It was somewhat of a tame finish to the Masters for Erik van Rooyen as he fought his way to a closing four-over-par 76 on Sunday at Augusta National for an eventual share of 55th in his third playing of the year’s first major.
He opened with a double-bogey on the first and closed with a pleasing birdie on the 18th, and in between, he made two more birdies and five more bogeys. And he almost got out of Amen Corner unscathed, but he made one of his bogeys on the tough par-five 13th, as did so many others throughout the week.
In the end, Van Rooyen finished on 13-over-par after an opening round of 71 which promised so much was followed by rounds of 76, 78 and 76 in conditions in which everyone found scoring tough.
He was 24 strokes behind the winner, Scottie Scheffler, who strode to a victory his number one world ranking status always promised. Although it was an easy win for Scheffler for his second green jacket on the surface, in fact he had to fight off a spirited challenge from Swedish rookie Ludvig Aberg and American countryman Max Homa, who both saw their chances sink with costly errors in Amen Corner – Aberg with a double-bogey on the 11th and Homa with a double-bogey on the 18th.
Van Rooyen’s problems on the 13th could have been helped had he found the right-hand side of the fairway with his tee shot, but he recovered from the trees and the pine straw on the right to reach the green in three. He three-putted from just inside 70 feet, however, with his second putt from five feet pulled left.
The other South Africans in the field, 2011 champion Charl Schwartzel and amateur Christo Lamprecht, both missed the cut.
