THE MODERATOR: We are joined here with Aldrich Potgieter. You are making your Playoffs debut. Let's get some comments on what it's like to enter playoff season.
ALDRICH POTGIETER: Awesome, yeah.
Q. What's the feel coming into Memphis this season and the excitement for the Playoffs to start?
ALDRICH POTGIETER: Yeah, it's obviously great to be here. I had a couple of weeks off, so it was nice to get a breather again and relax a little bit and get back into the groove of practicing and kind of getting my game where I want it to be coming into the Playoffs.
It's in a good position, so looking forward to this week.
Q. You mentioned you're in good position. You're entering at No. 43. Is there a sense of pressure or more excitement on trying to make it next week for BMW Championship?
ALDRICH POTGIETER: Yeah, I think it's nice to be in that position where there's not a ton of pressure. There's a lot of guys who can jump ahead of me, so we still need a good week this week. Just keep playing good golf, and I think -- I like the course. We've got new greens, so guys who played last year, I don't think they have that little edge that they usually would have. It's nice.
Q. One of three rookie winners on TOUR this season, but only rookie that's made it to the Playoffs. What's that honor to be the only rookie in the field this week?
ALDRICH POTGIETER: It's awesome. It's nice to see good results come from the first year on the TOUR. You always come in not knowing exactly how things will play out, so it's nice to see some good results through the year. We're just trying to keep that going for the next two weeks.
Q. Just got done playing the front nine. First time to this course, what are your initial thoughts of the course and how it'll be a test to your game?
ALDRICH POTGIETER: I think the weather is going to be the big factor. It is hot. There's not a lot of wind out there, so it's kind of going to have to be managing yourself as best you can.
But the golf course is amazing. Condition-wise, I was talking to some members, they haven't even been out there yet. It's nice to have a clean golf course where you can go out and attack.
Q. What are your expectations for the week? You're right at the top, I think maybe second in driving distance off the tee and so forth. Curious if you can use that to an advantage here.
ALDRICH POTGIETER: Yeah, if we can get back to No. 1, I think that would be nice.
But it's good. I think the golf course is a course where you have to hit a lot of different shots off the tee. It's not just pounding driver every hole, so that's good.
But yeah, I think it's just going in, trying to stay aggressive, just play the game I've had for the last two months. I think it's been good, so yeah, definitely try and use the driver when we can, but I think there's just certain holes where you kind of have to stay back a little bit and play with the whole field and not run too far ahead.
Q. When you've played well and when you won, obviously we know about the distance factor, but what else have you done well when you have played well?
ALDRICH POTGIETER: Yeah, I think the biggest thing that we've worked on was distance control, spin control with the irons and wedges. I think we nailed that a couple of weeks coming into Rocket, so we definitely saw some good stuff come out of that session we've done with the equipment, with my swing coach, Justin. It's definitely gotten a lot better a lot quicker than what we thought it was going to happen. If we can just keep the momentum going forward, target those certain areas, it should be good.
Q. Are you typically someone who sets goals? After your win at Detroit, were new goals set as you were getting into the Scottish and the Open, and how did that change the trajectory for the season?
ALDRICH POTGIETER: It definitely happened very quickly. Obviously playing in a major, we didn't know if we were going to get in after the win, so we had to wait a couple of weeks. When we got the news that we were getting in, it was kind of travel to the Scottish, try and learn as much as we can for the Open, and it was just two complete different tests. It was nice and warm at Scottish. The golf course was really firm. Then we got to the Open and it was cold and a little bit wet. So it was playing a little different.
I think a lot of it happened really quickly, coming off the win as well. I haven't had a lot of time to bring my head back into competition golf. I feel like it was all kind of a little bit of a blur after the win.
Having the two weeks off definitely helped me out a lot. I think this next couple of weeks if we can just keep that momentum going forward, what we had in Rocket, I think that's going to be really good.
