Kiwi wins with shot of his life

MICHAEL CAMPBELL may be a New Zealand Maori of Scottish extraction but he will always have a warm place in his heart for this country.

The 34-year-old from Hawera yesterday captured his first title since winning the Smurfit European Open at The K-Club thirteen months ago when a magnificent birdie at the first tie hole, Portmarnock’s 18th, enabled him to claim the first prize of €300,000 in the Nissan Irish Open from the Dane, Thomas Bjorn, and Sweden’s Peter Hedblom.

It was Campbell’s sixth European Tour triumph in 177 starts and his fourteenth worldwide as a professional. He is the first Kiwi to win the Irish Open and it is the fourth consecutive year on which he has been successful in Europe where he now intends to ply his trade for the most part after an indifferent spell on the US circuit.