Erik

van Rooyen

The South African opened his day with a bogey but quickly erased the blemish with a birdie at the following hole. It was the back nine that provided all of the fireworks though. He birdied six of his last eight holes before dropping home an eagle at the closing par 5. The eagle was set up by a stellar hybrid approach but much of his lead-up work was accomplished with a hot putter. This was his second career PGA Tour title (2021 Barracuda Championship). While this win will advance his career and renew his playing status, his thoughts were elsewhere for most of the week. He got news on Tuesday that his best friend, Jon Trasamar only has six to 10 weeks to live. Saying this was an emotional win for EVR would be an understatement.

EVR put on a ball-striking clinic today, piping 10-of-13 fairways and pelting 16 GIR. He gained 4.2 strokes on approach which was fourth-best in the field. “I think I’m a good sort of mid to long iron player and there’s a lot of that out here. That suits me.” His lone bogey came at the eighth, just two holes before his encounter with a swarm of bees, “I was over the ball with a 4-iron, look back and I just saw them here and I just told my caddie, I’m like, ‘Bees, bees, bees,’ and he looks at me like I’m crazy. So I dropped down, then he sees them, he dropped down. Frankie and Chez, they look at me like I’m nuts and then they realized, like 30 seconds later the bees just went right at them.” He managed a par after regrouping and then added a highlight eagle, five holes later, holing out from 141 yards. The South African has two top 10s this season but a lot more inconsistency than we saw from him in his peak (2019). He arrived at just 115th in the FedExCup race.

The South African put on a ball-striking clinic today with 12-of-14 fairways and 17 GIR. He gained at least a shot over the field in all four sub-categories of strokes gained. EVR missed some time due to a neck injury last season but looks to be back on track with this week’s result. This will be his first top 30 since a T10 at the RBC Heritage last April, 13 starts ago. The Minnesota Gopher alum ended the week with 35 straight bogey-free holes and climbed 21 spots on Sunday to backdoor this top 10.

The South African, who was to make his fourth appearance in the championship, claimed his lone PGA TOUR title on debut at last season’s Barracuda in his 41st career start. That Barracuda, played opposite the WGC-FedEx St. Jude, is being played this week opposite The Open, and he (understandably) chose not to defend in lieu of qualifying for the season’s final major. Unfortunately, the 32-year-old, who arrived off a missed cut by four at last week’s Scottish Open (75-72), his fifth straight MC on TOUR, could not go this week, while Englishman and TOUR rookie Rai will make his second appearance after a major-best T19 last year at Royal St. George’s (70-69-68-69) in the motherland. Rai, 27, checked in off a MC by five at the Scottish (71-77), a T9 the week prior at the Horizon Irish Open, and will be in Game 39 (1:48 pm local) with Kevin Na and major debutant Kazuki Higa. Noteworthy for van Rooyen, beside his current MC streak, is that he also withdrew three weeks ago prior the Travelers, as well as prior to the Byron Nelson back in May, so there is definitely something amiss going on here.

Last year at Tahoe Mountain Club’s Old Greenwood Course, van Rooyen won his maiden PGA Tour title thanks to three birdies over his final five holes in the PGA Tour’s only event using the modified Stableford scoring system. He recorded 16 points on the final day, making six birdies and an eagle, and he won by a five-point margin over 2018 Barracuda champ Andrew Putnam. In three previous Open appearances, van Rooyen was T-17 in 2018, T-20 in 2019 and missed the cut in 2021. On the season, van Rooyen has made nine cuts in 17 starts with one top 10. He finished T-10 at the RBC Heritage in April, but since he’s missed five consecutive cuts including at the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and most recently at the Genesis Scottish Open after shooting 75-72.

