EMOTIONAL VICTORY FOR ERIK VAN ROOYEN AT WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY

If it wasn’t divine intervention, it was close. University of Minnesota alum Erik van Rooyen teed it up at the World Wide Technology Championship with a heavy heart, after learning that his college teammate Jon Trasamar’s melanoma had become terminal, bringing motivation to cement his TOUR status this week so he could visit his dying friend. Van Rooyen delivered on that objective and then some, carding a back-nine 28 Sunday at El Cardonal at Diamante, punctuated by a lengthy eagle putt at the par-5 18th hole, to win by two strokes over longtime veterans Camilo Villegas and Matt Kuchar. Van Rooyen finished 27 under at the Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal, and he moves from No. 125 to No. 63 in the FedExCup Fall standings. Sunday wasn’t about numbers, though. It was about memories. “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.”

THE PENULTIMATE EVENT OF THE 2023-23 SEASON HAS ARRIVED

The TOUR heads to Port Royal Golf Club for the Butterfield Bermuda Championship and the penultimate event of the 2023-23 season. FedExCup points have never been more valuable as players look to secure their cards with a top 125 finish (finalized after The RSM Classic next week) and jockey for position within The Next 10 to gain entry into the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational. Oliver Betschart, a 15-year-old local prodigy will become the youngest player to compete on the PGA TOUR since 2014 and the fifth youngest since 2000. Adam Scott will tee it up for the second time in the FedExCup Fall after finishing tied for 41st at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP and Lucas Glover is back in action for the second week in a row. Ben Griffin looks to extract revenge after stumbling down the stretch last year in pursuit of his first PGA TOUR win at the 2022 Butterfield Bermuda Classic, and the 2019, 2020 and 2021 winners of this event, Brendon Todd, Brian Gay and Lucas Herbert, are all returning. Follow the storylines as players jockey for position before the conclusion of the 2022-23 PGA TOUR season.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

MIC CHECK

“But I don't want to stop playing, man. I love playing. You never know, you never know. You keep waiting for the results to come and you keep grinding and you keep grinding.”- Camilo Villegas following his runner-up finish at the World Wide Technology Championship.

BY THE NUMBERS

56 – Adam Long hit a perfect 56 of 56 fairways this week at the World Wide Technology championship, becoming the first player to hit 100% of fairways in a TOUR tournament since 1992.

35 – The top 36 players on the Charles Schwab Cup Pointsafter Sunday’s final round at the TimberTech Championship qualified for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

15 – 15-year-old Bermudian Oliver Betschart qualified for the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, making him the youngest player to compete on TOUR since 2014 and the fifth youngest since 2000.