Erik van Rooyen claimed his first PGA Tour title when he won the Barracuda Championship in California this past Sunday, and said he’d celebrate in typical South African fashion with “a brandy and coke”.
The South African finished with 50 points in the modified Stableford scoring system used for this tournament to achieve what he said was the next step for him in his career.
“Obviously this was, in my mind, kind of the next step for what I wanted to achieve. I’ve got big dreams and aspirations, and winning on the PGA Tour was certainly part of that. I’m really, really happy.”
Van Rooyen is the third Sunshine Tour player to win on the PGA Tour this season. He is also the sixth consecutive first-time winner of the Barracuda Championship and set a record for the best winning score since the tournament changed to a modified Stableford scoring system in 2012.
He is also the first player since Major champion Collin Morikawa to win the tournament on debut.
“It’s massive. It’s massive. It’s been a difficult sort of 18 months for me golf-wise. I haven’t been playing well. There’s been glimpses of it the last six months. But I haven’t been able to put four good rounds together. To win here under the conditions, you know, the pressure that I was under, I’m going to take so much confidence from this.
“I think it reiterates that patience is key. I was forcing things there for a long time. And, ironically, with this game when you do that, it kind of tends to go the other way. You have to let things happen and let things come to you.” – PGA Tour/Sunshine Tour
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