The 33-year-old Putnam, who played college golf at Pepperdine, finished with 45 points – five points behind van Rooyen (+50) last year in the Tour’s only event using the Modified Stableford scoring system. Putnam put on the pressure during the final round, scoring 11 points on the first four holes with an eagle on the par-5 second and three birdies, but two birdies and a bogey on the final 14 holes left him shy of his second Barracuda title. “It was a dream start – birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie – and then just kind of hit the brakes and stalled out a bit,” Putnam said. “And just didn’t get it to happen those last few holes.” He won the 2018 Barracuda for his lone PGA Tour title, finishing with 47 points and besting Chad Campbell by four points. On the season, Putnam has made 14 cuts in 25 starts with one top 10 – finishing T-6 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Most recently, he was T-41 at the John Deere Classic.

The 32-year-old van Rooyen has missed the cut in his last four PGA Tour starts, most recently missing the cut at the U.S. Open after rounds of 78-72. On the season, van Rooyen has made nine cuts in 16 starts with one top 10 – finishing T-10 at the RBC Heritage in April. He’s also made two starts on the DP World Tour in 2022, finishing T-4 at the Dubai Desert Classic and T-12 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Meanwhile, the 27-year-old Hossler is coming off a T-53 finish at The Country Club, making the cut for the third time in his fourth U.S. Open appearance. On the season, he’s made 11 cuts in 19 starts with two tops 10s: Hossler finished solo third at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and T-4 at the Valero Texas Open. He’s made five previous Travelers appearances, making four cuts with two top 10s at TPC River Highlands: Hossler was second in 2018 and 10th in 2021.

The 32-year-old van Rooyen last played at the RBC Heritage, where he finished T-10 for his first top 10 of the season in 12 starts. He’s also had two notable finished on the DP World Tour this year, placing T-4 at the Slync.io Dubai Desert, two strokes out of the playoff won by Viktor Hovland, and he was T-12 the week prior at the Abu Dhabu HSBC. He missed the cut at TPBC Craig Ranch in last year’s Byron Nelson. This week’s event marks just the second PGA Tour start this season for the 39-year old Norris, who broke through for his maiden DPWT title over last month at the Steyn City Championship in his native South Africa. He has two other top 10s, finishing T-3 at the Joburg Open in November and T-9 at the Ras al Khaimah Championship in February. Also getting in as sponsor exemptions are James Hart du Preez and Vaughn Taylor.

From the penultimate pairing, the South Florida resident, who began T2, one back, went out in 4-under 32 to lead by one over three players, highlighted by four straight birdies at holes 2-5, but came home in 3-over, squaring 10, 13, 15 (bogey-save from 10'9") and 16 before a sixth and final birdie at 18 (16'11"). The walk-off 3 nudged him back into the top 10, his first of the season in 12 events and first since solo 5th at the 2021 BMW Championship 13 starts ago, and his first in two visits to Harbour Town Golf Links (T21/2020). For the week, the South African handed in rounds of 69-67-67-70, totaled 20 birdies versus nine bogeys, and ranked 45th SG: Tee-to-Green (1.438), lowlighted by a -3.981 in R4, and 4th SG: Putting (6.343), highlighted by a 2.965 SGP on Sunday.

The South African is chasing a second TOUR victory, first since last season’s opposite-field Barracuda (Stableford Scoring), where he was T2, 4 points back, and fired a 7-under 64 (+16 points) to win by 5 points over Andrew Putnam. He’ll attempt another come-from-behind victory tomorrow from the penultimate pairing with R2 leader Patrick Cantlay (70). On 11 (of 14) fairways and 12 greens in regulation, he lost 0.799 strokes on approach but gained 0.764 off-the-tee, 0.601 around, and 1.349 on-the-green, despite a 3-putt par at the par-5 15th (from 36'2"). The 32-year-old’s normal caddie (Alex) isn’t here this week, so he has his brother Austin looping for him for the first time. Afterwards (link below): “Look, they’ve both got great energy, really positive guys. They love grinding, working hard. Austin is maybe a little more vocal than Alex. It’s been a really positive experience having Austin on the bag for sure.” At the three-quarter mark, he ranks No. 1 in SG: OTT (4.219) and 13th in SGP (3.377), but 54th in SG: Around (-0.578).