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WGC MEXICO CHAMPIONSHIP

February 21, 2020

Erik Van Rooyen

Mexico City, Mexico

ERIK van ROOYEN: I've been working really hard on the game, as we all do, and things came together nicely today, so happy.

Q. A lot of things were working for you off the greens. A couple of them yesterday. Let's go back to yesterday's first round and take a look here on the monitor, from off the green here at 1, what did you see there?
ERIK van ROOYEN: Really tricky, really fast. It came off quite hot on a really good line. I'm glad it hit the flag because otherwise I would have had about six feet coming back, so not too shabby.

Q. Then we fast forward six holes to the 7th, what's going through your mind when you miss the green there?
ERIK van ROOYEN: Chip it in again hopefully. Why not? Well, I had my replacement caddie on the bag yesterday. It was actually my trainer, and he said, just see your line and chip it in. He's a gamer, I guess.

Q. Suddenly you find yourself right there another the top of the leaderboard, and then we fast forward to today here at the 9th.
ERIK van ROOYEN: Again, you don't really want to miss it left there, quite a slick little downhill chip, but I told Alex, my caddie, just pitch it on the green and have it trickle down, and again, really good line, so good job.

Q. After that happened we were talking about your birthday on the air, and Justin Leonard said, man, he's really enjoying his 30s. Do you feel like you're a little bit of an older man today?
ERIK van ROOYEN: The first thing I told my wife this morning, man, I feel really old. But I guess I'm still quite young, and what a way to kick off the 30th and shoot 9-under. A little bit of a gift to myself.

Q. Best birthday ever?
ERIK van ROOYEN: If not, it's probably a close second.

Q. What was the secret to the form?
ERIK van ROOYEN: It's not a secret. I just hit it really well. Obviously a few really good chip-ins the last couple days, and then putted really well. I've been a little bit uncomfortable the last few weeks, but I'm working on that stuff, and you know how it goes, just stick to your process, just trust in the fact that you're doing the right things, and 62s happen.

Q. You've tied the tournament course record here, but also you've tied the lowest ever score by a South African in a World Golf Championship. How does that feel to be alongside players like that?
ERIK van ROOYEN: That feels good. Retief is obviously someone I've always looked up to, you know, watched him win his majors and win a lot of really nice events when I was a kid, so it's good to be in that category.

Q. Last year was the first time you had played here. How much has it made the difference getting to come back with that under your belt?
ERIK van ROOYEN: Yeah, experience helps no matter where you go. It's close to Johannesburg, maybe even goes 5 percent further than what I'm used to back home. There was a bit of an adjustment, but I think we got it figured out.

Q. We don't get to see that much of you, World Golf Championships, major championships, but I know everyone is very aware of you after tying the course record. Was this round building in you? Did you see it coming?
ERIK van ROOYEN: I'd like to say yes. It's been an interesting start to the year for me. I haven't played fantastic golf in Europe, with our stretch in the Middle East. But off the golf course, I've been playing really well, hitting some really good shots, doing really good things, and I was kind of waiting for it to come together on the golf course, and today was the day.

Q. I don't know what ignited the round, but that chip-in at the 9th was the start of four birdies in a row. Tell me about it.
ERIK van ROOYEN: Yeah, the chip-in on 9 was great. You don't really want to hit it there. It's quite slick coming down the hill on the left-hand side, but it went in, and I was just on a nice roll, shot 4-under on the front. You've got a lot of momentum, you've got a few par-5s on the back and you can capitalize on those, one or two more good shots, and 62 is the number.

Q. You chipped in a couple times on Thursday, as well, so you have to be really confident around the greens.
ERIK van ROOYEN: Yeah, I think I struggled on them last year. I'm definitely reading them better this year. I think I've got the pace down. Yeah, and it looks like I'm chipping well. So the short game is holding up nicely, and I hit it a lot better today than I did yesterday, so yeah, good things.

Q. We see a South African, we don't think Golden Gopher, but you're a University of Minnesota guy?
ERIK van ROOYEN: Absolutely. Did my four years up there, absolutely loved it. My wife's family, they're still up there, so I go back quite often. Proud to be a Gopher.

