Theodore Charles Potter Jr. (born November 9, 1983) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who plays on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

. He is a left-handed golfer, but is naturally right-handed. He is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, having also won twice on the

Web.com Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at that level. T ...

. He is often described as a career journeyman golfer and mini-tour legend, due to his dominance of numerous minor league golf tours.

Early life

Potter was born in

Ocala, Florida Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County, Florida, United States. Located in North Central Florida, the city's population was 63,591 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 56,315 at the 2010 census and making ...

, and resided the majority of his childhood in nearby Silver Springs. He is the son of Ted Potter Sr. and Dale Potter. His father is a retired golf course maintenance professional who worked at Silver Springs Shores Country Club and various Ocala area courses. His mother currently still works for

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

as a Department Manager. He began to play golf at a very early age. His father made him a custom set of clubs as soon as he could grip one and was his chief instructor of the game. Potter would go on to dominate Florida youth golf tours, winning numerous events. His success continued through his high school career. He won all-district honors three times in high school. He graduated in 2002 from Lake Weir High School in southeastern Marion County, and chose to turn pro instead of attending college.

Professional career

Mini-tours career

Potter turned pro at the age of 19 and first competed on the Central Florida-based Moonlight Tour. He supplemented his income working in the cart barn at Lake Diamond Golf & Country Club in Ocala, Florida. Potter is estimated to have over 60 mini-tour victories at various levels of competition. Potter was the 2006 and 2009

NGA Hooters Tour The NGA Pro Golf Tour was a developmental golf tour based in the United States. The tour consisted of around 25 professional golf tournaments, making it the third largest series in the United States after the elite PGA Tour and its developmental ...

Player of the Year. He has a total of seven regular season wins and five winter series victories on the NGA Tour. He is currently tied for third place all-time in wins. His career winnings on the NGA tour are $595,490.72 (623,000 including winter series events).

2003–2011: Nationwide Tour career

In December 2003, he competed for a spot on the PGA Tour via the

PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament The annual PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, also known as Qualifying School or Q-School, was historically the main method by which golfers earned PGA Tour playing privileges, commonly known as a Tour card. From 2013 to 2022, Q-School granted privil ...

. He finished tied for 74th place and earned a spot on the 2004

Nationwide Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at that level. ...

(former name of the Web.com Tour), where he did not make a single cut during the season. Potter again competed on the Nationwide Tour during the 2007 season with little success. He made his first cut on the Nationwide Tour at the 2007 Movistar Panama Championship, where he finished tied for 12th place. Overall, he entered 20 events during the 2007 season, making only three cuts and earning a total of $16,014 to finish in 189th place. He did not regain his Nationwide Tour card and returned to mini-tour competition for 2008 and 2009. Potter regained his Nationwide Tour card again in 2010. He entered 11 events making only three cuts and finished in 148th place. He did not regain his Nationwide Tour card and returned to mini-tour competition again for the start of 2011. The 2011 season was Potter's breakout as a professional golfer. He started the season on the NGA Tour, but won the South Georgia Classic on what was then the Nationwide Tour, the first time a

Monday qualifier A Monday qualifier is a stroke play golf tournament held on the Monday before a professional golf tournament that awards top finishers entry into the professional tournament. Those who enter the Monday qualifiers are those with no status on the tou ...

won on the tour since 2006. Prior to winning the South Georgia Classic, Potter made six cuts in 55

events. He was only the fifth left-handed golfer to win an event on the tour and the first since 2008. The win earned Potter $112,500 and full Nationwide Tour status for 2011. He earned his second win of the season at the Soboba Golf Classic in a three-hole playoff. Potter finished in the Top 25 (2nd place overall) in earnings on the tour in 2011 and earned his PGA Tour card for the 2012 season. Overall, he entered 18 Nationwide Tour events in 2011, making the cut 12 times with six finishes in the Top 10.

2012: PGA Tour rookie season and maiden win

Potter made his PGA Tour debut at the

Sony Open in Hawaii The Sony Open in Hawaii is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, and is part of the tour's FedEx Cup Series. It has been contested at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii, since the event's modern-day inception as the Hawaiian ...

in January 2012, where he finished in a tie for 13th. He achieved his first PGA Tour win at the

Greenbrier Classic The Greenbrier Classic was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour, held from 2010 to 2019 at The Old White at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. For its final two editions, the tournament was titled A Military Tribute at the Gree ...

on July 8 of that year, after having missed the previous five cuts. Potter trailed

Troy Kelly Troy Kelly (born August 2, 1978) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. Amateur career Kelly became the youngest player to ever compete in Washington State Junior Golf Association (WJGA) tournaments at the age of 6. He was ...

by several strokes but shot 4-under par on the last four holes to force a playoff. Potter, ranked number 218 in the

Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolling ...

at the time, went on to win the playoff on the third extra hole, after missing a birdie putt to win on the second extra hole. Potter was 173rd in the

FedEx Cup The FedEx Cup is the championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction in 2007 marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Since its inception, the competition has been sponsored by FedEx. In 2022, the PGA Tour ...

before the win, which vaulted him to 51st in the FedEx Cup and 83rd in the world. He also qualified for the

2012 Open Championship The 2012 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 141st Open Championship, held from 19 to 22 July at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England. Ernie Els won his second Claret Jug, one str ...

, his first major championship appearance, as a result of winning the tournament. He also earned a two-year exemption, plus invitations to the 2012 PGA Championship, 2012 Bridgestone Invitational, and 2013

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply the Masters, or as the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four men's major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week in April, the Masters is the ...

