How missed tackle decided Cambo

Campbell with the US Open trophy

Michael Campbell, the new US Open champion, once told me of the day he decided his future lay in golf rather than rugby.

He was a talented fly-half for Wellington Schools in New Zealand but then came face to face with a player who quickly decided his destiny.

And this week, though he has threatened to quit golf in the past and return to his trade as an electrician, after losing his playing rights in Europe and Australasia, the move finally proved the right one.

He told me during a chat we once had: " I was a pretty useful rugby union player as a 16 year-old. They thought I had a lot of talent and could have made something of myself in the game.

"Then one day playing for our schools side I came up against a player who effectively decided my future ? and it wasn’t going to be in rugby.
I set myself to tackle this thickset fellow Maori and he went straight through me, like a charging bull."

How ironic then that a few years later Va’inga Tuigamala ? the former Wigan and New Zealand rugby league winger and a keen 18-handicap golfer ? met up again with ‘Cambo’ as a spectator at The Open Championship. He told him that he’d always been a fan ever since his fellow Campbell led going into the final round of the 1995 Open at St Andrews.

Campbell salutes the crowd

Since then Campbell has suffered a topsy turvy career much like the final round at Pinehurst where he admitted he ‘slipped under the radar’, while the collapse of Retief Goosen and Jason Gore and the storming finish of Tiger Woods caught the crowd’s attention.

"I sneaked in there without anyone noticing," said Campbell after his win, admitting that he kept repeating to himself ‘focus, focus, focus’
as the winning line got closer.

Campbell also paid tribute to his wife Julie, always encouraging him through the dark days of his career when he lost his Tour privileges around the world and suffered a series of injuries.

He had ignored original medical advice for a torn tendon in his wrist but eventually accepted the opportunity to remove varicose veins, which revealed two blood clots.

The father of two sons aged seven and five, who lives in Brighton, also paid tribute to Callaway Golf who provided him with the tools to finish the job.

As well as the new FT-3 Fusion river, which Callaway will launch in the UK on July 4, he used a Steelhead 3-wood, Big Bertha 3H Heavenwood Hybrid, X-Tour irons, HX Tour ball and an Odyssey No.6 White Hot putter.

He averaged 294 yards off the tee during the week, hitting 64 percent of narrow fairway at Pinehurst and finishing in the top 10 in driving accuracy.

"This FT-3 driver made a big difference," he said. "I had so much adrenaline in the last round, I was hitting it a mile. The combination of a good driver, good irons, playing well and having a bit of confidence have made my statistics and my game improve ten-fold."

Michael Shane Campbell has come a long way since first emerging in 1992 as Australian Amateur champion and has tackled adversity and success with great distinction.

Maybe just as well he missed that tackle on Tuigamala!