Media Center Interviews
April 2, 2021
Second Round Interview with Erik van Rooyan
Q. Erik, excellent round of golf today. That closing bogey wasn't representative of what your round of golf was. I mean, the ball-striking, the driving, it was all there for you today, wasn't it?
ERIK VAN ROOYEN: It was, and it's been there for the last couple tournaments. And the putting's kind of tagging along today, so it was a really fun round.
Q. I was glad to hear you say that it's coming together as of late. Great showing last week in the Match Play. What has been the difference here in this 2021 year in like the last month than the start of the year?
ERIK VAN ROOYEN: Yeah, the start of the year was nothing to write home about, that's for sure. I don't know. I think I'm -- everything's just ticking rather nicely. I've been working on some great stuff as always. This game, it's going to be -- it's going to be a rollercoaster sometimes. You're going to play really well and you're going to play bad at some points and it's just kind of trying to ride that out. It was a terrible first eight weeks for me results-wise. You can get kind of hard on yourself sometimes, but you've got to stay patient, you know, and trust yourself, trust the process. It's so cliche, but it's the truth. And again, played well last week and it's kind of coming along, which is nice.
Q. You used the word "patience." You have to be patient out here on this golf course. I noticed there were some hole locations, No. 5 comes to mind, that you can't really attack even though you hit a great drive.<
ERIK VAN ROOYEN: Yeah. On No. 5, that's a tough one. I hit a poor wedge. I had 90-something hole and howling downwind, so if you pitch anything near the hole, you're down in that valley over the green and that's dead. I just didn't hit a good wedge and it made the hole really hard from where I was, putting down that big slope.
And then on 6 I hit a great wedge again and the gust kind of turned on me right as I hit and came into me. It's funny, you know, I hit two wedges about 40 feet and then the next hole I stuffed a 5-iron to about four feet. But that's the game, that's the sport I chose to play. So you've kind of just got to laugh about it and carry on.
