Two-time PGA Tour winner Erik van Rooyen is fighting to keep his PGA Tour card at this week’s Austin Championship. It’s a tall task any year, but it may be even more difficult in the next two years.
With the fall of LIV Golf, many players from the upstart league will start to funnel back into the DP World Tour and, eventually, the PGA Tour, competing for a limited number of Tour cards with players who stayed loyal to those tours.
While the path back to the PGA Tour is much tougher than the avenues to the DP World Tour, van Rooyen doesn’t think it’s tough enough.
He made his feelings known in a recent interview with Golfweek. Then on Thursday at the Austin Championship, van Rooyen doubled down on his criticism in his post-round press conference.
Erik van Rooyen blasts LIV players over PGA Tour returns: ‘Go back to Q-school’
Van Rooyen’s initial comments came shortly after news broke that LIV Golf was officially over. That development turned hypotheticals about waves of LIV pros returning to golf’s traditional tours into a sudden reality.
Former LIV Golf pros will have to pay a penalty and likely serve a one-year suspension before returning to the PGA Tour, but once they do, some will be eligible for PGA Tour status based on past performance. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has not yet decided on what the path back for LIV defectors will be.
In his interview with Golfweek last week, van Rooyen criticized that fact, arguing instead that ex-LIV pros should be forced to “go back to Q-school.”
“We were told initially that if you played LIV, you would be banned from the PGA Tour, and the story just kept changing,” van Rooyen told Golfweek. “They gave the finger to the Tour. If you’re that good, go get it done.”
Van Rooyen doubles down on LIV position: ‘Nothing personal at all’
One week later in Austin, van Rooyen stood by his harsh criticism in a press conference after an opening-round 64 that put him within two shots of the early lead.
When a reporter asked if van Rooyen had received any “blowback” from his controversial LIV opinion, the pro answered in the negative.
“What kind of folks? No, no one that I hang around with. It might be people I don’t know on social media,” van Rooyen said, referring to any possible critics of his position.
He then qualified his original comments, arguing that certain major-winning stars should be exempted from returning to Q-school to regain their Tour status.
“I made a comment about saying guys should go back to Q-school. I think it’s completely status dependent, right?” van Rooyen explained on Thursday. “Like Jon Rahm has no reason to go back to Q-school, you know what I mean?”
But van Rooyen reiterated that most other former LIV players shouldn’t automatically be granted Tour status. He used his own playing career as an example.
“If a player in my position went and played Sunshine Tour for two years, I’d lose my rights to play here, so I would have to go to Q-school and find my way back, right? So isn’t that fair?” he asked.
Ultimately, he claimed he didn’t have any personal grudge against LIV players. He just thinks they should follow the rules.
“I have nothing against players that went to LIV, nothing personal at all,” van Rooyen said. “But that’s just how things work, right? So shouldn’t we just follow the rules?”
It’s unlikely van Rooyen’s opinion will change the PGA Tour’s plan for LIV pros. But if he can pull off a victory this weekend in Austin, he won’t have to worry about any of those players stealing his spot on Tour any time soon.
