AUSTIN, Texas — Erik van Rooyen is letting his clubs do the talking at the new Austin Championship presented by Compliance Solutions, though he isn’t backing away from the words that put him at the center of golf’s biggest off-course debate last week.
After firing an 8-under 64 on Thursday to grab the lead after the early wave, the South African revisited his viral assessment regarding the future of former LIV Golf players following the rival circuit's financial collapse and liquidation: "Go back to Q-school."
Speaking after his bogey-free opening round — highlighted by a pair of eagles and 13 of 14 fairways hit — van Rooyen clarified that his stance isn't personal or a mandate for major champions, but rather a matter of basic fairness and Tour
rules. When asked if he'd received blowback from the comments, van Rooyen insisted that nobody in his circle had said much.
"What kind of folks? No, no one that I hang around with. It might be people I don't know on social media. I made a comment about saying guys should go back to Q-School. I think it's completely status dependent, right? Like Jon Rahm has no reason to go back to Q-School, you know what I mean?" van Rooyen said. "But if a player in my position went and played Sunshine Tour for two years, I'd lose my rights to play here, so I would have to go to Q-School and find my way back, right? So isn't that fair?
"I have nothing against players that went to LIV, nothing personal at all, but that's just how things work, right? So shouldn't we just follow the rules?"
Van Rooyen initially sparked headlines last week at the World Wide Technology Championship in Los Cabos — just hours after LIV Golf confirmed in court that it would shut down and liquidate its remaining assets after B.C. Partners withdrew from a proposed $300 million investment. At the time, van Rooyen didn't mince words about defectors who left the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.
"We were told initially that if you played LIV, you would be banned from the PGA Tour, and the story just kept changing," van Rooyen said last week. "They gave the finger to the Tour. If you're that good, go get it done."
Van Rooyen isn't missing the irony of earning PGA Tour privileges the hard way. Entering the final event of the 2026 season, the 36-year-old is fighting for his own job after a rollercoaster year that began with nine consecutive missed cuts.
“I've seen it all, mate. Yeah, when you miss nine in a row, it sucks because this is where I want to play, this is where I believe I can compete, and when that doesn't come to fruition, it sucks. But at the same time, all I can do is work what I'm working on as well as I can with the belief that it's going to turn around. And it's turning around. I don't know, like I said, I don't know where I'm going to play next year,” he said. “I'd love to get a win here and just be settled, right? But if that means Korn Ferry next year, that means Korn Ferry and I'll claw my way back to where I know I belong. I know I'm doing the right stuff and you just keep telling yourself that.”
Tim Schmitt is the managing editor for Golfweek and the golf coordinator for the USA Today Network.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Austin leader Erik van Rooyen doubles down on LIV 'Q-School' take
