Like many top golfers, van der Walt received a golf scholarship to study in the United States, attending Central Alabama Community College.

He spent the following three seasons at the level, with his best result coming in 2005 when he lost a playoff to Brad Faxon for the Buick Championship.

Since his debut season in 1996–97 he has never played fewer than five tournaments a year on the tour, and has never finished lower than 70th on the Order of Merit.

Van der Walt won the 2013 Lion of Africa Cape Town Open on the Sunshine Tour, seventeen years after turning pro.

In 2017, Van der Walt co-founded AnchorUp Sports – an exclusive talent management agency working with a select group of the world's top golfers.