Q. Didn't get much time after Detroit going over to John Deere, but have you been able to celebrate that win or will there be something post-season to celebrate?
ALDRICH POTGIETER: Yeah, I think when I go back to South Africa and see the family, I think there's a little bit more celebration over there. Me and my dad have just kind of been on the road with a caddie kind of having some fun every week, trying to hold on to the memories we made that week, to be able to keep that and treasure that.
Q. As a first-year player on the TOUR, did you have any oh-my-goodness-I'm-here-on-the-TOUR moments, welcome-to-the-TOUR moments? And along with that, when did you start to feel like you belonged out here and had the confidence that hey, I can play with these guys every week?
ALDRICH POTGIETER: It's tough. Going to Korn Ferry last year as well for the first year out there, we all know the competition out there is on a really high level. Guys grind it out on that tour. Getting through that was really good.
Coming to the PGA TOUR, you're on the top of the top in golf. It was really hard to not get focused off target and kind of stick to your own thing because you are very focused on results because with top 100 making it with your cards, not 120, 125 now, there's a lot of pressure to play well and to play a lot more. I think that's kind of the big thing as well, learning your schedule, what golf courses suit your game.
During the rookie season, I think you kind of have to experiment a little bit, play a lot more and learn as much as you can.
I think that's kind of been the big adjustment, and the expectations with that has been quite high. I thought -- I didn't really know how it was going to go coming off of Korn Ferry as well. I haven't played a lot of golf with these top players. You're playing with Scottie Scheffler and Ludvig Åberg who's also fresh on the TOUR and came out booming straight away and Scottie has been out here and we can see how good he's playing as well.
It's tough to compare your game to those guys, and I thought just giving it a year, you kind of get that feel a little bit.
Right now my golf has been the best it's ever been, so we're definitely climbing the right ladder, so going forward, it's been good.
Q. How do you think your play style fits TPC Southwind?
ALDRICH POTGIETER: Yeah, I think, like I said earlier, it's a golf course where you'll hit a lot of different tee shots, different clubs. Not a lot of drivable greens out here that we see sometimes on courses. It's a really good test.
The greens are really firm. I like that. I kind of grew up on that firm green style. I think the course suits my game. I had a lot of fun with my playing partners today in the pro-am, so it was nice to come out from two weeks out, getting some rest, to coming into the tournament feeling good.
Q. Throughout your rookie year, what's one piece of advice that's really stuck with you?
ALDRICH POTGIETER: I think it's just trust. I think trusting yourself, trusting your process is the kind of thing that I've been taught through coaches and guys I've spoken to like Tim Clark who's been a great role model for me over the last year or two. I speak to him a lot.
After the second place in Mexico when I didn't get the win, we were having a chat and just saying, hey, stick to the same thing you're doing, kind of not trying to get ahead of yourself, and just keep trying, getting better that 1 percent every day. Trusting yourself, doing the same things over and over, I think that's kind of the key that I needed to do from the start of the year.
Q. I don't know if you went back and watched it, but the Rocket playoff, was it tougher on you guys or was it tougher on the dads?
ALDRICH POTGIETER: I do think it probably was more tough on my dad, I think, because every hole there was an opportunity for someone to win. I had some footage of my mom and sister back home watching the playoffs. One of my cousins was filming when they were watching on TV and when the putt dropped. Seeing that release of excitement also getting out, I definitely saw my dad stressing on the side of the golf course a lot.
For me, it was just a long day. I wanted to get out of there. At some point I was like, I don't care who wins anymore, I just want to get off the golf course. But it was good to get over the line, and it was nice to celebrate a little bit with my dad.
Q. First time to Memphis?
ALDRICH POTGIETER: First time to Memphis, yeah.
Q. Have you gotten any barbecue or do you plan to get any barbecue?
ALDRICH POTGIETER: Yeah, there was some on the range yesterday and some on the course. It's been good, yeah.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports