“Heartbreaking and heroic” – Fans in awe of Erik Van Rooyen as he talks about his best friend’s fight with cancer

Erik van Rooyen got emotional after winning the 2023 World Wide Technology Championship on Sunday, November 5. He played a resounding round of 63 in the final to clinch the second PGA Tour title of his career.

Rooyen dedicated his incredible victory to his best friend, Jon Trasamar, who has been suffering from melanoma. The South African golfer wrote his name on his golf ball and said in his interview that all his shots are dedicated to him.

The PGA Tour shared a video of Erik van Rooyen speaking about his friend on its X account with a caption, saying:

"Every shot out there today was for him." ❤️ @FredVR_ 's best friend, Jon Trasamar, is battling cancer. Van Rooyen just made a walk-off eagle to win @WWTChampionship."

Fans jumped to the comments section it was heartbreaking and heroic at the same time. One user wrote:

"Heartbreaking and heroic. Peace to Jon, his family, and friends. All Gopher nation(and everyone else) sending our heartfelt prayers."

"Van Rooyen is a good man. Also he has one of the best mustaches in sports," wrote another fan.

Here are more fans reactions:

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"Every shot out there was for him"- Erik van Rooyen gets emotional talking about his friend

Rooyen played all four rounds of under 70 at the 2023 World Wide Technology Championship. He started the game on Thursday and scored 68, which improved in the second round when he settled for a score of 64. In the third round, Rooyen scored 66 followed by 63 in the final to finish with a total of under 27.

He played for his friend, Jon and credited him for the victory. In a conversation with the PGA Tour reporter, Rooyen said:

"There’s bigger stuff in life than golf. If you look at my ball … it has the initials ‘JT’ and it’s for Jon Trasamar, our best friend. He’s got melanoma, and he’s not going to make it. And every shot out there was for him."

"And when you’re playing for something bigger than some silly trophy it puts things in perspective, and at the end of the day whether I won here or whether I lost here, it really did not matter. Yeah, when something motivates you like that whether you make a putt or miss a putt, who cares?” he added.

Having turned pro in 2013, Erik van Rooyen has won five tournaments in his career, including two PGA Tour events.