Van Rooyen Makes Hay During Golf’s Longest Day, Earns Spot into U.S. Open at Oakmont CC
Erik Van Rooyen birdied the 10th hole and eagled the 569-yard, par-5 11th at Kinsale Golf & Fitness Club on Monday in the first round of the 36-hole...
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Exactly one month after shooting a 13-under-par 58 in the first round and taking the early lead at the Veritex Bank Championship (May 25), Frankie Capan lit up Holston Hills Country Club on Saturday and posted an 8-under 62. With that, he claimed a one-stroke lead in the Visit Knoxville Open. He's at 195 (15 under) after 54 holes. Rhein Gibson, Sam Bennett, Max McGreevy and Harry Higgs are all right behind him at 196. Gibson got there with a 64. Bennett, who won the U.S. Amateur in 2022, shot 65.
Capan ended up in fourth place at Veritex Bank, one of three top-10 finishes he's had in his last four starts on the Korn Ferry Tour. He's currently No. 23 on the money list, with $119,564. More important, Capan is 25th on the Korn Ferry Points List, and the top 30 on the points list at the end of the year will graduate to the PGA Tour for the 2025 season.
For now, however, the 2020 Minnesota State Amateur champion is trying to earn his first Korn Ferry victory. Another start on Sunday like the one he had on Saturday would definitely help. He birdied four of the first five holes and added one at the par-3 eighth on the way to a front-nine 30. Capan added a birdie at the 10th and made his seventh and eighth birdies of the round at the 13th and 14th holes. The 24-year-old former Florida Gulf Coast star made his only bogey of the day at the 497-yard, par-4 17th hole, but he got that lost stroke back with a birdie at the 529-yard, par-5 18th.
He'll need to keep making a lot of birdies, because 24 players are within four strokes of him, including the Korn Ferry money-and-points leader, Tim Widing. It was Widing who ended up winning Veritex Bank -- with a 31-under aggregate of 253. Widing will start Sunday's round tied for ninth at 199, after a 64 on Saturday.
Visit Knoxville Open
At Holston Hills Country Club
Par 70, 7218 yards
Knoxville, Tenn.
Third-round results
1. Frankie Capan 66-67-62--195
T2. Rhein Gibson 66-66-64--196
T2. Sam Bennett 65-66-65--196
T2. Max McGreevy 64-65-67--196
T2. Harry Higgs 64-65-67--196
T6. Kevin Velo 65-67-65--197
T6. Cody Blick 67-65-65--197
8. Pontus Nyholm 63-69-66--198
T9. Tim Widing 68-67-64--199
T9. Braden Thornberry 67-68-64--199
T9. Mitchell Meissner 67-68-64--199
T9. Trace Crowe 71-62-66--199
T9. Joe Weller 70-65-64--199
T9. Keenan Huskey 68-68-63--199
T9. Kris Ventura 67-63-69--199
T54. Van Holmgren 69-67-68--204
Erik Van Rooyen birdied the 10th hole and eagled the 569-yard, par-5 11th at Kinsale Golf & Fitness Club on Monday in the first round of the 36-hole...
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