Q. You were 3-over for your first nine yesterday but 13-under since then. What happened? Obviously you chipped in for eagle right here.
ERIK van ROOYEN: Yesterday I had my trainer on the bag and a really good friend, as well, and I told them, you know, guys, I've been doing really good things off the golf course, hitting the ball great, playing well, and then I just haven't quite done it in tournament golf. I just kind of need something to happen. I want that little spark, and I guess that chip-in on 1 yesterday, that was it. All of a sudden you've got a little bit of positive momentum, you make a putt or two, and you trust yourself and the confidence is there, and things just flow from there.

Q. Is he your normal caddie?
ERIK van ROOYEN: No, my normal caddie had a little food poisoning happening yesterday, so he was in bed, but he was back on the bag today. But that was the difference.

Q. It's kind of a big week in terms of setting your schedule.
ERIK van ROOYEN: I think so. I'd love to get into THE PLAYERS. I'm currently just outside the top 50. I'm playing Honda next week, hopefully PLAYERS, and then Match Play and then Augusta, which I've never been to before.

I think at a tournament like this and a field like this, if you can play well, you can play well anywhere, so if I continue the way I'm going, it'll be a big confidence booster.

Q. What's the altitude difference here and home?
ERIK van ROOYEN: Johannesburg goes about 5 percent shorter than here. It was interesting because start of the week we just did the math as we went, but it took quite a while to figure it out, but then on Tuesday I hit a lot of balls on the TrackMan to figure out how far which clubs are going, and just write it down, and it's been easier since then.

Q. Did you feel like the course was somewhat defenseless today given how much the wind was up yesterday?
ERIK van ROOYEN: Yeah, exactly. Yesterday was really tricky, and I think you can see that from the scores. Today the greens are fairly receptive. If you're hitting it well, you're going to have a ton of opportunities.

Q. What were you doing before you got here? What tournaments were you playing?
ERIK van ROOYEN: I played Genesis last week, missed the cut, and then the week prior I was at home in Florida. The last two events I played were Saudi, week off, Genesis.

Q. It's been a busy start to the year?
ERIK van ROOYEN: It's been quite busy. I played four in a row in Europe, started with South African Open, three in the Middle East, and then one week off since then, so yeah, quite busy. But no, I'm doing great. I'm a young guy, and my fitness is good, so yeah, we're good.

Q. Speaking of Augusta, what's your first television recollection of the place?
ERIK van ROOYEN: Wow. I don't think I ever watched -- I only started playing golf when I was eight, so I don't think I watched Tiger win his first one, but I remember Phil making his putt to win his first major to beat Ernie. I was watching that. I like Phil. I think it's quite funny. I was really rooting for Ernie, but I was only a kid. That would probably be my first recollection of watching it on TV, yeah.

Q. Do you have any plans to try to get out there before the tournament?
ERIK van ROOYEN: I'll be there the week prior.

Q. The entire week?
ERIK van ROOYEN: I'll be there Thursday, so I'll play nine holes Thursday, probably 18 on Friday, and kind of take it from there.

Q. Kind of a broad question, but what are you looking forward to the most?
ERIK van ROOYEN: At Augusta? Everything. I was there, we played Augusta State tournament my freshman year, and it's the weekend before, so we got tickets to the Monday practice round and the whole team went, and it was spectacular. I'm probably looking forward to the first tee shot on Thursday with all the people there. That's what you dream of, right?

Q. What year was that?
ERIK van ROOYEN: '09.

Q. What did you do on that Monday? Did you walk the entire course?
ERIK van ROOYEN: I spent some time on the range. I remember Tiger was warming up with Fred Couples, Trevor Immelman was on the range, and I guess you go see some iconic holes, No. 1, walked a few holes, and then went to Amen Corner. 13 is a much bigger dogleg than what it seems on TV, and then we just kind of spent some time there, bought a little bit of merchandise, as everybody does, and yeah, just kind of tried to soak it in.

Q. How far away did playing in it seem like that day?
ERIK van ROOYEN: Far away, but also it's interesting, I always thought I'd play it, but until you do it, you don't really know. I don't know, I think things have kind just kind of right on time for me.

Q. Would you like to see exactly what you have to do to get into THE PLAYERS?
ERIK van ROOYEN: Just top 50 in two Mondays' time, top 50 in the world. I'm 52nd at the moment.

Q. You've played in it before, right?
ERIK van ROOYEN: No.

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