Two-time PGA Tour winner Erik van Rooyen He is fighting to keep his PGA Tour card this week Austin Championship. It is a tall task every year, but it may be even more difficult in the next two years.
With the fall of LIV Golfmany players from the upstart league begin to return to the DP World Tour and eventually the PGA Tour, competing for a limited number of Tour cards with players who have remained faithful to those tours.
While the The road back to the PGA Tour is much tougher than the trips for the DP World Tour, van Rooyen doesn’t think it’s tough enough.
He made his feelings known in a recent interview with golf week. Then on Thursday at the Austin Championship, van Rooyen doubled down on his criticism in his post-round press conference.
Erik van Rooyen slams LIV players on PGA Tour return: ‘Back to Q-school’
Van Rooyen’s initial comments came shortly after the news broke that LIV Golf was officially over. That development turned speculation about waves of LIV pros returning to traditional golf 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 yet to decide what the return path will be for LIV’s shortcomings.
In his interview with golf week last weekVan Rooyen criticized this fact, arguing instead that ex-LIV professionals should be forced to “go back to Q-school”.
“We were initially told that if you played LIV, you would be banned from the PGA Tour, and the story kept changing,” van Rooyen said. golf week. “They gave the finger to the Tour. If you’re that good, you’re going to do it.”
Van Rooyen doubles down on the LIV position: “Nothing personal”
A week later in Austin, van Rooyen backed up his harsh criticism in a press conference after an opening-round 64 that put him two shots off the lead.
When a reporter asked if van Rooyen had received any “revolution” from his controversial opinion LIV, the pro answered in the negative.
“What kind of people? No, no one with whom I have. It could be people I don’t know on social media,” said van Rooyen, referring to any possible critics of his position.
He later qualified his original comments, arguing that some major-winner stars should be exempted from returning to Q-school to regain their Tour status.
“I made a comment to say that the boys should go back to school Q. I guess it’s completely dependent on status, right?” van Rooyen explained on Thursday. “As well as Jon Rahm he has no reason to go back to Q-school, you know what I mean?
But van Rooyen countered that most other former LIV players should not automatically be granted Tour status. He used his own playing career as an example.
“If a player in my position went to play on the Sunshine Tour for two years, I would lose my rights to play there, so I should go to Q-school and find my way back, right? So isn’t that fair?” he asked.
In the end, he stated that he had no personal grudge against the LIV players. He just thinks they should follow the rules.
“I have nothing against the players who went to LIV, nothing personal,” said van Rooyen. “But that’s how things work, right? So shouldn’t we follow the rules?”
It is unlikely that van Rooyen’s opinion will change the PGA Tour’s plan for LIV pros. But if he can get a win this weekend in Austin, he won’t have to worry about any of those players stealing his Tour spot anytime soon.