Erik van Rooyen did all he could to track down Scottie Scheffler over the week at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch. The South African went 65-63 on the weekend to finish at 23-under-par. He lost by eight strokes.
“I’m really proud with how I played,” van Rooyen said after his runner-up finish on Sunday. “We spoke last night, and I told you it was going to be a steep mountain to climb, and it was. Scottie was practically flawless, which is kind of what you expect from the World No. 1.”
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While van Rooyen didn’t win, he did collect 300 FedEx Cup points that vaulted him into the Aon Swing 5, punching his ticket to next week’s Truist Championship. However, earning entry into the Signature Event didn’t exactly fill van Rooyen with glee. The South African has consistently criticized the model and offered a brutally honest assessment of his feelings after qualifying for next week’s event at Philly Cricket Club.
“How honest do you want me to be?” van Rooyen said when asked how he felt about qualifying for the $20 million event. “I hate it. I strongly believe that the strongest fields are the ones with the most players in them. The guys on the PGA Tour are so good. It’s so deep. I get that you’ve got the Scotties of the world, the Rorys of the world, and people want to see them, it’s entertaining. Like the PGA Championship coming up, for example, I think it’s the strongest field in the game, similar to The Players.
“I love competing, so selfishly I want to compete against those guys. Again, really proud of playing my way into it.”
Van Rooyen did describe getting into the Truist Championship as “a good problem to have.” He planned to go home with his mom and dad after the Byron Nelson and “relax,” but now will reroute to Philadelphia.
At last year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, van Rooyen told Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine that he is against the idea of making the PGA Tour “leaner” and “more cutthroat.” While he likes playing in the big-money events, he told Romine he doesn’t like the spot that professional golf is in.
“I think this idea that we’re worth what Premier League soccer players are worth is completely mind-blowing,” van Rooyen told Romine last March. “I’m sorry, Jon Rahm, you’re a fantastic player, but you’re not worth the zeroes they gave you, you’re not worth more than what Cristiano Ronaldo is making. I’m sorry, we don’t have the following. We’re not the NBA, we’re not the NFL. I get there are a handful of really famous and really good golfers; how many of them have won tournaments so far this year?”
The 35-year-old van Rooyen will be joined by Garrick Higgo, Michael Thorbjornsen, Sam Stevens and Rasmus Hojgaard as the other members of the Swing 5.
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