meteoric.)

Today, Stray Shots take a look at Patrick Cantlay, who has slipped from No. 3 in 2023 to a quiet No. 20 in the world and 14th in Ryder Cup points.