Campbell named as Europe’s top man
The decision will have come as a disappointment to Colin Montgomerie who has come back from the depths of despair to win the Tour’s order of merit for the eighth time.
But Campbell shaded it on the strength of his triumph in the US Open at Pinehurst in June, while it could be fairly said that Ireland’s Paul McGinley and Padraig Harrington shared the mythical “bronze medal.”
It was fascinating to sit there and watch even Scottish journalists cast their votes in favour of Campbell while Irish representatives paid glowing tributes to the achievements of Padraig Harrington, who captured two tournaments on the US Tour, something that very few Europeans have succeeded in doing in the past, and Paul McGinley, who finished 2nd three times before landing the prestigious end of season Volvo Masters.
Like Montgomerie, McGinley resurrected his career big time, improving his world ranking from 68th to 18th throughout the most successful season of his career.
There was general agreement that had it been any other year, there would have been a fierce battle for the award between Montgomerie, Harrington, McGinley and David Howell but Campbell’s success at Pinehurst capped everything while his win in the World Match Play Championship at Wentworth, where he beat McGinley in the final, dispelled any doubts that the panel might have entertained.
It should also be noted that the controversy that has followed Montgomerie no matter where he has gone since the regrettable ball dropping incident in Indonesia at the beginning of the year was hardly mentioned during the ninety minute meeting.
It all boiled down to Campbell and the US Open and the quite amazing manner in which the Maori bounced back from the depths of despair in the early parts of the new millennium during which he lost his card on the US Tour and was still going relatively nowhere as 2005 dawned.
He missed the first five cuts of the year, finishing respectively 122nd, 101st, 142nd, 136th and 76th and didn’t qualify to compete in the US Masters at Augusta National. He finally stopped the rot with a 12th place finish in China.
Things rapidly improved after that with 3rd in the Johnnie Walker Classic, 4th in the British Masters and then the big one, a sensational triumph in the US Open. Campbell had to pre-qualify at Walton Heath for Pinehurst and a week later he was champion after rounds of 71, 69, 71 and 69 for an even par total of 280 that proved two shots too good for Tiger Woods.
The confidence generated by such a momentous triumph convinced the 36 year-old from Wellington and who now resides in Brighton that he could rub shoulders with the game’s greatest.
He went on finish 5th and 6th respectively in the British Open and the US PGA Championship before claiming the World Match Play at Wentworth. By then, Montgomerie had made his way to the top of the European Tour money list largely thanks to coming 2nd in the British Open and winning the dunhill links championship.
The pair went head-to-head for the title at Valderrama where McGinley upstaged the pair of them but a share of 3rd place guaranteed Monty his eighth title with Campbell unable to do any better than tie for 14th.
But that cut no ice with yesterday’s panel who also overlooked the fact that Campbell is not a European. But he has been a very loyal member of the European Tour with speaker after speaker stressing how he has been one of its finest ambassadors.
It is a little ironic that Campbell follows the Fijian Vijay Singh as the award winner at a time when European natives have never been so successful on the world stage. People like Harrington, McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, David Howell not to mention Montgomerie will surely put that right in the near future.
For now, though, the honours rest quite rightly with a golfing gentleman from New Zealand by the name of Michael Campbell.
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