Erik van Rooyen takes the field by storm with a sensational start on the final day of Cognizant Classic
Erik van Rooyen began the fourth and decisive round of The Cognizant Classic 2024 with a score of 6 under, seven strokes behind the leaders. However, van Rooyen needed only eight holes to erase his deficit and put himself in contention for the title.
The South African played the front nine with a score of 7 under 28, with seven birdies, six of them in a row to start the round. Erik van Rooyen followed with a good pace at the start of the back nine, with par and birdie on the 10th and 11th.
Erik van Rooyen's performance so far in the fourth round is even more remarkable when you analyze that he has only hit four of nine fairways (44.44%). However, he has reached 10 of 11 greens in regulation (90.91%) and needed only 1.27 putts per hole on average.
In fact, Erik van Rooyen has been so tight with putter in hand, he only missed two putts on the front nine (22-foot, 7-inch putt for birdie on the 7th and 53-foot putt for birdie on the 9th). After making the turn, he missed a 13-foot, 4-inch putt for eagle on the 8th.
This result gives him an overall score of 14 under and he leads the leaderboard with seven holes left to play. The previous day's leaders have not yet started their fourth round as the round was halted due to bad weather.
Erik van Rooyen at The Cognizant Classic 2024 and more
The South African started The Cognizant Classic with a first round of 66 in which he had an eagle, six birdies and two bogeys. The second round was not the same, as he scored 71 with an eagle, three birdies, one bogey and two double bogeys. This was good enough to make the cut by three cuts.
The third round was a little better than the previous round, as he finished with a score of 70 thanks to four birdies and three bogeys. After the moving day, Erik van Rooyen was ranked T31 with a score of 6 under.
The Cognizant Classic is Erik van Rooyen's 7th start during the 2024 season on the PGA Tour. He has participated in two no-cut events (The Sentry and The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am) and has made the cut in three of the other four.
His best finish so far is T8 at the Mexico Open at Vidanta, which is also his only Top 10 of the season.