Van Rooyen Cruises to Victory at Tapemark

By Mike Fermoyle (mikefermoyle@gmail.com) 

WEST ST. PAUL -- It wasn't quite the virtuoso performance that he turned in the day before, while shooting 64, but Erik Van Rooyen's 4-under-par 67 on a breezy Sunday at Southview Country Club was more than good enough to claim his first victory as a professional at the 2016 Tapemark Charity Pro-Am.

The only real surprise was finding out that this is the first time the South African has won since he turned pro in the spring of 2013, after concluding his college career with the University of Minnesota golf team.

Van Rooyen got off to a rocky start on Friday, and was 3 over par after his first nine holes. But he played the next 27 in 12 under, and the last 45 in 16 under, thanks to an impressive display of power and precision. 

As an example, on Sunday he reached the four par-5's at Southview with pitching wedge, pitching wedge, 6-iron and 8-iron, and played them in 4 under even though he three-putted one of the greens.

What it all added up to was a 54-hole aggregate of 200, 13 under par. That was five better than the runner-up total of 205 by Justin Smith, the former Gopher All-American -- it was his putt that secured Minnesota's NCAA team championship in 2002 -- who is now an assistant coach at his alma mater. 

Smith wasn't thrilled about his 70 on Sunday, but he finished it off with a nifty biride 3 at the ninth hole. (The leaders all started on the 10th hole.) After hitting a 275-yard drive dead into the wind, he had a tricky, 30-yard wedge shot to an elevated green, with the pin near the front edge. Most amateurs would think of that position as "the handcuff zone," but Smith executed the shot perfectly, lofting the ball softly a few feet onto the green and stopping it 18 inches from the cup.

That put him at 8 under for the tournament, and appeared to secure a third-place finish for the former Nationwide -- now webcom -- Tour regular, because his boss, Minnesota head coach John Carlson, was in the group right behind him, and he was 9 under. But then Carlson, a two-time Tapemark champion and perennial top-5 or top-10 finisher in this tournament, played what was almost certainly the worst hole he's ever played at Southview. By the time he putted out at No. 9, he had a triple-bogey 7, and a 72 for the round. 

He still was able to tie for third, at 207, which is pretty impressive for someone who plays in only one or two tournaments a year. But it definitely wasn't the way he wanted to cap off his weekend. 

The other two players at 207 were Ian Hessels, a former mini-tour pro who's now an assistant at New Richmond, and Elk River assistant Josh Whalen. Both of them had fairly wild rides to the finish line.

Hessels started the day one behind Van Rooyen, and quickly grabbed the lead with birdies on his first two holes, the 175-yard, par-3 10th and the 389-yard, par-4 11th. He got to 3 under for the day -- and 11 under for the tournament -- when he birdied the 14th (386 yards, par 4). Having picked up three strokes in the first five holes, he gave them back in the next two, making a double bogey at the 157-yard, par-3 15th and a bogey at the 446-yard, par-4 16th.

Undaunted, he bounced back with an eagle at the 490-yard, par-5 17th. Hessels made his third par of the nine that the 18th (481, par 5), to go with three birdies, a bogey and a double. For anyone who might have lost count, at that point he was 10 under for the tournament -- and two behind Van Rooyen, who was scorching the back nine. 

On the front nine, however, Hessels struggled, making four bogeys on his way to a 73. 

Whalen was coming from further back (four behind Van Rooyen), but he made nice progress on the back nine, with two birdies and no bogeys. Then he made the turn and went into reverse, wtih two double bogeys in the first five holes on the front side. But he rallied with three more birdies in his last four holes on the way to a closing 70.

One behind Carlson, Hessels and Whalen were Sam Matthew, the former Minnesota State Amateur champ who is now in his first year as a pro, and Chris Meyer. 

Matthew produced the only score that was better than Van Rooyen's 67 in Sunday's windy conditions, and he beat it by three with a 64. The way Matthew did it was by birdying the first hole on each nine and the last three.

