It was a quiet start for Erik van Rooyen on Thursday in the first round of the PGA Tour’s Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas, Nevada as he carded a one-under-par 70 for a share of 42nd.
Van Rooyen is in a battle to get inside the top 120 in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Fall rankings, where he is currently in 125th and projected to slip to 126th as things stand after the first round, which was suspended for darkness with some players yet to complete their play for the day.
At one-under, he was eight shots off the lead which was held by Beau Hossler of the United States. Hossler led by one from compatriots JT Poston and Cameron Champ, who were on eight-under.
Van Rooyen dropped two shots with bogeys on his front nine, but picked up four birdies on his way home after dropping another shot on the 10th.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout was a shot back on level-par in a share of 60th, while Garrick Higgo was on one-over in a share of 76th together with LPGA Tour star Lexi Thompson, who was through 16 holes. MJ Daffue carded a two-over 73 for a share of 96th together with Dylan Frittelli.
