Erik van Rooyen held on for a good top-10 finish on Monday in the PGA Tour’s Northern Trust, as his closing round of one-over-par 72 saw him finish in seventh place.
The tournament was won by Tony Finau of the United States in a play-off with Australian Cameron Smith after the pair had finished on 20-under-par. They were two clear of world number one Jon Rahm of Spain.
Van Rooyen dropped a shot early on in his round, making bogey on the third. But birdies on five and sex got him below par for the final round, and, however briefly, into a share of the lead. He gave a shot back to par with a bogey on seven as he turned in level-par. But, at 16-under, he was giving too much away to the leaders, as Finau closed with a six-under 65, and Smith with a four-under 67.
In the end, a horrible seven on the par-three 11th all but eliminated Van Rooyen from contention. After hitting his tee shot in the water, and dropping for a penalty 153 yards from the hole, he proceeded to hit his third in the water too, this time over the back of the green. He played his fifth to just short of 13 feet and then two putted.
He regained some lost ground with an eagle three on 13 as he hit his approach to inside three feet, and he made a birdie on 16.
He climbed to 45th on the FedEx Cup rankings, which puts him in this weeks BMW Championship which will be contested by the top 70 players, but he has some work to do if he is to play in the Tour Championship the following week, as that features the top 30 players.
Dylan Frittelli closed with a four-under 67 to move to five-under for the tournament, and a share of 56th. At 119th in the FedEx Cup, his PGA Tour season is over.
So too is Garrick Higgo’s. He slipped to 107th after closing with a two-over 73. That was four-under for the week and it gave him a share of 64th.
