Erik van Rooyen brutally honest after qualifying for Truist via Aon Swing 5

When it came to chasing down Scottie Scheffler on Sunday at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, there was nothing Erik van Rooyen could do.

He said so himself.

But there was a consolation prize for van Rooyen’s closing 63 and solo runner-up finish at TPC Craig Ranch: a spot in next week’s Truist Championship.

With 300 FedExCup points earned, van Rooyen jumped inside the Aon Swing 5 just in time to receive an exemption into the PGA Tour’s $20 million signature event in Philadelphia along with Garrick Higgo, Sam Stevens (solo third at Nelson), Michael Thorbjornsen and Rasmus Hojgaard.

The Swing 5 for the Truist included results from the Corales Puntacana Championship, Zurich Classic and Nelson. Van Rooyen had missed two straight cuts entering this week.

Van Rooyen, who has been critical of recent PGA Tour changes in the past, was asked about qualifying for the Truist on Sunday evening.

“How honest do you want me to be?” responded van Rooyen, who tied for 40th at the signature event at Pebble Beach earlier this year. “I hate it (laughter). I strongly believe that the strongest fields are the ones with the most players in them. The guys on the PGA Tour are so good. It’s so deep. I get that you’ve got the Scotties of the world, the Rorys of the world, and people want to see them, it’s entertaining. Like the PGA Championship coming up, for example, I think it’s the strongest field in the game, similar to The Players.

I love competing, so selfishly I want to compete against those guys. Again, really proud of playing my way into it.”

Nicolai Hojgaard finished four points shy of bumping his brother, whom he finished second at Zurich with. Keith Mitchall also fell out of Swing 5, dropping to 10th.