Red-hot Van Rooyen into Tour Champs, qualifies for all 2022 Majors

Just 25 days ago, Erik van Rooyen was on the first tee of a tournament on the PGA Tour searching for something he knew he had. After his fifth-place finish in the BMW Championship on Sunday, he knows he’s in the field for all four major championships next year.

The 31-year-old South African had one of the best weeks of his life, closing out the tournament at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland with a brilliant seven-under-par 65 to climb five places on the leaderboard at 21-under-par for the week, six shots out of the play-off between Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Cantlay, which Cantlay won on the sixth extra hole.

ALSO READ: Cantlay edges DeChambeau in epic playoff to win BMW Championship

“On the first tee at the Barracuda Championship, I was a player knowing what he’s capable of but struggling to find his feet and searching for a little bit of confidence,” said Van Rooyen.

“Now it’s almost completely flipped. I’m absolutely cruising and I’m playing some of the best golf I’ve ever played consistently. It’s a great place to be.”

His superb bogey-free week vaulted him inside the top 30 on the FedEx Cup rankings after he started the Barracuda Championship, which he won, outside the top 120. Had he stayed where he was on those rankings, he would not have been going to East Lake in Atlanta this week to take part in the Tour Championship. And he needed the kind of round he produced on Sunday to get there.

“It’s a fantastic place to be,” he said. “Obviously, it’s my first full year on the PGA Tour, and it was a goal of mine to get there. Six weeks ago or so I wasn’t even sniffing it. I’m just really proud of myself. It’s probably the best of the best that make it to Atlanta, and I’m really happy to be part of the group.”

‘It’s amazing’

The victory in the Barracuda Championship got him into next year’s PGA Championship, but getting to East Lake gets him into the Masters, the US Open and the Open Championship in 2022 too. “It’s amazing,” he said. “My first Augusta that I played, or the first Masters that I played, I had to withdraw on the Friday with a back injury, so I’ve just really wanted to go back there and give it another go.”

His closing round in Maryland was superb: He opened with consecutive birdies on one and two, and then made three in a row from five to seven. That helped him reach the turn in five-under 31, and then he made two more birdies on his way home, on the 16^th and 18^th. His seven-under wasn’t the low round of the day – Tony Finau popped a nine-under 63 – but it certainly underlined his status as one of the hottest golfers in the world right now.

“I was pretty relaxed,” he said. “I didn’t have anything to lose. It was either go to Atlanta or go home to see my wife and my baby, so it was a win-win either way. Got off to a flier, and I’m stoked to be here.”

Being there includes climbing to 55^th in the world on the Official World Golf Ranking, ever closer to the top 50 and just outside the 51^st spot in which he began 2021.

He will have his eyes on being inside the top 50 by the end of the year.

• Courtesy satourgolf.co.za