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Erik van Rooyen simply needed to see his pal. It was Saturday night in Mexico and van Rooyen had simply shot 66 to get inside one of many 54-hole lead on the World Large Expertise Championship.
However, his pal. That was who was on his thoughts: Jon Trasamar.
Van Rooyen first met Trasamar when the previous made his approach from South Africa to … Minnesota … to attend school.
“As a 19-year-old, whenever you go away your private home nation, it’s by no means straightforward, and I left South Africa again in 2009. I grew up in a very small city. The golf course was not nice. So leaving residence wasn’t straightforward,” van Rooyen stated Sunday after rallying to win his second PGA Tour occasion. “Jon and his household lived about two hours away from Minneapolis. I arrived in Minnesota in September of 2009 they usually have been there on the airport to satisfy me, to say hello, as a result of he was going to be my roommate and teammate quickly after. We clearly grew to become finest pals.”
Van Rooyen, Trasamar and Alex Gaugert have been Golden Gopher teammates. Van Rooyen made his approach onto the PGA Tour, profitable two years in the past on the Barracuda Championship. Gaugert grew to become van Rooyen’s caddie.
Trasamar cast an expert profession as nicely, taking part in on the mini-tours. In April of 2022, the week of the Heritage, as van Rooyen recollects, Trasamar despatched his former roommate of three years some excellent news. It had nothing to do with golf; fairly, it was an image of a scan exhibiting Trasamar was most cancers free.
“That was an unbelievable second for all of us,” van Rooyen stated.
“Not quickly after, it got here again.” Stage 4 melanoma.
Van Rooyen stated he knew his finest pal, the most effective man at his wedding ceremony can be dealing with an uphill battle. Nevertheless it was extra dire than he imagined, which he discovered this week.
“On Tuesday, he despatched us a textual content; he’s acquired six to 10 weeks left [to live],” van Rooyen stated. “They did a bunch of scans and most cancers was in all his organs, all over the place.”
And that’s why, at 125th in FedExCup factors, together with his PGA Tour card within the steadiness and a profession redefining day forward, van Rooyen wasn’t stressed over what lay in wait on Sunday.
He simply needed to see his pal. However – he knew he needed to handle enterprise, first.
His ultimate spherical at El Cardonal began with a bogey-6 and he discovered himself 4 again of Camilo Villegas on the flip. After which van Rooyen birdied the tenth, 11th and 12th holes. He birdied the 14th. He made lengthy birdie putts on the 16th and 17th.
Van Rooyen entered the par-5 18th tied with Matt Kuchar for the lead, Villegas one again. The South African ran a 3-hybrid from 304 yards to inside 16 toes of the opening, then made the putt for eagle, a back-nine 28, and a two-stroke victory.
After securing the win – with Kuchar and Villegas nonetheless to complete – van Rooyen embraced his caddie, the usually stoic Gaugert, who wanted his boss, former teammate and pal to assist him.
“I simply consoled him, to be trustworthy,” van Rooyen stated. “It’s been – like all people is aware of now, it’s been a heavy week for the each of us. To win, simply all of it got here out, consoling him and hugging him, yeah.”
Van Rooyen was grateful for his victory. It had been a troublesome 12 months, on the course, evidenced by his towing the Tour-status line getting into this occasion. He stated he started working with swing coach Sean Foley the week of the U.S. Open and that “began turning issues round.”
He left Mexico with practically $1.5 million, a ticket to the Masters (amongst a number of different outstanding occasions) and a two-year Tour exemption, which was set to run out on the finish of the autumn sequence.
His subsequent cease, although, is the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. To see his finest pal, which, now that enterprise has been taken care of, is all he needs to do. Virtually all.
“We’ve texted. I’ve simply instructed him how a lot I really like him and the way a lot I miss him,” van Rooyen stated. “All I would like is to go play 9 holes with him someplace, you recognize.”
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