South Africa's Erik van Rooyen in action during the first round. REUTERS/Paul Childs

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South African Golfers Excelling on International Circuit

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland – South African Erik van Rooyen showed few nerves in his first round in a major championship at the British Open on Thursday, taking advantage of ideal morning conditions to race to the clubhouse lead with a four-under-par 67, although by the end of the day American Kevin Kisner finished in first place […]

By Jenni Baxter
20-07-18 10:44
in Fab South African Stuff
South Africa's Erik van Rooyen in action during the first round. REUTERS/Paul Childs

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland – South African Erik van Rooyen showed few nerves in his first round in a major championship at the British Open on Thursday, taking advantage of ideal morning conditions to race to the clubhouse lead with a four-under-par 67, although by the end of the day American Kevin Kisner finished in first place with Van Rooyen tied second with two other players, including South Africa’s Zander Lombard.

South Africa’s Erik van Rooyen in action during the first round. REUTERS/Paul Childs

Van Rooyen ranked 144th in the world, said he tried to adopt of mindset on Thursday that the Open was just another tournament.

“It is a major but my mindset today was I’ve played a lot of golf this year already,” he said. “I was quite comfortable.”

Meanwhile South Africa’s Brandon Stone was tied in fifth position, making it a great Day One at the prestigious golf championships for South Africa!

Source: Facebook

And that’s not all…

Stone secured his spot in the Open Championship after winning the Scottish Open on Sunday! It was the third European Tour title for the 25-year-old… and made him the fifth South African to ever win the Scottish Open.

And… Southern Cape teenager Martin Vorster won The Junior Open Championship this week, to become the first South African to do so!

Vorster, who is a member of the Louis Oosthuizen Junior Golf Academy, said: “I came to Scotland after losing two major junior events at home in a row and that left me doubting myself. It rattled my confidence and I started to wonder if it was ever going to happen. This win means so much to me… It’s very special to win The Junior Open and all the more so because it’s here at the home of golf. You can’t get much better than that.”

Photo: Triumphant Vorster at the leaderboard, by GolfRSA

With the victory, Vorster extends the recent success of the GolfRSA National Squad, pushing the international winning tally to five titles in just over six weeks!

Vorster said his key to winning was listening to Jovan Rebula’s advice to stay in the moment and not try to get ahead of himself. (Rebula recently won The Amateur Championship, ending a 53-year winning drought for South Africa.)

Rebula is one of 12 South Africans at the Open Championship this week – along with Stone, Lombard, Van Rooyen and Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, George Coetzee, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen, Dylan Frittelli, Brandon Grace and Shaun Norris.

The Open Championship ends on July 22. #GoSouthAfrica

Sources include: TeamSA and Reuters (Writing by Andrew Both)