Who is Erik Van Rooyen? Meet one of the first leaders of the British Open

Perhaps one of the funniest quirks of the British Open is getting up early on a weekday, before making coffee and commuting, mbadively consuming links and trying to calibrate what happened overnight. Almost always, there is an unknown name near the top – at least for casual fans.

After a birdie-birdie-birdie on his ninth day at Carnoustie, American Kevin Kisner took the lead this morning with a 5-by-66 round to set the early pace. But the name may not be familiar in the United States unless, say, you are a Big Ten golf fan.

Erik Van Rooyen, rookie of the European Tour, dominated most of the early hours this morning. before a bogey at the end and Kisner's race left him second solo. The 28-year-old South African made his major league debut this week – a helly start for someone so green on the biggest golf stage. He is just a year removed from Europe 's Challenge Tour where he worked for a few years – the European equivalent of the Web.com tour. His victory at the Hainan Open on this circuit last season helped him win the big Euro show.

Still, Van Rooyen is not totally out of nowhere – and could still ring with some golfers here, or a few Minnesotans. I made him score 75th and gave him a shoutout as one to watch in our field rank, as he just missed a close to the Ireland Open two weeks ago. The 28-year-old had a four-shot lead over Rory's ordeal before collapsing a bit later on Sunday. Just to give a guy a pbad for what was probably the most tense afternoon walk of his life. Fighting hard terrain in the Rolex Series event is a slightly different animal than, for example, trying to beat Shubhankar Sharma at the Johannesburg Open.

Oh, and yeah, can Row the Danged Boat go through Berry Burn? Van Rooyen is a 2013 Minnesota graduate, so his performance should make headlines in twin cities. Wondering how to recruit a child from South Africa to play golf in Minnesota? Well,

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