Meyer, who played on the PGA LatinoAmerica Tour each of the last two years, has decided that's too expensive. So after caddying for his former Gopher teammate Derek Chang this week in the U.S. Open at Oakmont, he's going to try a couple of Monday qualifiers for PGA Tour events, and  some Dakotas Tour events. On Sunday, he shot 71, which wouldn't make him all that happy normally. But he had to come back from 5 over after seven holes to do it.

"So that made the 71 feel pretty good," he said afterward. 

He actually started off pretty well, with a birdie on the 11th hole. His round got pretty ugly after that, however, as he went double-par-double-bogey. His road to recovery started with birdies at the two par-5's at the end of the nine, 17 and 18, and he birdied four of the first six holes on the front nine, including both par-5's (4 and 6) before suffering a slight relapse, with a bogey at the seventh. 
 
As for Van Rooyen, he started Sunday's round with his worst shot in two days, an 8-iron that wound up short and right of the green at the 175-yard, par-3 10th. He followed it with a weak chip and missed a 15-footer for his par.

He returned to form pretty quickly, though, and stiffed a 65-yard wedge at the 330-yard, par-4 12th, and made a 10-footer for birdie at the par-4 14th. The 17th is a short par-5, but it's all uphill. Van Rooyen took advantage of the wind at his back with a drive of almost 350 yards, hit a wedge to 4 feet and cashed in the putt for an eagle. He had another wedge to the par-5 18th, which is also uphill, and two-putted from 35 feet for his third birdie in seven holes.

"It's not just that he hits it so far," marvelled Nathan Proshek, one of his amateur partners. "It's that he hits it so straight. After the first nine holes on Friday, he hardly missed any fairways. And I don't think he missed more than about three greens in the last 45 holes."

(Proshek, a former Minnesota State Four-Ball winner -- with partner Jeff Pint -- finished fourth among the amatuers with a 221 (75-73-73), and he played the par-5's pretty well himself. He made eagle 3's at the 18th hole in each of the last two rounds.)

Van Rooyen hit his worst shot of the tournament from the tee at the 353-yard, par-4 first hole. It was supposed to be a 4-iron for accuracy, except that it went dead right into the trees, and it resulted in a bogey. 

Nevertheless, he still led by three, at 12 under (Carlson was 9 under at this point). It appeared that he would get back to Minus 13 when he hit a 6-iron second shot onto the green at the 470-yard, par-5 fourth, which played into the wind. But he left his first putt from 60 feet about 12 feet short and missed his birdie try on the low side.

It didn't really matter. Two holes later, he hit yet another 300-yard drive and a 170-yard 8-iron to the middle of the green at the 476-yard, par-5 sixth and two-putted for birdie.

A blocked tee shot at the 363-yard, par-4 eighth led to another bogey, but he got that lost stroke back when he laid up with an iron from the ninth tee and then nearly holed a wedge shot. The ball ended up just inches from the cup, and his tap-in birdie on the final hole was a fitting conclusion to dominating performance.

With the Tapemark victory, Van Rooyen gained an exemption into the State Open, which will be played at the end of July.

"I'm scheduled fly back (to South Africa) on July 18," he noted. "But now that I'm exempt for the State Open, I might stay for that." 

In the meantime, he plans to try a two Monday qualifiers, one in June and one in July, and two Dakotas Tour events. 

But his main goal for this year remains to become fully exempt for the European Tour. He's been able to play in a few of the Euro tournaments for the last two years, but only events that are co-sanctioned by the European and Sunshine (South African) tours.

"I'm through to the Second Stage of Qualifying," he said Saturday. "That will be in November."

Van Rooyen played in five tournaments early in the 2015-16 European Tour season, and was in the top 50 on the money list at one point. But he hasn't played in any events over there since January, and he's dropped to No. 167 on the money list, with 40,358 Euros. He's still pretty high up in some of the statistical categories, however, such as Greens in Regulation (he's No. 2 with 78.5 percent of greens hit), and Driving Distance (he's No. 9 with an average of 307.1 yards).      

