Q&A: Erik Van Rooyen on Designing His Ecco Shoes, Joggers and Handlebar Mustache Maintenance

The South African's distinctive style and passions are on display in a new model of Ecco's Biom H4 hybrid golf shoe.

Erik van Rooyen is a pro you can spot from two fairways away. Usually eschewing traditional golf pants for joggers and sporting arguably the best facial hair in golf (whether it’s a full-beard look or a handlebar mustache), the South African doesn’t mind standing out.

A closer look at the 33-year-old’s haberdashery these days also includes a distinctive new shoe: his own Ecco Biom H4 “Erik van Rooyen Edition.” The Biom H4 continues Ecco’s longtime prominence in the golf hybrid shoe space, featuring a reworked upper especially around the toe to create a sleeker look and a tongue that contributes to better ergonomics and therefore a better fit. Van Rooyen was then invited to give it his own twist, and accents throughout the shoe pay homage to his love of guitars, his aforementioned style trademarks and of course golf.

Erik van Rooyen and his Ecco Biom H4 hybrid golf shoe / Courtesy Ecco Golf

Van Rooyen spoke to Sports Illustrated prior to the PGA Tour’s Fortinet Championship—fresh off a long trip from the DP World Tour’s Irish Open, where he finished T16—to talk about the new shoe, footwear fanatics, his distinctive look and how some of it is catching on.

Sports Illustrated: Walk me through the routine of packing shoes for a tournament—are you a multi-shoe guy, plotting for different outfits, or is it one pair?

Erik van Rooyen: Space is limited. I’m a two-shoe guy, it’s either a gray pair or black pair and I’ve always got a white pair with me. It just pairs well with most things. If I had more space I'd probably bring more pairs, but the golf travel case only has two pockets for shoes and the rest is all golf stuff.

SI: There are few noted shoe fanatics in pro golf: Ian Poulter and Pat Perez to name two. Back home do you have an overflowing closet of shoes?

EVR: Surprisingly not. It’s either flip-flops or just a pair of tennis shoes when I'm home. I’ve seen videos of Ian Poulter’s closet, it’s absolutely ridiculous. I’m not that extreme. Instead of having a room with shoes, I'd probably have a room with guitars.

SI: We’re getting into fall golf time in the U.S., which means wet, cool, varying conditions. Is this Biom H4 suitable for all those conditions and everywhere you go on Tour?

EVR: Absolutely. Growing up, you’d wear any kind of golf shoes, then come to college and they give you shoes. This is by far the best golf shoe I’ve ever had. It’s great in wet weather, which we had in Ireland last week. You never know what you’ll get in Europe, in the U.S. it’s probably a bit more predictable. It’s a shoe that’s extremely durable no matter what comes your way.

SI: How does a native South African end up collaborating with a Danish shoe company?

EVR: Funny enough, I was playing the Challenge Tour in 2017—the Korn Ferry of the DP World Tour—in Denmark that week and randomly got paired with guys from Ecco in the pro-am. We hit it off, then in 2019 when a few other contracts of mine ran out, they were the first guys we got a hold of and they were super stoked to start working with me. What I enjoy is that it almost feels like family now, they’re such good people and they treat me extremely well.

From music to golf and more, Erik van Rooyen's passions are seen on the soles of his Eccos / Courtesy Ecco Golf

SI: Did you want to make your own shoe?

EVR: I’m no Michael Jordan (laughs), when they approached me I was surprised but super excited. They talked about the Biom H4, they wanted to put my twist on it. Me being super into music, playing guitar since I was a kid, having a mustache for a while, everything that encompasses my life—they wanted to incorporate that into the shoe. On the sole, you’ll see rock and roll stuff, punk rock, guitar, golf doodles. It’s special.

Guitar-related accents on the back of Erik van Rooyen's Ecco Biom H4 / Courtesy Ecco Golf

SI: Every time I look at the sole I see something different. What are your favorite parts?

EVR: For me, as much as I love golf, at the end of the day it’s my job. For me it’s looking and seeing all the stuff I do away from the tournament, when I'm home, spending time with my kids or spending time with my wife, or it’s me locked up in my room making as much noise as I can. When I look at that shoe it brings me a lot of joy.

SI: Did I see a video-game controller there?

EVR: Yeah, yeah (laughs). I had my second kid, a baby boy, at the end of December last year. I haven’t really had time for video games since then. I used to do that quite a bit. It was between guitar and playing “Call of Duty” with friends.

SI: When anyone talks style with you the joggers always come up. Have you tried to recruit other guys into those?

EVR: Funny you say that, going back to fall of last year when the new PGA Tour season started and guys came up from the Korn Ferry, all of a sudden there’s five, six guys wearing joggers all the time. I certainly haven’t tried to talk anyone into it, it just seems like it’s happened naturally.

I know it's a bit different, it’s not your Adam Scotts of the world who always look timeless and classy. But I enjoy the look of it, it’s athletic, I still think it doesn’t look too bad and now some guys are enjoying it as well.

SI: Did you know your pants had their own Twitter account? It’s been quiet for a couple of years but it’s still there.

EVR: (Laughs) It’s been dormant, my golf hasn’t been the greatest the last few years, probably since that happened. But it seems like things are kicking up again, maybe that will come alive again.

The 'stache, last seen in the spring :: Reinhold Matay/USA TODAY Sports

SI: Will the handlebar mustache come back?

EVR: I get questions about that the most. Eventually it will come back. I had it for a bit at the start of the year, then got tired of it. You mix it up. I’ve got a pretty nice beard going right now, I'm sure I’ll get tired of that and we’ll mix it up again.

SI: Does the handlebar take a lot of work?

EVR: It does, it does. You can’t just let it go because then it starts hanging into your mouth and I might get some mayo on there, which is not a very good look. It takes a bit of grooming and some days you just don’t want to deal with it.

SI: You’re at the Fortinet Championship, and it looks like given your place in the FedEx Cup standings (131st) this will be a pretty busy fall.

EVR: It will be busy, I'll pretty much play everything from here on out. I don’t think I’m in the Zozo yet but if I get into that I’ll fly to Japan, with it being a no-cut event. I started working with Sean Foley the week of the U.S. Open, that’s been going really well. I’m seeing a good uptick in my game, a top 10 in Crans Montana (Switzerland, at the Omega European Masters) and I finished 16th at the Irish open. There’s some real positive signs in the game so I’m looking forward to playing some good golf.