2 weeks Ago
HILTON HEAD ISLAND — Brian Campbell, a resident of nearby Bluffton, finally made his way to Harbour Town . It took him more than two years after arriving in the Lowcountry from Irvine, Calif., before he eventually squeezed in a round on Hilton Head’s signature course.
Oh, and he proceeded to shoot a 5-under-par 66 to tie for fourth after the RBC Heritage’s first round on Thursday. No big deal, right? “Funny enough,” said Campbell, who's 107th in the latest Official World Golf Rankings , “the first time I’ve ever played this course was on Tuesday.” That must’ve been one heckuva practice round.
Then again, it’s been that kind of year for Campbell. One day he’s prepping and hoping to tee it up next month in Myrtle Beach; seemingly the next he’s shooting par during his first-ever round at the Masters. And the opening 72 he shot at Augusta National looks pretty pedestrian compared to the 68 he fired on Sunday.
That includes making birdie on Nos. 10-12, a tidy way to cap off only his fourth appearance in a major since turning pro a decade ago. So let’s stack all of this up: He not only made the cut at Augusta, but finished tied for 32nd place and four days later played a strange course well under par.
Not too shabby for a guy who moved to this side of the country simply to be closer to family and improve his game on bermuda grass. “Yeah, it's been pretty crazy,” Campbell said. “To be here is just pretty wild to be honest.
I’m soaking it in.” Here’s where it gets really wild. Campbell is here in this no-cut, 72-man Signature Event after winning the Mexico Open on Feb.
23 in a playoff over Aldrich Potgieter. Campbell’s first-ever PGA Tour win resulted from either pure luck or living right or both. Campbell was gifted the mother of all breaks after sending a hard slice toward Cabo San Lucas that hit some trees.
His ball rebounded out of the forest and into the rough near the fairway. Incredibly, he managed to get up and in for birdie. It was his 187th start as a professional (including his time on the Korn Ferry Tour) and it paid out $1,260,000.
His career earnings before that day were $1,487,830. “Right after you make that putt to win," Campbell said, "things change quickly." That win came during his 28th PGA Tour start.
And, in addition to being Campbell’s lone victory, it remains his only top-five finish and lone top-10 finish in the big league. He finished T-48 a week later in Palm Beach, Fla., before missing three straight cuts.
That skid ended when he discovered some degree of magic in Augusta. And, immediately after that, he began thinking about a course only 12 miles up the road from his house and across a bridge; one he didn’t expect to play merely two months ago. The swap is he won’t be in the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic next month, an event played near his girlfriend's family.
Instead he anticipates skipping the Grand Strand for the Truist Championship in Philadelphia. It's being relocated there because the 2025 PGA Championship is at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, that tournament's traditional home. “I wish I could (play Myrtle Beach),” Campbell said.
“I was planning on it.” That’s the price of success — having to compete in another high-dollar Signature Event with guaranteed money, dang it. What a nice problem.
And what a nice time for his game to be cresting, if not still surging. As the scoreboard attests, Harbour Town didn’t have much teeth in the first round. Fifty players finished under par.
Among them is Justin Thomas, who leads after tying the course-record with a 61. It would’ve been a 60, but he missed a 5-footer for birdie on his last hole. “I just played really solid,” Thomas said.
“I feel like I didn't do anything crazy.” Thomas, nor anyone else, needed to go nuts, anyhow. Conditions were benign on Thursday, the only real wind actually giving things a push in the right direction along No.
18 toward the green and lighthouse. If nothing else, things were much friendlier than during Campbell’s lone practice round here 48 hours earlier. That’s when 30 mile-per-hour gusts created havoc by whipping through the oaks and up, down and all across Calibogue Sound.
The course on Thursday rewarded players who approached the day as if assembling IKEA furniture: Shot A leads to Shot B to Putt C and on to the next hole. That's Campbell's type of golf. “I think it was good,” Campbell, 32, said.
"It showed me the teeth of this place and I knew what to prepare for. And today was certainly not that.” Part of it was thanks to a cloudless sky and a sneaky sun that created firm conditions.
That shortened a short course even more — especially for non-bombers such as Campbell. Because he’s not among the shortest-hitting players on tour, but is actually dead-last in driving distance. Campbell is ranked 183rd, nearly three yards behind Paul Petersen.
“I never really saw that as something I needed in order to play out here,” Campbell said. “It’s something that helps. I think other guys use it more than I do.
I use other parts of the game more than they do.” If nothing else, he’s proven you don’t need to be scary long to go on a career-elevating heater..