The Tapemark established a Women's Division in 2012, and Martha Nause won in each of the first two years. She won again this year, following a 70 on Saturday with a 73 on Sunday, and her cumulative 143 gave her a seven-stroke victory over Katie Detlefsen, the former four-time state high school champion from Eagan. 

Nause might be the most under-rated golfer in Minnesota. She's a former three-time LPGA Tour winner with one major (the 1994 du Maurier Classic) to her credit. She's 61 years old -- her birthdate is Sept. 10, the same as Arnold Palmer's -- and she can still really play, as she demonstrated over the weekend. After establishing a four-stroke lead in the first round, she kept adding to it by making a lot of pars in the second, and she polished off her victory with a birdie on the 18th hole. 



MINNESOTA PROFESSIONAL GOLF 

Tapemark Charity Pro-Am 

At Southview Country Club

Par 71, 6,121 yards

West St. Paul 

Final results

Professionals 

1. Erik Van Rooyen, Cape Town, So. Africa     $6,000      69-64-67--200

2. Justin Smith, Bolstad/University                   $2,700      67-68-70--205

T3. Ian Hessels, New Richmond GC                $1,337      67-67-73--207

T3. John Carlson, Southview CC                      $1,337      66-69-72--207

T3. Josh Whalen, Elk River CC                        $1,337      70-67-70--207

T6. Sam Matthew, North Oaks CC                      $933      70-74-64--208

T6. Chris Meyer, Dallas Athletic Club                 $933       68-69-71--208

8. Ross Miller, Riverwood National                    $745        65-76-68--209

T9. Andy Rauscher, Blackstone CC (Ariz.)       $580        71-66-73--210

T9. Brent Snyder, Troy Burne GC                     $580        68-68-74--210

T11. Don Berry, Edinburgh USA                       $435         68-69-74--211

T11. John Cleary, Bolstad/University GC         $435         70-69-72--211

T11. Michael Marshall, Oak Ridge CC             $435         74-69-68--211

T14. Ryan Helminen, Ridgeway CC (Wis.)      $315          69-70-73--212

T14. Jeff Sorenson, The Minikahda Club         $315         70-69-73--212

T14. Cameron White, The Palms (Calif.)         $315         69-72-71--212

T14. Jack Wawro, The Pines @ Gr. View        $315         71-69-72--212      


Amateurs 

1. Eric Hayne, Delwood CC                               74-69-70--213

2. Bennett Schroeder, Windsong Farm GC       71-73-71--215

T3. Sammy Schmitz, Southview CC                  73-69-77--219

T3. Scott Fenwick, Southview CC                      71-72-76--219

5. Jeff Gallagher, Southview CC                        75-75-72--222

6. Gary Thalhuber, Midland Hills CC                  73-71-79--223

Women's Division 

Final results

Professionals 

1. Martha Nause, Mendakota CC                      $1,000       70-73--143 

2. Katie Detlefsen, Somerby GC                           $500      74-76--150

3. Kristi Meyer, Wayzata CC                                  $400     77-80--157

4. Angela Ause, Oak Marsh GC                            $300      77-81--158

T5. Jody Christensen, Medina G&CC                   $150      78-84--162

T5. Kathy Swanson, Minnesota Section PGA       $150       81-81--162

8. Lori Money, Deer Run GC                                 $100      84-82--165

8. Kalynn Dolby, Mascoutin GC (Wis.)                  $100     83-89--172


Amateurs 

T1. Taylor Drenttel, Southview CC                    81-84--165

T1. Kathryn Hauff, Oxbow CC (N.D.)                81-84--165

3. Jennifer Pederson, Southview CC                84-82--166

4. Jordan Drenttel, Southview CC                     87-81--168