Frederik Wilhelm van Rooyen (born 21 February 1990) is a South African
professional golfer
A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...
who currently plays on the
European Tour
The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...
and the
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...
. He has won twice on the PGA Tour, as well as once on the European Tour.
Amateur career
Van Rooyen attended the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...
from 2009 through 2013. During this experience, he won the 2012
Minnesota State Amateur.
Professional career
In 2013, Van Rooyen turned professional. He has played on the
Sunshine Tour
The Sunshine Tour is a men's professional golf tour based in Southern and East Africa. For much of its early history it was known either as the Southern Africa Tour or Sunshine Circuit; through sponsorship deals, it has also been known as the F ...
since turning professional. In early 2017, he had his first win on the tour, the
Eye of Africa PGA Championship, making a birdie at the first extra hole in a three-man playoff. He played on the
2017 Challenge Tour where he had his second professional win, the
Hainan Open. A number of other good finishes, including fourth place in the
Kazakhstan Open and a tie for third in the season-ending
NBO Golf Classic Grand Final, put van Rooyen third in the Challenge Tour Race to Oman rankings, earning a card for the
2018 European Tour
The 2018 European Tour was the 47th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.
Changes for 2018
There were changes to membership criteria with the reversal of some of the changes i ...
season.

In December 2017, van Rooyen was runner-up in the
Joburg Open, three strokes behind
Shubhankar Sharma. The event was part of the Open Qualifying Series and his high finish gave him an entry to the
2018 Open Championship, his first major championship. He led the 2018
Dubai Duty Free Irish Open by four strokes after three rounds, but a final round 74 dropped him into a tie for 4th place.
Van Rooyen made a good start to 2019, finishing joint runner-up in the
Commercial Bank Qatar Masters
The Qatar Masters is a European Tour golf tournament held at Doha Golf Club in Doha, Qatar. When founded in 1998, it was one of two European Tour events to be staged in the Arabian Peninsula, but was at one point, one of six. From 2005 to 2007 ...
and the
Hassan II Golf Trophy
The Hassan II Golf Trophy is a golf tournament in Morocco hosted by Prince Moulay Rachid. The tournament was founded by, and is now named for, his father, Hassan II, who served as King of Morocco. The tournament is currently played on PGA Tou ...
. He also had a top-10 finish in the
2019 PGA Championship.
On 25 August 2019, van Rooyen won his first European Tour title at the
Scandinavian Invitation at
Hills Golf & Sports Club, outside
Gothenburg
Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...
, Sweden. He sank a 12 feet birdie putt on the finishing par 5 72nd hole, to win by a stroke with a new tournament record 261 on the par 70 course.
After van Rooyen tied for third at the
WGC-Mexico Championship
The WGC Championship was a professional golf tournament that was held between 1999 and 2021. It was one of the three or four annual World Golf Championships until the number of WGC events was reduced to two following the 2021 season.
Under sp ...
in February 2020, he advanced to a career best 40th on the
Official World Golf Ranking
The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolling ...
.
After a T20 finish at the
2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in August 2020, van Rooyen was granted Special Temporary Membership until the end of the
2019–20 PGA Tour
The 2019–20 PGA Tour was the 105th season of the PGA Tour, the main professional golf tour in the United States. It was also the 52nd season since separating from the PGA of America, and the 14th edition of the FedEx Cup.
Changes for 2019–2 ...
season.
In August 2021, van Rooyen won his first PGA Tour event at the
Barracuda Championship. He broke the tournament scoring record by shooting a total of 50 points (
modified stableford) over four rounds.
In November 2023, van Rooyen won the 2023
World Wide Technology Championship for his first PGA Tour win in over two years. He made a putt for an eagle on the par-5 18th hole on Sunday to win. In the last round, van Rooyen played the back nine in 8-under 28 as part of a 9-under 63.
Amateur wins
*2011 Southern Cape Open
*2012
Minnesota State Amateur
Professional wins (6)
PGA Tour wins (2)
European Tour wins (1)
European Tour playoff record (0–1)
Sunshine Tour wins (1)
Sunshine Tour playoff record (1–0)
Challenge Tour wins (1)
1Co-sanctioned by the
China Tour
Other wins (1)
Source:
Results in major championships
''Results not in chronological order before 2019 and in 2020.''
CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = no tournament due to
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
Summary
*Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (2018 Open – 2020 U.S. Open)
*Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (2019 PGA)
Results in The Players Championship
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Results in World Golf Championships
1Cancelled due to
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
pandemic
NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022.
Team appearances
Professional
*
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...
(representing South Africa):
2018
Events January
* January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency.
* January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
See also
*
2017 Challenge Tour graduates
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:van Rooyen, Erik
South African male golfers
Minnesota Golden Gophers men's golfers
Sunshine Tour golfers
European Tour golfers
Olympic golfers for South Africa
Golfers at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Sportspeople from Bellville, South Africa
Golfers from the Western Cape
White South African people
1990 births
Living people
21st-century South African sportsmen