22 February 2020: Erik van Rooyen celebrated his 30th birthday in the most spectacular fashion at the WGC-Mexico Championship as the South African tied the course record at Chapultepec Golf Club with a sizzling 62.
That nine under par round moved van Rooyen to a ten under total and within a shot of Bryson DeChambeau’s lead. The Cape Town-born player shares second place with his fellow European Tour Member Patrick Reed, who signed for an eight under 63.
The highlight of van Rooyen’s flawless round came at the par four ninth where he chipped in from the rough for a three, and he and Reed were two of four players to card nine birdies – a record number of players to do so during a single round in World Golf Championships stroke play events.
Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, rallied with three birdies in his final five holes for a two under 69 which left him three shots off the pace going into the weekend.
Bryson DeChambeau: “It was a lot of fun. Surely when you have days like that you can’t help but smile out there, and making those putts the way I did, striking the ball the way I did, it’s surely a joy out there.
“The confidence has got to be high. It is high, and it’s a lot of fun to see putts finally going in. I’m going to go out and do my work like I normally do, go putt a little bit, hit some balls, but overall everything is going pretty well. I’m firing on all cylinders.”
Erik van Rooyen: “It’s not a secret. I just hit it really well. Obviously, a few really good chip-ins the last couple of days, and then I putted really well. I’ve been a little bit uncomfortable the last few weeks, but I’m working on that stuff, and you know how it goes, just stick to your process, just trust in the fact that you’re doing the right things, and 62s happen.
“It’s been an interesting start to the year for me. I haven’t played fantastic golf in Europe, with our stretch in the Middle East. But off the golf course, I’ve been playing really well, hitting some really good shots, doing really good things, and I was kind of waiting for it to come together on the golf course, and today was the day.
“The first thing I told my wife this morning was, man, I feel really old. But I guess I’m still quite young, and what a way to kick off the 30th year and shoot nine-under. A little bit of a gift to myself.”
Patrick Reed: “I think the biggest thing for me was just get the ball on the green. It seemed like the putter was working, especially early on. It felt like I was hitting the ball solid, and even though I didn’t birdie one and two, I had great looks.
“I felt like I put a perfect roll on, and to get the first one to drop on the third hole, after that I just knew that the putter is working – just give it opportunities. On a golf course like this, you get the ball in play off the tee, you’re able to kind of attack with irons, you’re going to have a lot of looks.
“I can’t wait for the weekend. Any time you come to an event like this, or really any event, and you get yourself into contention going into the weekend, it’s always fun. It just kind of gets you going, and just continue hopefully the solid play and give ourselves a chance late Sunday.”
Rory McIlroy: “Actually I was going to say I didn’t putt as well as I did yesterday. I holed a couple of nice ones at the end, played the par-fives even par today from three really good tee shots. I need to clean that up a little bit, be a little tidier from inside four or five feet, and if I do that, then if this is the worst round out of the way, then it’s not bad.
“It was a very slow start. I made eight pars in a row, and then it’s like, okay, you’re either going to make a birdie or a bogey, what’s going to come first, and I ended up making a bogey on nine.
“And yeah, there’s a long way to go. There’s 36 holes left. At that point I was a few shots behind, but I knew there was somebody else coming up, but I just stayed patient and tried to bide my time and made a couple of nice putts coming in, and I guess my patient was rewarded a little bit.”
