Grab Your Coffee: Watch Former Gopher Swing for Open Championship

As you wake up to the 3rd round of the Carnoustie-hosted British Open, the field will already be well in-progress. As Friday’s round came to a close, Kevin Kisner and Zach Johnson sat atop the leaderboard at six-under par. Following those two, there’s a crew of players sitting at five-under par and even more just behind that, at four-under:

*scoreboard reflects approx. 6:25AM (CLICK FOR UP-TO-DATE VIEW)

*Picture reflects approx. 7/20 | 6:25AM – To view the full (fluid) leaderboard, click HERE.

While Kisner, Johnson and others (Tiger Woods – Even after Friday) receive the vast majority of the national attention, things have been a little different within the State of Golf Hockey borders.

Ski-U-Par: Former #Gophers golf captain Erik van Rooyen shoots even par 71 in second round, stays in #BritishOpen contention. https://t.co/y1oPZRwh8A pic.twitter.com/FHUUEZa7ut

— Star Tribune Sports (@StribSports) July 20, 2018

van Rooyen, who is 28 years-old now, came to the University of Minnesota via Oudtshoorn High School (South Africa) in 2009. It was during that time (his freshman year) that he solidified himself as a future pillar of the Gopher Men’s golf team, by playing in nine of the team’s 11 tournaments that season.

From there, the now European Tour rookie had a decorated four-year run with Minnesota. Here are some of the main accomplishments from his collegiate career:

In addition to the above, the player who is known for his on-course power, was the 2012 Minnesota State Amateur champion.

Once his time eligibility with the Land of 10K Lakes was up, the smooth-swinging South African turned professional in 2013. His first victory as a pro came in June of 2016, when “he returned to Minnesota and won the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am.”

In regards to van Rooyen’s play as of late, and his thoughts on his impressive first career round of major championship golf, I’ll defer to our good friends at the Agence France-Presse:

Looking ahead to Saturday’s third round, van Rooyen is scheduled to tee off at 9:30 AM CST next to Matt Kuchar. So, grab your coffee and watch the former Gopher try to hack it with the top-dawgs.

Johnny Minnesota (@TheJohnnyMN)
MinnesotaSportsFan.com