Some things are bigger than golf and the tearful embrace between Erik van Rooyen and caddie Alex Gaugert was one of those occasions where a picture genuinely painted 1,000 words. This meant something well beyond a winner’s cheque of almost $1.5 million and a spot in the Masters. This one was for Jon.
Former college teammates at the University of Minnesota, van Rooyen and Gaugert had played alongside Jon Trasamar, winning the 2014 Big Ten Championship as a team, and Trasamar finished tied for third as an individual. The progression to pro life hadn’t quite gone the way he’d hoped, but the mini-tour grind never ceased until he was diagnosed with melanoma.
He battled, thought he’d beaten it, and was given the all-clear six months ago. But those celebrations were premature and he informed his close friends on Tuesday that it had returned, it had spread, and it was terminal.
In the immediate aftermath of his come-from-behind victory at the World Wide Technology Championship, Van Rooyen, admitted the terrible truth. His friend was not going to make it, and he had only weeks left. The best man at van Rooyen’s wedding was on the way out, and he and Gaugert would fly to Minnesota on Monday to see him for, potentially, one of the last times.
“Every shot out there today was for him,” van Rooyen said, minutes after sinking an eagle-putt on 18 at El Cardonal at Diamante.
“He was like a brother to me,” van Rooyen said of the man who’d been his college roommate for three years and had helped the South African kid adjust to life in the United States. In Mexico, he was playing for something more than himself, yet at the same time, knew that golf has seldom mattered less.
And as these two conflicting outlooks battled within him, he produced one of the all-time great finishes on the PGA Tour, shooting an eight-under 28 on the back nine to catch and overtake Matt Kuchar, with a birdie, birdie, eagle finish to take a two-stroke victory over Kuchar and Camillo Villegas.
Villegas, who was seeking his first PGA Tour win in nine years would’ve made an extremely popular winner and it was great to see the Colombian, whose daughter lost her own fight with cancer just before her second birthday back in 2020, return to form.
But almost before he knew it, van Rooyen had birdied 16 and 17 to tie Kuchar and drilled his approach at the last to 20 feet, meaning he had an eagle attempt to win the whole thing. At the time, it seemed like he was putting into a dustbin and the eagle putt was never anywhere other than dead centre as he wrapped up his second PGA Tour win and one that he’ll likely look back on as being the one that mattered most.
“Listen,” Kuchar said, “the birdie-birdie-eagle finish is impressive. What was that?. … 8-under par on the final nine holes is quite an awesome finale. Hard to keep up with.
“At the end of the day you tip your hat and say that’s some awesome playing.”
The win means that van Rooyen, who’d ranked 126th on the FedEx Cup rankings coming into the week, has job security and is not far from playing his way into the Signature Events should he opt to play in the RSM classic in a fortnight’s time, but that’s all immaterial right now. Right now, it’s a time for being there for his friend.
“When I kick the bucket one day, whenever that might be, this is not what I’m going to be thinking about,” van Rooyen said. “I’m going to be thinking about the people that I love the most, and Jon Trasamar is one of those people.”
Leave a comment