For someone who had just shot the lights out at a tournament and qualified for a bid to earn a share of A$31 million in prize money in Philadelphia this week, Erik van Rooyen was scarcely dancing a merry jig on Sunday.
The 35-year-old booked a spot in the signature PGA Tour Truist Championships, which have been relocated to the Philadelphia Cricket Club course this week given Quail Hollow is hosting the PGA Championship next week, when second behind Scottie Scheffler on Sunday.
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The South African, who finished eight shots adrift of the world No.1 in the CJ Cup Byron Nelson last week despite finishing 23-under, pocketing more than A$1.55 million for his runner-up finish in Texas.
Although satisfied to have played so well while substantially fattening his bank account, van Rooyen is not a fan of the highly lucrative signature events and Aon Swing 5 events that serve as a counter measure to the life-changing fortunes on offer on the LIV Tour.
His gripe is that the cash is on offer only to a select group of players who are already raking in the rewards on offer courtesy of their success on the tour more broadly and said only a handful of golfers could be considered true superstars in golf.
“How honest do you want me to be? I hate it,” he said.
“I strongly believe that the strongest fields are the ones with the most players in them. The guys on the PGA Tour are so good. It’s so deep. I get that you’ve got the Scotties of the world, the Rorys of the world, and people want to see them, it’s entertaining.
“Like the PGA Championship coming up, for example, I think it’s the strongest field in the game, similar to The Players. I love competing, so selfishly I want to compete against those guys.”
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Van Rooyen, whose closing round 63 in Texas earned him 300 FedEx Cup points and a shot at the mega-purse on offer in the lead-in event to the PGA Championship, is consistent in his critiques, having previously teed off when discussing the topic last year.
“Rory, I know he said he wants the Tour to be more cutthroat. Well, this is the most cutthroat sport there is. You miss the cut, you’re gone, bro. You’re not making money,” he told the Golf Channel in 2024 prior to The Players Championship.
“The NBA has over 300 guys playing. We have 144 guys playing. That’s not a lot and more than half of them aren’t making money.
During the height of the war between the PGA Tour and LIV gold, he said the world’s top golfers already earned an exceptional amount and queried whether they deserved to be earning sums comparable to other global sports stars.
“I think this idea that we’re worth what Premier League soccer players are worth is completely mind-blowing,” he said.
“I’m sorry, Jon Rahm, you’re a fantastic player, but you’re not worth the zeroes they gave you. You’re not worth more than what Cristiano Ronaldo is making. I’m sorry, we don’t have the following.
“We’re not the NBA. We’re not the NFL. I get there are a handful of really famous and really good golfers. How many of them have won tournaments so far this year?”
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Given the limited field of 72 players at the Truist Championship, there is no cut and every golfer will earn a cheque. Australians Jason Day, Cam Davis, Min Woo Lee and Adam Scott will finalise their preparation for the year’s second major in the cash-rich event.
Fresh from completing the career Grand Slam at Augusta, McIlroy will be seeking to defend his victory a year ago which pocketed him A$3.35 million, but the last-placed finisher in the event will still take home more than A$55,000.
While Scheffler will skip the Truist Championship after his success last week, McIlroy and Xander Schauffele are among the stars featuring in the tournament, with Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Viktor Hovland other big names teeing off.
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