Columnist Peter Benton: Campbell’s U.S. Open triumph a big day for Kiwis everywhere

Peter Benton

Wednesday, June 29, 2005 | 9:31 a.m.

Peter Benton's golf column appears Wednesday.

Unheralded Michael Campbell, the 2005 U.S. Open champion, is from the same country as I come from, so I thought a little insight regarding his career ups and downs may be of interest.

Campbell was born Feb. 23, 1969, in a town on New Zealand's North Island called Hawera, but at an early age his family moved to Titahi (pronounced Tee-Tie) Bay, which is about 20 miles north of the capital city of Wellington.

He was obviously a natural at the game from a young age, and as he matured, so did his skills. With friend and fellow Maori (pronounced Mow-ree) Phil Tataurangi representing New Zealand, the native Kiwis upstaged the top amateurs in the world by winning the 1992 World Amateur Team Championship in Canada. Also in '92 Campbell won the Australian Amateur Championship.

Tataurangi, you may recall, won the 2002 Las Vegas Invensy's Classic. Unfortunately ill-health along with back surgery has kept him off the PGA tour virtually since that victory.

But back to Campbell: In 1993 he embarked upon his professional career, and although he has had success in this incredibly competitive environment, my feeling is that he could have been far more successful considering his immense talent.

His maiden year on the Australasian Tour proved to be relatively good as he won the Cannon Challenge event, and in 1995 the Alfred Dunhill Masters. That same year he led the British Open after three rounds and ultimately placed third behind John Daly and Constantino Rocca.

Campbell's game seemed to go rapidly downhill after that, and it took many years and a lot of dedication before he gained back his confidence, repaired an ailing wrist and restructured his swing to where it once so perfectly used to be. In 1999 he concluded his comeback year by winning the Johnnie Walker Classic in Taiwan.

He continued his return to form by capturing the 2000 Crown Lager New Zealand Open, then won his second successive event by winning the Heineken Classic in Perth, Australia, and in October of that same year he captured the Linde German Masters.

He did briefly play on the U.S. Tour in both 2002 and 2003 but, alas, apart from placing second in the 2002 Bay Hill Classic, he struggled.

Last year he prevailed in the Nissan Irish Open and in 2003 was the winner of the Smurfit European Open.

Married with two young children, he divides time between New Zealand and London.

Like all New Zealanders, I am incredibly proud of Campbell's U.S. Open victory, and of course wish him all the best for the ensuing years. However, I alluded earlier to the fact that I thought this young man could have had a far greater career. It has always appeared to me that if Campbell bogeyed, say, two holes in a row, he would completely collapse.

He did state that on the final day of play in the Open, he kept repeating, "don't lose your focus," so maybe, just maybe, he has come to realize that one does not give up.