Campbell righting "major" wrong
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2002 US PGA Championship | Round Two | 17 Aug 2002
New Zealander Michael Campbell will be breathing a sigh of relief, as this is written, for two reasons. Firstly, that he is off the course and can get an uninterrupted run into his third round at the PGA, and secondly that he is playing the third round at all.
Campbell, who has developed into one of the world’s leading players (currently ranked 14th), has not been able to match his success in the major championships with that he has shown away from the major arena.
Campbell, who in the second major championship in which he ever competed back in 1995, finished third to John Daly in the British Open, has shown a capacity to win and perform well in numerous tour events around the world but never in the ultimate events since that quite freakish performance at St Andrews. There have been the odd glimpses such as his 17th at Riviera in 1995 and his 12th at Pebble Beach in 2000 but that is about all.
A quick look at his statistics tells quite a story. This week’s PGA Championhip in Minnesota is Campbell’s 20th start in a major but represents only the 7th time that he has played the weekend. It is true that there have been extenuating circumstances for a great part of his career, more especially the wrist injury and the resulting lack of form and confidence between late 1995 and 1999. Even in the more recent good times however, his performances have at best been disappointing.
Since, and including the 2000 season, Campbell has now played in eleven major championships and this is only the third cut that he has made. This at a time when he has been winning in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Ireland and Taiwan and when he has been no worse that 12th on the European Tour money list.
The heartening feature of Campbell’s effort this week at Hazeltine has been the manner in which he has bounced back from ordinary starts to his first two rounds. On Thursday he had three bogeys in his first five holes and today he opened with a double bogey but was able to fight back with four birdies and no bogeys to leave himself reasonably well positioned in 20th place going into the weekend and only six behind Funk, who has yet to finish his round.
Campbell showed earlier this year that he is becoming more comfortable in the US Tour events. He was second at Bay Hill to Woods and for the second year in a row was in contention at the TPC. It may be that if he is to seriously challenge the world’s best golfers he now needs to play the US Tour on a more regular basis.
One gets the feeling that Michael Campell’s confidence and belief in himself are finding a new level and it may not be much longer before we see the true potential of one of the games most talented players realised.
