A player set to make his Masters debut in 2020, here are 9 things you didn't know about Erik Van Rooyen.
9 Things You Didn’t Know About Erik Van Rooyen
South African Erik Van Rooyen is currently one of just a few South Africans residing in the world’s top-100 golfers and is set to continue his rise up the rankings because of his undeniable consistency. Despite this, he is relatively unknown on Tour. To rectify this somewhat we have looked at 9 things you didn’t already know about him.
9 Things You Didn’t Know About Erik Van Rooyen
1. He was born in Belville which is a suburb of Cape Town in South Africa.
2. When Van Rooyen was in his last year of high school he decided to move to the United States.
3. Thanks to some junior golf success he got several offers but eventually opted to go to the University of Minnesota. He attended the school from 2009, captained the golf team, and turned pro in 2013.
4. In 2012 he became the Minnesota State Amateur Champion.
5. His first win on the European Tour came at the 2019 Scandinavian Masters where he holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the last to pip Matt Fitzpatrick.
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6. Van Rooyen has never missed a cut in a Major championship and his best finish to date is a tied-8th which came at the 2019 PGA Championship hosted at Bethpage Black.
7. Due to the time difference, Van Rooyen used to stay up until the early hours of the morning to watch fellow South Africans play in The Masters. We recently caught up with the South African and he said; “It’s always been a tough one to watch as a kid, with the time difference. I was supposed to go to school the next day and I’d have to stay up until two o’clock to watch the leaders teeing off.” He cried when Charl Schwartzel won the event in 2011.
8. His big interests include playing his beloved guitar and surfing.
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9. His trousers, which have caused quite the stir in the golfing world given their style, are designed by Greyson Clothiers. In the past he has acknowledged that many Tour players rip into him because of them.
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