Michael Miller

Erik van Rooyen was asked about qualifying for next week's $20 million, no-cut Truist Championship via the Aon Swing 5, and he responded: "How honest do you want me to be?" He then continued: "I hate it (laughter). 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. Again, really proud of playing my way into it." Van Rooyen has been consistent on his opposition to the PGA Tour's new signature-event model. At last year's Arnold Palmer Invitational, he shared with Golf Channel his opinion of remarks by Rory McIlroy and Wyndham Clark wishing for a leaner, meaner tour: “I saw Wyndham’s comment. Two years ago, Wyndham was in the 100-125 spot. He would’ve lost his card, and now he’s a major winner, and all of a sudden…" "And 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. … The NBA has over 300 guys playing. We have 144 guys playing [next week at The Players]; that’s not a lot, and more than half of them aren’t making money." "I think this idea that we’re worth what Premier League soccer players are worth is completely mind-blowing. 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?" That story from 2024: nbcsports.com/golf/news/a-le… Today's article: nbcsports.com/golf/news/erik…