Erik van Rooyen
Erik van Rooyen (born 21 February 1990) is a South African professional golfer currently playing on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He won the 2019 Scandinavian Invitation on the European Tour, and the 2021 Barracuda Championship on the PGA Tour.
| Erik van Rooyen | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Born | 21 February 1990 Bellville, South Africa | ||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Weight | 86 kg (190 lb; 13.5 st) | ||
| Sporting nationality |  South Africa | ||
| Residence | Johannesburg, South Africa | ||
| Spouse | Rose van Rooyen | ||
| Children | 1 | ||
| Career | |||
| College | University of Minnesota | ||
| Turned professional | 2013 | ||
| Current tour(s) | PGA Tour Sunshine Tour | ||
| Former tour(s) | European Tour Challenge Tour | ||
| Professional wins | 4 | ||
| Highest ranking | 40 (23 February 2020)[1] (as of 22 October 2023) | ||
| Number of wins by tour | |||
| PGA Tour | 1 | ||
| European Tour | 1 | ||
| Sunshine Tour | 1 | ||
| Challenge Tour | 1 | ||
| Best results in major championships | |||
| Masters Tournament | CUT: 2022 | ||
| PGA Championship | T8: 2019 | ||
| U.S. Open | T23: 2020 | ||
| The Open Championship | T17: 2018 | ||
| Achievements and awards | |||
| |||
Amateur career
Van Rooyen attended the University of Minnesota from 2009 through 2013.[2] During this experience, he won the 2012 Minnesota State Amateur.[3]
Professional career
In 2013, Van Rooyen turned professional. He has played on the Sunshine Tour since turning professional. In early 2017, he had his first win on the tour, the Eye of Africa PGA Championship, making a birdie at the first extra hole in a three-man playoff.[4] He played on the 2017 Challenge Tour where he had his second professional win, the Hainan Open. A number of other good finishes, including fourth place in the Kazakhstan Open and a tie for third in the season-ending NBO Golf Classic Grand Final, put van Rooyen third in the Challenge Tour Race to Oman rankings, earning a card for the 2018 European Tour season.
In December 2017, van Rooyen was runner-up in the Joburg Open, three strokes behind Shubhankar Sharma. The event was part of the Open Qualifying Series and his high finish gave him an entry to the 2018 Open Championship, his first major championship.[5] He led the 2018 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open by four strokes after three rounds, but a final round 74 dropped him into a tie for 4th place.
Van Rooyen made a good start to 2019, finishing joint runner-up in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and the Hassan II Golf Trophy. He also had a top-10 finish in the 2019 PGA Championship.
On 25 August 2019, van Rooyen won his first European Tour title at the Scandinavian Invitation at Hills Golf & Sports Club, outside Gothenburg, Sweden. He sank a 12 feet birdie putt on the finishing par 5 72nd hole, to win by a stroke with a new tournament record 261 on the par 70 course.[6]
After van Rooyen tied for third at the WGC-Mexico Championship in February 2020, he advanced to a career best 40th on the Official World Golf Ranking.
After a T20 finish at the 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in August 2020, van Rooyen was granted Special Temporary Membership until the end of the 2019–20 PGA Tour season.[7]
In August 2021, van Rooyen won his first PGA Tour event at the Barracuda Championship. He broke the tournament scoring record by shooting a total of 50 points (modified stableford) over four rounds.[8]
Amateur wins
- 2011 Southern Cape Open
- 2012 Minnesota State Amateur
Professional wins (4)
PGA Tour wins (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 Aug 2021 | Barracuda Championship | 50 pts (7-17-10-16=50) | 5 points |  Andrew Putnam |
European Tour wins (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 Aug 2019 | Scandinavian Invitation | −19 (65-68-64-64=261) | 1 stroke |  Matt Fitzpatrick |
European Tour playoff record (0–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponents | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2019 | Turkish Airlines Open | Tyrrell Hatton,  Benjamin Hébert, Kurt Kitayama, Victor Perez, Matthias Schwab |
Hatton won with par on fourth extra hole Kitayama eliminated by birdie on third hole Hébert, Perez and van Rooyen eliminated by birdie on first hole |
Sunshine Tour wins (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 Feb 2017 | Eye of Africa PGA Championship | −16 (69-68-68-67=272) | Playoff | Dylan Frittelli, Makhetha Mazibuko |
Sunshine Tour playoff record (1–0)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponents | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2017 | Eye of Africa PGA Championship | Dylan Frittelli, Makhetha Mazibuko |
Won with birdie on first extra hole |
Challenge Tour wins (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 Oct 2017 | Hainan Open1 | −18 (67-65-67-71=270) | 2 strokes |  Grant Forrest,  Tapio Pulkkanen |
1Co-sanctioned by the China Tour
Results in major championships
Results not in chronological order before 2019 and in 2020.
| Tournament | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | WD | CUT | |||
| PGA Championship | T8 | T51 | CUT | CUT | |
| U.S. Open | T43 | T23 | CUT | CUT | |
| The Open Championship | T17 | T20 | NT | CUT |
CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| PGA Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| U.S. Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| The Open Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 6 |
- Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (2018 Open – 2020 U.S. Open)
- Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (2019 PGA)
Results in The Players Championship
| Tournament | 2022 |
|---|---|
| The Players Championship | T13 |
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Results in World Golf Championships
| Tournament | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Championship | T36 | T3 | T37 | ||
| Match Play | NT1 | R16 | T60 | ||
| Invitational | T20 | ||||
| Champions | T22 | T38 | NT1 | NT1 | NT1 |
1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022.
See also
References
- "Week 8 2020 Ending 23 Feb 2020" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
- "Erik van Rooyen". Golden Gophers. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
- "MGA Amateur Championship". Minnesota Golf Association. Archived from the original on 15 February 2022.
- "Van Rooyen pulls off Eye of Africa play-off victory". Sunshine Tour. 12 February 2017.
- "Sharma romps to maiden win at Joburg Open". European Tour. 11 December 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
- "Van Rooyen jumps into Race to Dubai top ten". European Tour. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
- "Erik van Rooyen accepts Special Temporary Membership". PGA Tour. 4 August 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- "Erik van Rooyen wins first PGA Tour title in style, setting tourney scoring record". Golf Digest. 8 August 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
External links
- Erik van Rooyen at the PGA Tour official site
- Erik van Rooyen at the European Tour official site
- Erik van Rooyen at the Sunshine Tour official site
- Erik van Rooyen at the Official World Golf Ranking official site