Brian Campbell stood out at the Mexican Open on Sunday night, with spectators deemed a sudden death playoff chaos between two anti-rational players’ profiles: Campbell, a traveler One of the shortest hitters on the PGA Tour, while Aldrich Potgieter, a 20-year-old South African prodigy currently leads the tour in driving distance.
Campbell beat Borgit after two playoff holes, his first PGA Tour title in just 28 games. There are only two players on the Mexican Open in the top 40 in the official world golf rankings, but Campbell, 31, will win the first place in the Augusta Nationals with a victory. He also won a spot in the Player Championship, PGA Championship and the remaining five autograph games on the Tour.
Campbell won the road to victory at the Vidanta Vallarta in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, with a decade of hard work and 159 starts on the Korn Ferry Tour. The University of Illinois alumni first graduated from the Korn Ferry Tour in 2016, but were quickly relegated after missing 13 of the 20 cuts. He finally found a groove in the minor league last season, finishing seventh in KFT’s points, again winning his tour. Three games later, he entered the winner circle. This didn’t happen after playing ic a few times along the way.
“I was really frightened inside, I don’t know what happened,” Campbell told the Golf Channel after the playoffs. “It’s so unreal to be in this position.”
Potgieter started Sunday’s final round on a round mat at Campbell, shooting second round 61 and third round 67 in the match to score a 54-hole scoring record . Potgieter has only 10 starts in his PGA Tour career, but he is no stranger to the biggest stages of the game and winning. Potgieter’s amateur résumé includes the amateur championship, and at the age of 17 he became the youngest champion in competition history. So far, Potgieter has only 12 cars on the PGA Tour, and Potgieter has become the longest hitter on the tour, surpassing Rory McIlroy on average 328.7 yards from the T-shirt.
The Vidanta Vallarta course is perfect for Potgieter’s game this week, allowing him to take his length out of the tee to full potential, as offline drives are not particularly penalized for the design of the Greg Norman. But, it’s clear that as Campbell continues to hover at the top of the rankings, the bomb shooting game plan isn’t the only way to attack the course. On Sunday, NBC commentators compared Campbell’s ball speed with senior tour players’ ball speed. According to the driving distance statistics for this tour, he ranked last – 182 out of 182.
“His game is different from us,” Campbell said of Porget’s game. “Honestly, it’s fun to watch.”
Neither Campbell nor Potgieter did well on Sunday, but both inserted. Potgieter struggled with the door, and Campbell even floated on par. The two finished the statutory match tied with a game below 20, surpassing Isaiah Salinda’s club so the 19-shot lead.
The power of sudden death pressure was fully demonstrated as both players made multiple willful shots in the final result. On the second playoff hole, Campbell’s drive went well beyond the off-road fence when it fell off the tree and re-worked. Potgieter then stood, shooting nearly 100 yards from Campbell’s approach.
Potgieter’s attempt to reach par 5 on two holes did not take advantage of the opportunity, leaving him without green in a bunker. He failed to stand up and down, and Campbell lay down and made the bird with his brief wedge. Campbell almost handed the game to his opponent, and Campbell couldn’t believe the result.
“That bounce? I mean, I’ll take it,” Campbell said. “Getting myself back in place, giving myself a chance, and getting rewarded.”
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(Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
