Campbell feeds off Open victory
Win gives him confidence for Masters
Web posted
Sunday, April 02, 2006
For a world-class player of Michael Campbell's stature, his record in the Masters Tournament leaves much to be desired.
In five starts (1996, 2001-04), the New Zealander has never made the cut.
In those 10 rounds, the 2005 U.S. Open champion has yet to match par at Augusta National Golf Club. He has two 73s, two 74s, one 75, two 76s, one 77 and two 78s.
That makes him 34-over-par for those trips.
"I think my record is disgusting; it's pretty pathetic, and I'll be the first to admit that," Campbell said.
He expects a much more positive result this year now that he is a major championship winner. Campbell shot 71-69-71-69-280 to win the U.S. Open by two shots at Pinehurst No. 2 in June.
"I feel like I can win (the Masters); it's changed my mind-set," Campbell said. "My mind-set (in previous years) was I felt I wasn't good enough to even make the cut.
"But now, being a major winner, it changes your whole mind-set completely."
In the past at Augusta National, it wasn't the slick and undulating greens or even the added length that caused Campbell problems. He was the problem, he said.
"Confidence, that's all it was. It was nothing to do with me physically or with my golf swing. It was between there," Campbell said, pointing to his head.
"Now I'm going there with a different way of thinking. It (the U.S. Open victory) has definitely put me in a better frame of mind already."
Part of that confidence has to do with how Campbell handled the greens at Pinehurst, where the fringes were tightly mowed. That has long been a characteristic of Augusta National's greens.
"Those greens at Pinehurst were very challenging, like Augusta," Campbell said. "I know I've got the tools now to play well around Augusta."
Fans should take a good look at Campbell this week. It's one of the few times they'll see him on these shores, and the only time he'll be in the South the rest of the season, unless he makes the Tour Championship. That tournament, in late October, is for the top 30 money winners on the tour and is played in Atlanta.
Campbell can play only a limited PGA Tour schedule, and he's not happy about it.
"It's disappointing," he said.
The European Tour mainstay was a PGA Tour member in 2003, but he played only 14 events instead of the minimum 15.
"If I played 15 events in 2003, I would have been fine," said Campbell, who called his aborted 12-week stay in the U.S. in 2003 with his wife, Julie, and two young children "complete chaos."
Because he didn't fulfill the 15-tournament obligation, Campbell is limited to 10 events a season for the next five years.
He's already played in the Mercedes Championship, the Bay Hill Invitational and The Players Championship. That leaves him the four major championships and the three World Golf Championships.
He plans to play a full European Tour schedule, with the goal of winning the Order of Merit (money list title).
"To do that, I've got to play more on the European Tour rather than over here," he said. "Once I do that, it's time to come over here and play full time on the U.S. tour. That day will come, hopefully, and I'm looking forward to that day."
Campbell could play as many PGA Tour events as he wanted this year if he would join the PGA Tour. But he won't, and not just because he wants to win the Order of Merit.
"I think it's the combination of a lifestyle," Campbell said. "I've got two kids now. They go to school in England. The last thing I want to do is uplift them and bring them over to America. Their friends are over there.
"I can play the U.S. tour, but it's pretty tough," Campbell said. "To have family around, it would be even extra hard. The other reason is that I want to keep the same routine going. I've got a great recipe going right now, and why change, why introduce a new one, a new ingredient?"
That "recipe," he said, includes working with his longtime sports psychologist, Nick Hastings, and coach, Jonathan Yarwood.
The U.S. Open victory earned Campbell a five-year exemption into the Masters.
Campbell burst on the scene in the 1995 British Open. At age 26, he shot a third-round 65 to take the 54-hole lead. He couldn't hold it in the final round, shooting 76.
Injuries, a less-than-workmanlike attitude and high expectations brought about his first downward spiral. By 1997, he didn't have a tour to play on. In 1998, he said he was regularly shooting in the 80s.
He worked his way back up to be one of the top players in the world by 2001, then disappeared from the radar again by 2005.
To get into the 2005 U.S. Open, he had to go through qualifying, and barely made it through that.
"To be honest, I was surprised I won the U.S. Open," Campbell said. "I thought my best shot at a major was probably the British Open.
"The first couple of weeks (after the U.S. Open win), I was up at 3 in the morning, walking down to my office and looking at the trophy for two or three hours. I couldn't sleep, my mind was racing a thousand miles an hour."
Reach David Westin at (706) 724-0851 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.
