Michael Campbell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michael Campbell

Personal Information
Birth	February 23, 1969 (1969-02-23) (age 39) Hawera, New Zealand
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight	190 lb (86 kg)
Nationality	New Zealand
Residence	Wellington, New Zealand Brighton, England
Career
Turned Pro	1993
Tours	European Tour (joined 1994)
Professional wins	15 (European Tour: 8, Other: 7)
Best Results in Major Championships
Masters	CUT: 1996, 2001-04, 2006-08
U.S. Open	Won 2005
British Open	T3: 1995
PGA Championship	T6: 2005
Awards
PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit	1999/2000

Michael Shane Campbell CNZM (born February 23, 1969) is a New Zealand golfer who is best-known for having won the 2005 U.S. Open and the richest prize in golf, the £1,000,000 HSBC World Match Play Championship, in the same year. He is a member of the European Tour.

Ethnically, he is predominantly Māori, from the Ngati Ruanui (father's side) and Nga Rauru (mother's side) iwi. He also has some Scottish ancestry, being a great-great-great-grandson of John Logan Campbell, a Scottish emigrant to New Zealand who became mayor of Auckland and who was sometimes described by contemporaries as the "Father of Auckland".

[edit] Profile

Campbell was born in Hawera, Taranaki. As a young child, he lived near his mother's Wai-o-Turi marae at Whenuakura, just south of Patea, and also spent much of his time with whanau at his father's Taiporohenui marae, near Hawera.

Like many young New Zealand boys, Campbell dreamed of playing for the All Blacks, and began playing rugby union, but his mother vetoed his participation. While he was talented at several other sports, such as softball, squash and table tennis, his passion turned out to be golf.

At age seven, he began playing golf on the Patea golf course which had the greens fenced to keep sheep off them. He was introduced to the game by an uncle, Roger Rei, but was also undoubtedly influenced by his father, Tom Campbell, who was a single-figure handicapper. The family moved south to Titahi Bay and Campbell developed his skills in junior ranks at Paraparaumu. He attended school at Mana College but left without any qualifications.

From 1988, Campbell represented New Zealand in various international amateur competitions, including the team victory at the 1992 Eisenhower Trophy, before turning professional in 1993. Two years later, in his first full season on the European Tour, he held a two-shot lead after the third round of The Open Championship, but faded after a final-round 76. He nonetheless remained in contention until the final hole, missing a playoff with Costantino Rocca and John Daly (eventually won by Daly) by one stroke. Not long after that Open, he developed wrist problems, resulting in a dramatic drop in form, and did not fully recover until 1998.

Campbell eventually established himself as a solid tour performer, finishing fourth on the European Tour Order of Merit (money list) in 2000, and again finishing in the top ten of the Order of Merit in 2002. He won the PGA Tour of Australasia's Order of Merit in during the 1999/2000 season.

Campbell and wife Julie and sons Thomas and Jordan have homes in his native New Zealand, at Sydney in Australia which is Julie's hometown, and in Brighton, England. His two sons go to Lancing College Preparatory School at Mowden.

[edit] Breakthrough year, 2005

Michael Campbell walks to the 12th tee at the 2007 KLM Open.

The year 2005 started out as if it would become Campbell’s annus horribilis, however in the end, it developed into his annus mirabilis. He never made the cut in his first five 2005 tournaments, averaging 75 strokes in the first rounds of each of those tournaments. Then suddenly, there was a turnaround and he missed only one cut in the next 16 tournaments. He finished in the top six of both the Open Championship and US PGA, and recorded top-five placings in three other tournaments.

And then there was the 2005 US Open. In order to make it to Pinehurst, Campbell had to go through sectional qualifying. He took advantage of the fact that the United States Golf Association, the organizers of the US Open, had introduced European qualifying for the first time. He had to sink a 6-foot birdie putt on the last hole of qualifying to secure his place in the US Open.

In the tournament itself, Campbell ended the third round four strokes behind Retief Goosen, the event's defending champion who looked ready for a coronation on Sunday. On the final day, Goosen ballooned to an 81. Campbell shot 69 (1 under par) for the final round and was the only golfer in the last two pairings of the day to break 80. Campbell's main competition turned out to be Tiger Woods, who at one point closed to within one shot of Campbell.

In the end, Woods was undone by bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes, and Campbell won his first major by two shots, carding an even par of 280. With his win, he became only the second New Zealander to win a major (after Bob Charles), and also the first winner of the US Open since Steve Jones in 1996 who had entered the event via sectional qualifying.

Two months later, in August, Campbell consolidated his new status as one of the world's top contenders when he tied for 6th in the PGA Championship at Baltusrol, won by Phil Mickelson. It has long been said that the cream rises to the top in majors, and this was no exception, with eight of the top 10 finishers having previously won a major.

On October 29, 2005, Campbell was awarded with the Honorary Life Membership of The European Tour for his US Open win.

[edit] Match play champion

In September Campbell again displayed his consistency, plus several patches of brilliance, when he won the HSBC World Match Play Championship at Wentworth. He disposed of Australian Geoff Ogilvy 1-up before being taken to the 37th by another Australian, Steve Elkington, in the quarter final.

In the semi final he faced the formidable Retief Goosen who the previous day had recorded an overwhelming 12 and 11 win over Mark Hensby. Campbell defeated Goosen 7 and 6 and the next day beat Irishman Paul McGinley 2 and 1 in the final to take the championship and win the £1,000,000 richest prize in golf. He became only the fourth golfer to win the US Open and the World Match Play titles in the same year, and the win moved him to the top of the European Order of Merit, ahead of Goosen. He finished the year ranked second on the Order of Merit.

[edit] Amateur wins (2)

• 1992 Australian Amateur Championship, New South Wales Amateur Championship

[edit] Professional wins (15)

[edit] European Tour wins (8)

• 2000 (3) Johnnie Walker Classic (co-sanctioned with Australasian Tour), Heineken Classic (co-sanctioned with Australasian Tour), Linde German Masters
• 2001 (1) Heineken Classic (co-sanctioned with Australasian Tour)
• 2002 (1) Smurfit European Open
• 2003 (1) Nissan Irish Open
• 2005 (2) U.S. Open, HSBC World Match Play Championship

[edit] Challenge Tour wins (3)

• 1994 Memorial Olivier Barrass, Bank of Austria Open, Audi Quattro Trophy

[edit] PGA Tour wins (1)

• 2005 U.S. Open

Major championships are shown in bold.

[edit] PGA Tour of Australasia wins (4)

• 1993 Canon Challenge
• 1995 Alfred Dunhill Masters
• 2000 New Zealand Open, Ericsson Masters

[edit] Major Championships

[edit] Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin	Runner Up
2005	U.S. Open	4 shot deficit	E (71-69-71-69=280)	2 strokes	Tiger Woods

[edit] Results timeline

DNP = Did not play
DQ = Disqualified
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

[edit] Team appearances

[edit] Amateur

• Eisenhower Trophy (representing New Zealand): 1992 (winners)

[edit] Professional

• Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing New Zealand): 1995, 2000
• World Cup (representing New Zealand): 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003
• Presidents Cup (International Team): 2000, 2005

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Michael Campbell

• Official site
• Profile on the PGA Tour of Australasia's official site
• Profile on the European Tour's official site
• Results in ranking events for the last two years from the Official World Golf Rankings site