JOHANNESBURG - South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen and Erik van Rooyen both banked multi-million rand paydays at the US PGA Tour Championship on Sunday, the final event of the season-long race to the FedExCup.
Only the top-30 in the FedExCup (season-long points list) advanced to the Tour Championship in Atlanta, Georgia, with massive payouts guaranteed for those players.
Oosthuizen finished down in a share of 14th position, on seven-under for the week. His earnings for the four days stood at 583 750 US dollars, or a staggering R8.3m.
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Van Rooyen, meanwhile, ended on three-under for the week in a tie for 22nd. That meant, Van Rooyen cashed in R6.6m in his first visit to the season-ending tournament.
The format heavily favoured the top players of the FedExCup standings coming into the Tour Championship. The leader coming in was American Patrick Cantlay who began the tournament with a 10-shot advantage over the bottom-placed players. Ultimately, Cantlay won the Tour Championship - on a score of 21-under, including his 10-under starting score. Cantlay claimed the $15 million first prize, which converted to SA currency is an incredible R213.8 million.
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Oosthuizen had a season to remember, or forget depending on how it’s viewed, with four second place finishes on the PGA Tour. Two of those runner-up finishes were in the majors at the PGA Championship and US Open. He also tied for third at The Open Championship.
Oosthuizen’s earnings on the PGA Tour this season ended on $6.3 million, or R89.8 million.
In contrast, Van Rooyen had a roller coaster season. With 10 missed cuts in 25 events, Van Rooyen found his form towards the end of the season in the bigger money events. He claimed his first PGA Tour win at the Barracuda Championship at the end of August to propel him up the FedExCup rankings. He followed that up with seventh at the Northern Trust Open and fifth at the BMW Championship to secure his ticket to the lucrative Tour Championship.
In total, Van Rooyen earned 2.2m US dollars (R31.3m) on the PGA Tour this season.
African News Agency (ANA)