How many wins does Erik van Rooyen have? Exploring the player’s past record
Erik van Rooyen has won six professional tournaments in his career so far, including two PGA Tour events. The South African golfer turned pro in 2013 after having a successful amateur career. He graduated from the University of Minnesota, where played as an amateur and won the 2012 Minnesota State Amateur event.
Van Rooyen started his professional journey in 2013 with the Sunshine Tour. However, he won his first pro-am tournament in 2016 at the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am. His first victory on the Sunshine Tour came in 2017 at the Eye of Africa PGA Championship. He carded four rounds of 69, 68, 68 and 67 to finish in a tie for the lead with Dylan Frittelli and Makhetha Mazibuko. They headed for a playoff, where Van Rooyen won with a birdie on the first extra hole.
That year, Van Rooyen also competed on the Challenge Tour and won his second professional tournament at the Hainan Open. At the end of the season, he managed to finish third in the Challenge Tour Race to Oman rankings and earned the European Tour card for the following season.
In 2019, Erik van Rooyen won his maiden European Tour event at the Scandinavian Invitation after shooting four rounds of 65, 68, 64, and 64. He emerged victorious in the tournament by one stroke over Matt Fitzpatrick.
The South African finished T20 at the 2020 WGC-FedEx St Jude Championship and earned a special temporary membership for the 2019-20 PGA Tour. However, his maiden Tour victory was recorded in 2021 when he won the Barracuda Championship. He finished five strokes ahead of Andrew Putnam to win his maiden PGA Tour event.
In the last season, Van Rooyen won the World Wide Technology Championship — his second Tour event. The 33-year-old golfer played four rounds of 68, 64, 66 and 63 to finish two strokes ahead of Matt Kuchar and Camilo Villegas.
Besides the PGA Tour events, Erik van Rooyen has also played in Majors with the best finish recorded at the PGA Championship. He was placed in a tie for eighth place in the 2019 edition of the competition. He has also played in the Masters, US Open, and The Open Championship but still seeking his first Major victory.
Erik van Rooyen takes the lead at the 2024 Mexico Open at Vidanta
Erik van Rooyen teed it up at this week's Mexico Open at Vidanta, which started with its first round on Thursday, February 22. With a round of 63, he took a one-stroke lead in the match.
At the Vidanta Vallarta Golf Course, Van Rooyen began the game with back-to-back birdies on the third and fourth holes. On the sixth hole, he carded an eagle before adding another birdie on the next hole. The South African golfer carded four birdies, and an eagle on the front nine and one eagle, one birdie, and a bogey on the back nine.
The second round of the tournament will take place on Friday, February 23. Erik van Rooyen will start his game on the tenth hole at 9:03 a.m. ET with Emiliano Grillo and K.H. Lee.