COGNIZANT CLASSIC

March 3, 2024

Erik Van Rooyen

PGA National Champion Course

Quick Quotes

Q. Whirlwind round, starts with six birdies, big three and a half hour delay in the middle. How do you assess the day?

ERIK VAN ROOYEN: Beautiful. It's really funny because I feel like I left a ton out there yesterday, and I was slightly crabby, and Feeley, my caddie, tells me, bro, you don't know what's going to happen, you might birdie the first seven tomorrow, and we almost did that.

Yeah, really happy with how I played.

Q. It seems somewhat obvious that that delay really hurt your momentum. Just talk about what you think it did to your round, and how hard was it to get back into that flow?

ERIK VAN ROOYEN: Yeah, it's hard. The greens were so much slower coming back. There's so many little adjustments you need to make. That shot I just hit on 18 from the left of the green there was so wet.

But I want to call myself a pro golfer, I need to be able to adapt to that. I'm really, really pleased with today's round.

I certainly don't think -- if I don't end up winning this tournament, I certainly don't think it's because of today or the rain delay today. I'm going to take all the positives I can.

Q. At 14, someone has tied that at this point, a lot of golf --

ERIK VAN ROOYEN: Eckroat just went to 15.

Q. I assume you don't put a ton of hope into what could happen tomorrow?

ERIK VAN ROOYEN: Yeah, I've got no expectations. If I'm within two and those boys are walking up to 15th tee box, I'll be here (smiling).

Q. You're supposed to be at Seminole, correct?

ERIK VAN ROOYEN: I'm supposed to be at Seminole, so I've got a phone call to make. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to handle that yet, but honestly, we'll see.

Q. You probably had about a three-hour delay between when you got off the course and got back on the range. What do you do?

ERIK VAN ROOYEN: Have lunch with my wife and Fitzy and his fiance. That's about it. Hang out. Went to the fitness trailer like right before they called us back, and that was it. There's not much you can do. There's not much you can do. Try and hang out -- my house is only 20 minutes away, so I was hoping to go back there and get a little cat nap in. But you just hang out and wait, and you've got to stay patient.

Q. I think Cam went home and came back --

ERIK VAN ROOYEN: Yeah. I could have done that, but then again, I'm here. I'm trying to stay within sort of the flow of the tournament. If I get home, I'm going to sit on my couch and grab a beer probably. Good thing I stayed.

Q. Was the difference between -- was it more conditions or swing you felt like when you came back and weren't able to repeat?

ERIK VAN ROOYEN: No, not conditions. Everything. It's just a completely different moment in time. I've had three hours to sit on how well I've played. You can't push in this game. It'll push back, and it'll hurt.

I certainly didn't try and go make seven birdies in my first nine holes. Obviously I'm trying to hit good shots, if that makes sense, but -- the same thing when I come back out there. What was there, seven holes left to play? I'm going to try and hit every shot as good as I can, and if it ends up with birdie, great. Take 17, for example; that was a 35-footer, whatever. What are the odds of making that? Not big. But that's golf, and it can happen.

I tried my best out there, and that's it.