Erik van Rooyen Wins With Back Nine Charge, Inami Earns First LPGA Win | The Sunday Swing

The Sunday Swing
November 5, 2023

Welcome back to another edition of the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. The PGA Tour returned to action after a week off with The World Wide Technology Championship in Los Cabos, Mexico.

World Wide Technology Championship: Tournament History

The World Wide Technology Championship made its debut in 2007, and was the first Tour event to be held outside of the U.S. or Canada. The Championship had previously been held at El Camaleón Golf Club at Mayakoba, but moved to El Cardonal at Diamante Cabo San Lucas for this year’s tournament, which is the first course designed by Tiger Woods’ to host a PGA Tour event. Fred Funk won the inaugural event in 2007, while several other notable names have found their way into the winner’s circle including Viktor Hovland, who won back-to-back titles in 2020 and 2021. The previous five champions of the World Wide Technology Championship are as follows:

2023: Erik van Rooyen (-27)
2022: Russell Henley (-23)
2021: Viktor Hovland (-23)
2020: Viktor Hovland (-20)
2019: Brendon Todd (-20)

The Big Swing

The Big Swing this week goes to Erik van Rooyen, who capped off an emotional win with an incredible eagle on the 18th hole to secure a two-stroke win at the World Wide Technology Championship, and earning the South African his 2nd victory on Tour. 

Van Rooyen started the week with a solid 4-under 68 in the opening round. He then positioned himself for the weekend with an 8-under 64 in the second round, as he entered the Saturday at 12-under par, four strokes back of 36-hole leader Camilo Villegas. A 6-under 66 in the 3rd round moved the former University of Minnesota standout to just a stroke back of Villegas and Matt Kuchar heading into Sunday’s final round. 

His final round didn’t start out the way he hoped, bogeying the par-5 opening hole. He would only card two birdies on his opening 9, leaving him 4 strokes back of the lead heading to the back, but that’s when van Rooyen kicked things into gear. Van Rooyen would birdie 4 of the first 5 holes on the back and had trimmed the deficit to two heading into the 16th hole. He’d then birdie both 16 and 17, tying him for the lead heading into the final hole. After finding the fairway on the par 5 18th, van Rooyen hit the shot of the tournament as his 2nd shot landed short of the green, but rolled on, giving him a good look at eagle. From 20 feet, van Rooyen would sink the eagle putt, to cap off an 8-under 28 on the back, and give van Rooyen his 2nd PGA Tour victory. 

Van Rooyen became the first player to go 4-under over his final three holes to win a tournament since Rickie Fowler did it at the 2015 Players Championship. He’s the 7th winner on tour this year to record a 63 in his final round en route to victory, and the second straight, as Collin Morikawa shot a final round 63 at his win at the Zozo Championship.

Winner's Bag - Erik van Rooyen

Erik van Rooyen picked up his 2nd career PGA Tour victory at the World Wide Technology Championship, after previously winning the 2021 Barracuda Championship. Van Rooyen is on staff with Callaway and gamed an entire bag made of Callaway on his way to victory. 

At the top of the bag, van Rooyen plays a Callaway Paradym, and has it set to 9 degrees of loft. Van Rooyen doesn’t have a true fairway wood in his bag, but rather a 21 degree Callaway Apex Utility Wood, which was the club he used to set up his tournament winning eagle on the 72nd hole. He also games a utility iron in his bag, playing an 18 degree Callaway X Forged UT. His irons are a combo set, playing an Apex TCB 4 iron, while rocking Apex MB’s for his 5-iron through his pitching wedge. Van Rooyen has three Callaway Jaws Raw wedges in his bag, playing them at 50, 54 and 58 degrees. He caps off his bag with an Odyssey Toulon Design San Diego. Then ties all of that together with a Chrome Soft X ball.

In The World of Women's Golf

This week, the LPGA visited Omitama, Ibaraki, Japan for the Toto Japan Classic. It was a strong field highlighted by the American phenom Rose Zhang, who finished a respectable 15th, which was the best finish by an American in the field. Mone Inami stole the show early on and didn't look back, blitzing both the course and the field with birdies. 

Inami opened with an 8-under 64 to vault near the top of the leaderboard immediately, and followed that by firing a 68 on Friday to sit at 12-under through 36 holes. Additionally, to this point, she had not missed a green in regulation nor made a bogey. 

She continued the momentum into the weekend, firing a 65 to place herself squarely in contention with the final round looming. A final-round 69 proved to be enough for Inami, as her four-day total of 22-under-par 266 was enough to win by one shot over Seon Woo Bae and Shiho Kuwaki. It's the first career win for Inami, and the 24-year-old has now opened a bunch more doors in her professional career.