Lockdown Diaries guest Erik van Rooyen recounts his rise through the ranks, his place in the world rankings and why he’s out for much more in his career, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
Lockdown diaries: Erik van Rooyen
Van Rooyen is no longer an unknown quantity. After a year and more searching for his first European Tour win, his triumph at the 2019 Scandinavian Invitation elevated him into the band of South Africans looking to bridge the gap to the likes of Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace.
The win over England’s Matt Fitzpatrick was the completion of a period in Van Rooyen’s career which included finishing as the leading South African at The Open as well as the PGA Championship in 2019. To add to the strength of his argument would be to list a playoff loss at the Turkish Airlines Open as well as T2 finishes in Morocco and Qatar.
2018 included his miss at the Irish Open while in 2017 he ended second at the Joburg Open, which followed on from his maiden Challenge Tour win at the Hainan Open and earlier that year a watershed moment – victory at Eye of Africa for his lone Sunshine Tour win.
Van Rooyen is now well travelled, perhaps a little more so than he would’ve wanted, but has racked up an impressive body of work. The coronavirus halted his progress … he had just finished T3 at the WGC-Mexico and had announcers on the PGA TOUR scrambling for background information even though he had already received his first Masters invitation.
The break has allowed the 30-year-old a rare moment for introspection. And, talking to Compleat Golfer, he shares his story with a refreshing honesty.
‘It was definitely the plan. Maybe not to play as much golf as possible, but to definitely go through the European channel, get top 50 in the world, and then start looking at what I can play States-side,’ says Van Rooyen.
‘I think eventually I’d like to play more of my golf here but I wasn’t going to sacrifice my European Tour status and spend a year on the Korn Ferry Tour, so the only other option really was to do well on the European Tour, to get into the top 50 and get into all the Majors, WGC events, and take it from there. We were off to good start in Mexico, then things came to a sudden halt. It shows that there’s more important things than golf.’
Part of his journey to his place as the country’s second-highest ranked golfer came when he partnered last season’s John Deere Classic winner Dylan Frittelli at the 2019 World Cup of Golf, where they finished T18. The pair have as much in common as they have differences. Van Rooyen nearly holed out his approach at the ’17 PGA Championship to beat Frittelli and Makhetha Mazibuko in the playoff.
Despite that win, it took Van Rooyen some time to match Frittelli, now a winner on both Major tours, in playing his way to The Masters. Both advanced to their respective Augusta nods through strenuous travels on the European circuit. Frittelli, though, hopped on to the big time via the Korn Ferry Tour finals and stamped his maiden season with a significant win.
Van Rooyen took a longer route to get to where he is now but is quite comfortable with his career trajectory. Who wouldn’t be after the past few years he’s had.
‘The PGA Championship is where it kind of started for me. I hadn’t won on the Sunshine Tour yet, and it was a little bit of a monkey on my back and then you know, finishing it off in the way I did was really satisfying.
‘It’s been a hell of a ride since then, getting my Challenge Tour card, playing well in Europe, getting my first win there, and now getting that Masters invite – that’s the cherry on top of the cake. So, yeah, it’s been an interesting ride, and looking at Dylan [Frittelli] as well, he’s taken a similar route. Obviously, he’s in The Masters again because he won the John Deere last year and he’s pretty much playing full time in the USA now.’
But his local ranking, his place inside the top 50 and competing against the best in the world isn’t the realisation of the ‘dream’. No, he is intent on giving everything in a bid to push for status as one of the planet’s best like the players he grew up following.
‘From a golfing perspective at least, I was so used to seeing guys like Ernie and Retief Goosen being in the top 10 in the world consistently, winning a ton of tournaments, winning Majors. So, it’s kind of weird, you saying where the next wave of South African golfers starting to coming through but I still feel like we’re not doing what those guys did. And a different guy from a newspaper asked me the other day … “Does it feel good to be the second-ranked South African golfer in the world?” Yes, but no, because I’m No 42 or something in the world, and when I grew up, Ernie was the benchmark, you know, he was No 1 in the world for a bit and top 10 in the world for forever, and that’s really where we’d like to be.
‘It doesn’t do anything for me or my ego knowing I’m the second-best South African golfer in the world but I’m ranked 42 in the world. So, I don’t know. Hopefully, we can push, and we can see someone come through. There are a lot of names in the mix. Christiaan Bezuidenhout has played some unbelievable golf as well. There’s a nice wave of guys coming through and hopefully we can push and put South African golf back on the map.’
While the likes of Van Rooyen and Bezuidenhout make up the next wave, the younger South African stock is already pressing ahead and looking to breakthrough themselves. Leading the next band are Jayden Schaper and Wilco Nienaber.
‘I’ve met both of them. Jayden’s obviously got off to a really good start in his professional career, and Wilco’s also a big name. I met him in Switzerland last year for the first time and yes, South African golf is in a good position,’ adds Van Rooyen.
With Van Rooyen continuing to trend in the right direction, there cannot be many who would disagree.
Photo: Angel Castillo/Getty Images
