Erik Van Rooyen Breaks Euro Tour Duck With Scandinavian Invitation Win

Erik Van Rooyen has broken his European Tour duck by taking victory at the Scandinavian Invitation thanks to a final round of 66.

It became a two-way duel through the course of the final round on Sunday at Hills Golf Club, with Erik Van Rooyen eventually winning out by a single shot from England’s Matt Fitzpatrick.

The South African bounced back from a bogey at the 17th to card a birdie at the final hole of the tournament to take the victory on -19.

Meanwhile, Fitzpatrick only parred twice on the back nine, with five birdies and two bogeys on his final stretch. He birdied the 17th to put the pressure on the eventual winner, and also birdied the 18th on Sunday, but van Rooyen had just enough in the tank to get over the line.

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With the victory the South African moves into the top ten of the European Tour’s Race To Dubai standings, with runner-up Fitzpatrick moving up to 6th.

A further four shots back from the Englishman were the two men who finished the week in a tie for third place, Henrik Stenson and Dean Burmester.

Both men shot 66 on the final day at Hills Golf Club, but the Gothenburg-born Stenson gave the home crowd something to cheer about with this on the 6th.

Fellow countryman Sebastian Soderberg finished a further shot back at -13. The Swede finished in the top five alongside first-round leader Wade Ormsby, Welshman Jamie Donaldson, France’s Alexander Levy, and American Sihwan Kim.

Joakim Lagergren made it three Swedes inside the top ten at their home event, as he finished alongside the French duo of Victor Perez and Matthieu Pavon.

The English trio of Matthew Southgate, Andrew Johnston, and Sam Horsfield also finished in that group at -12, with Horsfield having shot a 62 on Sunday, the lowest round of the day at Hills GC.

Last year’s champion, Paul Waring, finished in a tie for 20th at -10, nine shots back, while two-time champion, and another of the home favourites, Alex Noren, could only manage a T40 finish.

The European Tour keeps on rolling into the final third of the season, as the Tour makes the move to Switzerland for next week’s event, the Omega European Masters.

The action will get underway on Thursday morning at the Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club in Crans Montana, with Matt Fitzpatrick looking to win the event for the third consecutive year.

Leaderboard:

• 1 (-19): Erik van Rooyen (RSA)
• 2 (-18): Matt Fitzpatrick (ENG)
• T3 (-14): Henrik Stenson (SWE), Dean Burmester (RSA)
• T5 (-13): Sebastian Soderberg (SWE), Sihwan Kim (USA), Alexander Levy (FRA), Jamie Donaldson (WAL), Wade Ormsby (AUS)
• T10: (-12): Sam Horsfield, Andrew Johnston, Matthew Southgate (all ENG), Matthieu Pavon (FRA), Joakim Lagergren (SWE), Victor Perez (FRA)

Selected Others:

• T16 (-11): Andrea Pavan (ITA), Zander Lombard (RSA)
• T20 (-10): Alexander Bjork, Marcus Kinhult, Niklas Lemke (all SWE), Paul Waring (ENG)
• T29 (-9): Joost Luiten (NED), Haydn Porteous (RSA), Soren Kjeldsen (DEN)
• T40 (-7): Alex Noren (SWE), Jens Dantorp (SWE)
• T47 (-6): David Nyfjall (A, SWE), Gavin Moynihan (IRL), Stephen Gallacher (SCO)
• T53 (-5): Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL), Rikard Karlberg (SWE), Per Langfors (SWE)
• T59 (-4): Henric Sturehed (SWE), Tom Lewis (ENG), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (ESP)
• T68 (-2): Christiaan Bezuidenhout (RSA)
• T70 (-1): Robert Rock (ENG)