Erik Van Rooyen makes me feel like an old man screaming at the wind

First, I should state that Erik Van Rooyen is an up and coming South African golfer with a game that could easily have him contend on tour and even in majors. (He has a top-10 in a PGA Championship and a top-20 in The Open.) He’s currently ranked 52nd on the PGA Tour and came in 3rd at the WGC down in Mexico last week.

He’s got game.

He’s also done something very few golfers have done – which is start off as a slow player, and worked to intentionally improve on that.

That’s awesome and something players like Bryson DeChambeau, Jason Day and others could learn from. (Also, Erik’s Twitter handle is, for some reason, @FredVR_ and I find that incredibly amusing given that his name is NOT Fred.)

But then…there’s the clothes. This is Van Rooyen’s “fit” as the kids say:

Let’s look a bit closer at the real problem:

I mean, in a word … NO. The joggers themselves are just so idiotic. I want to be hip, cool and live in a world where I just say, “Hey, if it makes you feel good, you should rock that. Be your own guy, my guy!” But even if you want to call these “joggers” let’s be real — these are sweatpants. You know the message you’re sending out the world when you wear sweatpants in public?

And look, I know EVR is not breaking ground here. Rickie Fowler sported this a few years ago.

I’m not sure which bothers me more, the utterly useless high-tops on a golf course (if you need that much ankle support to play golf, you’re doing something wrong) or the bare ankles and low rise socks from EVR.

They are both problems.

And my big issue? It makes me feel like Clint Eastwood sitting on his porch yelling at people of color in Gran Torino, or like Abe Simpson waving his cane at things he doesn’t understand. And honestly, that’s probably not as off-base as it should be. I’m old and I don’t understand the world we live in anymore. I’m not crazy – I’d be happy if guys could wear shorts to play, especially when it gets to deep summer and the PGA Tour is oddly deciding to play in Memphis or anywhere else that causes deep swamp ass.

But joggers? Ankle socks? High-tops? I’d ask whether we can do better, but I know we can. So, let’s try.

In the meantime, I’m still hoping Van Rooyen can keep it up and compete. The kid has game. But some untapered pants wouldn’t be the end of the world.