What we knew about Erik van Rooyen – he loves to wear sneakers, he shreds the guitar, and he seems like an overall cool cat. Oh, right, he’s pretty good at golf too, once ranking as high as 40th in the world. What we did not know about Erik van Rooyen – he can throw a temper tantrum with the best of ’em.
At Kiawah Island’s par-3 17th, one of the most terrifying holes on the course, Van Rooyen arrived already in meltdown mode late in round two. After opening with an even-par 72 yesterday, the South African went out in 39 today and then truly crumbled down the stretch, bogeying the 14th, making double at the 15, then bogeying the 16th.
So he was already understandably hot, but he truly boiled over at 17, where his tee shot looked really good before the ball trickled with its last ounce of might into the drink. That’s when he proceeded to unload on a nearby tee marker, breaking his own clubhead in the process. He also damn near killed a caddie in the group, and it wasn’t his caddie, it was Matt Wallace’s. Have a look at this mess:
We say this with no exaggeration – he really could have hurt that caddie. Thank goodness he ducked out of the way as a club head came flying at him. We’re all for letting out some rage, but Van Rooyen would never have forgiven himself if he hurt that poor looper. Wild scene all around.
He went on to make a triple-bogey 6 on the hole, which put him at nine-over and well outside the cut line.
