Erik van Rooyen will head to The Open Championship in good form even if his wait for a first European Tour title will continue after a poor final round at the Scottish Open, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
Of the final 54 players on the leaderboard, only two were over par on Sunday. Van Rooyen and countryman Darren Fichardt.
But the latter was sharing 48th after four rounds and the former, well, his continues to plug away without dusting off his jacket for the winner’s ceremony.
– Overnight leader Bernd Wiesberger was dragged into a playoff by Benjamin Hebert but prevailed with a par on the third playoff hole for his second win this season
His time will come but like last year’s Irish Open, the Scottish Open will go down as a near-miss.
And it was over before it began as his opening par was offset by a quadruple bogey 8 on the next. It was enough to knock the wind out of sails as he bogeyed the fifth to see his title chances vanish right in front of his eyes.
Gains at 7 and 9 were consolatory. Van Rooyen finished his round with a birdie at 12, a slip at 13 before a birdie at the 71st hole.
More questions and than answers at this stage but Van Rooyen has the steel to bounce back. He did so last year after his Irish disappointment and will ‘go again’ at Royal Portrush next week.
Looking back at the ‘smaller picture’, Van Rooyen was lapped by George Coetzee in the pecking order as Coetzee closed with a 66 to finish sharing 9th with his countryman tying for 14th.
Brandon Stone, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Haydn Porteous were part of the group in 34th place.
Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
