Erik Van Rooyen

Van Rooyen learned to play golf from his father and grandfather. He started playing when he was 7. His father was a member of a local club and would take him to play nine holes on Saturdays. When he was 14, he started playing competitively. He received South African Provincial honors and National Colours by the South African Golf Association after his senior year in high school. He played four years at the University of Minnesota, from 2009 to 2013, and was a team captain his senior season. While van Rooyen's parents and family call him Erik, his teammates and friends call him Freddie or Fred, short for his given name Frederick. After attending the University of Minnesota and winning the state amateur championship, van Rooyen turned professional in 2013.
While at Minnesota, he met Rose Roberts, and after they both graduated, were married in 2014. They went back to South Africa for Erik to play there and in Europe, but the goal was to earn his PGA Tour card so that Rose and Erik could live in America and raise their children.
Van Rooyen played on the Sunshine Tour in South Africa after turning pro in 2013, and in early 2017 he had his first win, the Eye of Africa PGA Championship, making a birdie on the first extra hole in a three-man playoff. He played on the 2017 Challenge Tour, where he had his second professional win, the Hainan Open. A number of other good finishes, including 4th place at the Kazakhstan Open and a T-3rd at the season-ending NBO Golf Classic Grand Final, put van Rooyen 3rd in the Challenge Tour Race to Oman rankings, earning a card for the 2018 European Tour season.
2018 Notes: In his rookie year, played in 25 European Tour events, making 19 cuts with five top-10 finishes. In just his 17th European Tour start was runner-up at the Joburg Open, three strokes behind winner 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. Was 10th at the Tshwane Open, T-7th at the Trophee Hassan II. After three rounds, he led the Dubai Duty-Free Irish Open by four strokes, but a final-round 74 dropped him into a T-4th. Was 5th in the Made in Denmark, one stroke out of getting into the Wallace/Thomson/Brown/Westwood playoff. Finished the year 36th in the Race to Dubai.
2019 Notes: Played in 29 European Tour events, making 22 cuts with eight top-10 finishes. Ranked 10th in the Race to Dubai. Was T-2nd at the Qatar Masters, two strokes behind winner Justin Harding. At the Hero Indian Open, finished T-6th. Had his second runner-up finish at the Trophee Hassan II, two strokes behind winner Jorge Campillo. Had his first top-10 in America at the PGA Championship, finishing T-8th. Was T-5th in the D+D Real Czech Masters but won the next week at the Scandinavian Invitational by one stroke over Matt Fitzpatrick. Van Rooyen made a 15-foot birdie on the 72nd hole. He was T-10th at the Italian Open, then T-2nd at the Turkish Airlines Open, losing to Tyrrell Hatton in a six-man playoff. The good news for van Rooyen was at the end of the year, he ended up 49th in the Official World Golf Ranking, which opened a lot of opportunities, including getting an invitation to the 2020 Masters.
2020 Notes: Played in 11 PGA Tour events, making six cuts with one top-10 finish. Was T-12th at the Abu Dhabi Championship and on the PGA Tour finished T-3rd at the WGC-Mexico Championship, three strokes behind winner Patrick Reed. Thanks to finishing T-20th at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational and then T-51st at the PGA Championship, Van Rooyen was able to accumulate 334 non-member FedExCup season points, and with the 125th spot at the end of the season being at 276 points, Erik secured PGA Tour membership for the 2020-21 season.
2021 Notes: Played in 27 PGA Tour events, making 16 cuts with five top-ten finishes. Was T-22nd in the FedExCup standings. Finished T-9th in the WGC-Dell Match Play Championship, he won his pod of Harris English, Daniel Berger, and Brendon Todd, but lost 3 & 2 to Jon Rahm in the round of 16. Shot a final-round 68 to finish T-10th at the Palmetto Championship at Congaree. Won the Barracuda Championship by five points over Andrew Putnam. The victory came in his 41st start at the age of 31 years, 5 months, 18 days. At 50 points, became the first player with a winning score of +50 since the Modified Stableford scoring system was introduced in 2012. He entered the Barracuda 139th on the FedExCup standings, the Barracuda win got him into the FedExCup playoffs. Finished 7th at the Northern Trust, moving to 45th in the FedExCup standings. He was 5th at the BMW Championship, which got him to 27th and a trip to the Tour Championship. At East Lake finished T-22nd.
2022 Notes: He played in 17 PGA Tour events, making 9 cuts with one top-ten finish. Was 132nd in the FedExCup standings. On the European Tour was T-4th at the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic four shots back of the Viktor Hovland/Richard Bland playoff. Was T-13th at the Players Championship and T-10th at the RBC Heritage. After that, he missed the next five cuts in a row, and a neck problem forced him out of the 150th Open at St. Andrews. Injuries have also taken a toll on his performance, and he wasn't able to return until October when he finished T-61st at the Estrella Damm Andalucia Masters.
2023 Notes: He played in 29 PGA Tour events, making 14 cuts with four top-ten finishes. Was 131st in the FedExCup standings. He returned to the PGA Tour, finishing T-35th at the Butterfield Bermuda. Got his first top ten with a T-6th at the American Express, and he shot 62 on the final day. Was T-10th at the Valspar Championship and T-6th at the Barracuda Championship. But his big victory at the World Wide Technology Championship came on the heels of another tragedy. His friend Jon Trasamar, was in the final stage of cancer, and he lost his battle a week after Van Rooyen won in Mexico. In winning, Van Rooyen had a dramatic finish, shooting a final round 63 which included playing the back nine in 28 shots. In that back nine he had an eagle, six birdies and two pars. He ended the day birdie-par-birdie-birdie-eagle. Van Rooyen becomes the first winner to play the final three holes (in regulation) in 4-under or better since Rickie Fowler at the 2015 Players Championship (eagle, birdie, birdie, then won in playoff).
2024 Notes: Showing his liking to Mexico after winning the World Wide Technology Championship, he shot an opening round of 63 at the Mexico Open at vidanta. He went on to finish T-8th, seven shots back of winner Jake Knapp. The next week, shot 63 in the final round to finish T-2nd at the Cognizant Classic. He finished three shots back of the winner Austin Eckroat, but a rain delay slowed him down. He played his first ten holes in eight under before rain delayed the event. Once he got back on the course to finish his round, he could only play the final holes in even par.