Weekly PGA Recap: van Rooyen Rises to the Occasion

This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.

Erik van Rooyen began the week exactly 125th place in the FedExCup Standings. He found a cool way to ensure he stayed inside that critical threshold and secure his PGA Tour card for 2024.

He won a tournament.

The quirky South African perhaps best known for wearing joggers on the course eagled the 72nd hole to win the World Wide Technology Championship by two strokes over Matt Kuchar and Camilo Villegas on Sunday at El Cardonal at Diamante.

van Rooyen took four trips around the Tiger Woods design in Los Cabos, Mexico, in a whopping 27-under par for his second career PGA Tour win. He shot a 9-under 63 on Sunday, including an inward nine of 28.

The victory moved him from 125th in the standings to 63rd, which is on the precipice of another important stratum -- the so-called Next 10 for those who finish 51st to 60th. That will get golfers into the first two Signature events in 2024 at Pebble Beach and Riviera. Of course, van Rooyen's win also locked up a berth in the 2024 Masters.

With two more tournaments to go before the end of the 2022-23 season, beginning with this week's Butterfield Bermuda Championship -- in which van Rooyen is entered --  a spot in the Next 10 is there for the taking for him.

van Rooyen has been ranked as high as 40th in the world rankings but entered the week way back at 189th. Now he's No. 82.

It was quite an emotional finish for van Rooyen, and not for the reasons we might think for someone who had won only once before on the PGA Tour -- at the 2021 alternate-field Barracuda Championship.

No, van Rooyen disclosed that a dear friend, his old college roommate, is battling cancer. Jon Trasamar befriended a wide-eyed South African teenager upon arrival at the University of Minnesota. Trasamar and van Rooyen were roommates for three years and, together with van Rooyen's caddie Alex Gaugert, played on the Golden Gophers team.

"Don't really know where to start, to be honest," van Rooyen said at the beginning of his news conference with reporters. "Quite numb after that putt went in on 18. You know, you imagine yourself full of euphoria and just being ecstatic and I was just numb. I think it's because of everything the past six days with my friend Jon being so sick. I guess just the moment just hasn't hit me yet. But now it's slowly starting to sink in. I mean, what a back nine. It's just an absolute blur in my mind." 

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Matt Kuchar
It was late in Round 3 and Kuchar was cruising toward his first win in almost five years – that's right, on Saturday. Kuchar had a six-stroke lead when he arrived at the 15th hole. When he left, the lead was down to two. A quadruple-bogey 8 followed by a bogey on 16 brought everyone back into the tournament. Still, Kuchar stabilized and led deep into Sunday before being overtaken by van Rooyen. It was a bittersweet week for the 45-year-old desperately trying to get back into the Masters. Kuchar will have to console himself with a guaranteed spot in the Next 10 by moving from 66th in points to 52nd. That will get him into the first two Signature events, which will be limited fields with no cut, giving Kuchar a leg up on others seeking a Masters berth.

Camilo Villegas
It's hard to believer the one-time uber-flexible Spider-man of the PGA Tour is in his 40s.  It's been a long time since Villegas was relevant. He was ranked in the 700s OWGR heading into the week. But he rolled back the clock for one week (didn't we all do that over the weekend?). The shared runner-up moved him from 224th in the standings to 147th, and if he can hang on over the final two events of the season, the 126-150 category has to look pretty good compared to where Villegas was five days ago.

Justin Suh
Suh turned in his best showing in 59 career PGA Tour events with his solo fourth (although you could argue that a T6 at THE PLAYERS earlier this year was better). The 26-year-old is now 70th in points, and he surely has designs on getting into the Next 10.

Andrew Putnam
Putnam closed with a 10-under 62 to rocket up the leaderboard into a tie for fifth. He's already set in the top-50 in points, which gets him into all the 2024 Signature events. But he's not in all the majors yet.

Ryan Palmer
Palmer just turned 47, and his best golf seemingly is deep in the rearview mirror. His tie for fifth was just his second top-10 of the year. It was important, though, as he moved from 155th in points to 136th, ensuring a spot in the 126-150 category with still a chance to get into the top-125.

Chesson Hadley
Hadley had been straddling the top-125 line for weeks. But his tie for seventh moved him from 122nd in points to 104th, securing his card for next year.

Mackenzie Hughes
Hughes began the week inside the Next 10 at 57th. That was far from a guarantee to stay there. But with his tie for seventh, he's now 53rd, and that is enough to guarantee a spot in the final Next 10.

Carson Young
The less famous and less successful of the two C. Youngs on the PGA Tour, the Clemson alum is putting the finishing touches on a very successful rookie season. Young finished solo ninth, just his second top-10 but an impressive eighth top-25. He's now inside the top 100 in the standings, secure for next season with an outside chance to challenge for the Next 10.

Ludvig Aberg
Ho-hum, it was an off week for the Swedish sensation – only a tie for 10th. Aberg has his card for next year but isn't in the Signature events yet. He's 95th in points.

Akshay Bhatia
The 21-year-old Bhatia tied for 10th to move to 91st in points. As a tournament winner, he's set for next season, albeit without a Masters berth as of now since his win was in the opposite-field Barracuda.

MISSED CUTS

Sahith Theegala, Henrik Norlander, Zecheng Dou, Jimmy Walker, Cody Gribble, Kensei Hirata, Ryo Ishikawa and Michael Block. Theegala missing the cut in this very weak field was a bit of a stunner, especially with such wide-open fairways. … Norlander fell from 117th to 121st in points. … Dou dropped from 126th to 127th. … Walker continued to fall, from 129th to 132nd. He is not exempt beyond this year. … Gribble fell from 150th to 153rd, so he will fight to get back inside the top-150. … Hirata and Ishikawa took advantage of their top-10s at the ZOZO to take spots in this field. Hirata missed the cut on the number. … You thought you had heard the last of Block? This was not a sponsor invite. He earned his way in as a PGA Section champ. He shot 4-over, tied for the worst score through 36 holes.

FEDEXCUP STANDINGS

There were no changes among the top 125 this week -- no one moved in, no one fell out. That almost never happens. Guys creeping deeper into the danger zone were Ben Martin, from 116th to 120th; Maverick McNealy, from 121st to 124th; and C.T. Pan, from 124th to 126th. McNealy played in his first tournament since June and missed the cut.

Besides Kuchar, Sam Ryder used a tie for 10th to move from 63rd in points to 59th. They bumped out both Luke List, 59th to 61st, and Thomas Detry, 60th to 62. Davis Riley was already on the outside at 62nd, then a missed cut dropped him to 65th.