. Potter made his debut in a major championship at the 2012 Open Championship where he finished in a tie for 60th place. For the season, he finished with 652 FedEx Cup points (93rd place) and second in voting for PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.

2013–2016: PGA Tour and ankle injury

Potter followed a successful rookie campaign with a solid second season on tour. During the 2013 season, Potter entered 22 events and made 11 cuts including two Top 10 finishes and five Top 25 finishes. He earned 518 FedEx Cup points, finishing in 105th place and had $829,770 in earnings for the season. His best performance of the 2013 season was at the Greenbrier Classic, where he finished in 6th place with a score of 271 (−9). Potter struggled during the 2014 season, missing the cut in 15 of 24 events entered and earning a total of $386,341. He had three Top 25 finishes. Potter's season ended in July with an off-course ankle injury while at a hotel during the

RBC Canadian Open The Canadian Open () is a professional golf tournament in Canada. It is co-organized by Golf Canada (formerly known as the Royal Canadian Golf Association) and the PGA Tour. It was first played in 1904, and has been held annually since then, ...

. Potter's broken his ankle kept him out of play until April 2016. After making five allotted Web.com Tour rehab starts, he tried to regain PGA Tour privileges with the last two starts of his major medical extension.

2016–2017: Return to Web.com Tour

After failing to meet the terms of his medical extension, he returned to the Web.com Tour for the remainder of the 2016 season, where he finished 50th on the money list. He entered 14 tournaments and made 12 cuts. He regained his Web.com Tour card for the following season. With only past champion status on the PGA Tour during the 2017 season, Potter spent much of that year on the Web.com Tour. During the 2017 season, Potter entered 22 tournaments, making the cut a total of 15 times including six Top 10 finishes. His best finishes during his 2017 campaign included second place at the

Rust-Oleum Championship The Rust-Oleum Championship was a golf tournament on the Web.com Tour from 2014 to 2018. It was first played in June 2014 as the Cleveland Open at the Lakewood Country Club in Westlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U ...

and another second place (tie) at the

Albertsons Boise Open The Albertsons Boise Open is a professional golf tournament in Idaho on the Korn Ferry Tour, played annually at Hillcrest Country Club in Boise. Held in mid-September for its first 23 years, the new September playoff schedule of the Web.com Tour ...

. Potter finished in the Top 25 (14th overall) on the Web.com Tour and re-earned full status for the 2018 season. He qualified for the 2017 U.S. Open, where he failed to make the cut. He entered the PGA Tour's 2017

as a past champion, where he finished in a tie for 37th place.

2017–2018: Return to PGA Tour

Potter began the 2017–18 season missing five of the first eight cuts. In February 2018, Potter won his second PGA Tour title at the

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, held annually at Pebble Beach, California, near Carmel. The tournament is usually held during the month of February on two different courses, currently Pebble Beach ...

with a three-shot victory over

Dustin Johnson Dustin Hunter Johnson (born June 22, 1984) is an American professional golfer. He has won two Men's major golf championships, major championships, the 2016 U.S. Open (golf), 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club with a 4-under-par score of 276 ...

Jason Day Jason Anthony Day (born 12 November 1987) is an Australian professional golfer. Day had early success as a professional, earning PGA Tour membership in his teens and winning an event in his third season, the HP Byron Nelson Championship. In 20 ...

Phil Mickelson Philip Alfred Mickelson (born June 16, 1970) is an American professional golfer who currently plays in the LIV Golf League. He has won 45 events on the PGA Tour, including six Men's major golf championships, major championships: three Masters ...

, and

Chez Reavie William Chesney "Chez" Reavie (born November 12, 1981) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. Early career Reavie was born in Wichita, Kansas. He attended Dobson High School in Mesa, Arizona. He played college golf at Ari ...

, earning a two-year PGA Tour exemption through 2019–20 season and invitations to the

2018 Masters Tournament The 2018 Masters Tournament was the 82nd edition of the Masters Tournament and the first of golf's four major championships in 2018. It was held April 5–8 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Patrick Reed won his first major t ...

and 2018 PGA Championship. During the third round of the tournament, he shot his personal best score of 62 on the PGA Tour. The win catapulted him from 243 to a career-best 73 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Personal life

Potter currently resides in Ocala, Florida, with his wife Cheri Renee Potter. He has one son, Corbin, born in 2016 and a daughter, Adelynn, born in 2019. He has one sibling, Stephanie Potter (Smith). He is an avid fisherman and hunter.

Professional wins (19+)

PGA Tour wins (2)

PGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

Nationwide Tour wins (2)

Nationwide Tour playoff record (1–0)

NGA Hooters Tour wins (7)

Sources:

Other wins (8+)

*2002 Marion Masters (as an amateur) *2008 Rio Pinar CC Winter Event, Rock Springs Ridge Winter Event (NGA Hooters Tour Winter Series) *2010 Ocala Open (FPG Tour), Rio Pinar CC, Sugarloaf Mountain, Forest Lake GC (NGA Hooters Tour Winter Series) *2011 Ocala Open (FPG Tour) *Numerous Moonlight Tour and Florida Professional Golf Tour wins

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

''Results not in chronological order before 2015.'' QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Potter, Ted Jr. American male golfers PGA Tour golfers Korn Ferry Tour graduates Golfers from Florida Left-handed golfers Sportspeople from Ocala, Florida 1983 births Living people