Erik van Rooyen wins 2023 WWT Championship

A Win From Behind

 

Erik van rooyan wins world wide technology championship

When the tournament started no one could have guessed the tournament would end this way with Eric Van Rooyan ending up at the top of the leader board. Everyone had different predictions. We predicted Beau Hossler to be winner and Ludvig Aberg to be on hunt this week. They finished at T15 and T 10 though.

When the final day started Mat Kuchar was at the top of the leader board sharing the lead with Camilo Villegas with 19 under par. Erik Van Rooyen was one shot behind with 18 under par, and Justin Suh two shots behind the leaders.

Kuchar and Villegas were going head to head when the day started. They were scoring birdie after birdie as predicted the weather was good and winning score was expected to be 25 under par at El Cardonal

After 9 holes Villegas was at the top of the leader board with 23 under and Kutchar was one shot behind with 22 under. Van Rooyen was at T5 with 19 under, Ryan palmer and Justin Suh were above him with 20 under and 21 under score respectively. Rooyan was behind in hunt, win seemed distant to him than leaders above him. Rooyan had to gear up in order to win.

Right after 9th he scored crucial birdie on 10th and Almost an Ace on 11th hole. Kutchar and Villegas shared the lead heading into 12th hole. Kutchar was waiting for Villegas to blink and he missed important birdie put making Kutchar Solo leader once again at leader board. Van Rooyan didnt break his birdie streak and scored crucial birdie on 12th. Heading into 13th Suh lead past Rooyan with birdie and 23 under par to share second place.

Kutchar furthered his lead with another birdie at 14th to 25 under. Rooyan again Scored birdie at 14th to step ahead at T2. Heading into 15th Rooyan faced a challenging put for birdie which he made to show that he was in winning mode and kept himself in the hunt.

Suh blinked at 16th and missed the opportunity to become co leader. Van rooyan was on the other hand was dialed in again on 16 and made a clutch putt for birdie. Kutchar could have furthered his lead but this time he missed crucial birdie putt.

So heading to the final Hole things got very interesting Kuchar and Van rooyan were sharing the lead with 25 under. Van rooyen once again showed how much he was focused on winning by landing on green in two on par 5 hole. Kutchar this time missed the green and landed near a bunker and getting a difficult angle to pitch on green, he did land on green for birdie though, But who knew tournament could end with the eagle putt made from Van Rooyan on last shot.  Everyone was stunned but Van Rooyen was confident as if he knew he was going to get this win. His emotions erupted when his Caddie embraced him.

Alex Gaugert reflected on his win as if it was just meant to be that way. https://x.com/PGATOUR/status/1721542968769921264?s=20

Erik Van Rooyen best friend, Jon Trasamar, is battling cancer. He got emotional remembering his fellow from college and dedicated his performance to him. https://x.com/PGATOUR/status/1721307749806399588?s=20

“Every shot out there today was for him.” 

Erik Van Rooyen charged on back 9 holes like none others. I think this is one the best back 9 performance i have saw in recent times with such clutch gene. He scored 28 on back 9 holes. He Finished 27 under par  https://x.com/PGATOUR/status/1721315391178215582?s=20

This was an emotional win for him.

 

This was a crucial week for Erik Van Rooyen. The 33-year-old South African native started the week ranked No. 131 in the FedEx Cup standings and his two-year exemption for winning the 2021 Barracuda Championship was going to expire in a few weeks if he didn’t have a good finish. He bear through a stretch of seven missed cuts in a row from early May to early June and in 27 previous starts on the season had more missed cuts (14) than he had made (13).

He started working with instructor Sean Foley, who helped him in his mental game than the golf swing during their long conversations. The results could be seen in this tournament how mentally strong Rooyan was, when the South African finished his round with Eagle putt. Erik Van Rooyen’s final-round 63 marked his 13th consecutive round of par or better. This is his second win on PGA tour.