America’s Brian Campbell secured his maiden triumph on the PGA TOUR with a stroke of fortune as he narrowly defeated South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld.
The 31-year-old entered the final round at Vidanta Vallarta a shot behind Potgieter, who was also chasing a maiden PGA TOUR victory. But both concluded regulation play with a birdie to finish on 20 under after Campbell carded a 1-under 70 while Potgieter recorded an even-par 70 with both squandering chances to win.
Both players returned to the par-five 18th for the play-off but they remained inseparable with pars on the first attempt. But on the second, the American experienced a huge slice of luck after his tee shot towards the green drifted wayward but struck a tree and bounced back into bounds. Potgieter on the other hand found himself in the bunker just short of the green and failed to sink his birdie chance which opened the door for Campbell who calmly putted home to collect his first ever PGA TOUR title.
“Oh my gosh, that bounce,” Campbell said. “I mean? I’ll take it. Got ourselves back in position and gave ourselves a chance and it paid off. To be in this position is so unreal.”
“You’ve got to get those breaks sometimes,” Campbell went on to add. “Unfortunately I hit a really bad tee shot there, caught the tree, was able to keep it in play and get ourselves in a good position to get a wedge and keep the pressure on.
“I was just so happy that I was able to kind of stay in it to the end.”
Campbell was winless in 186 starts on both the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA TOUR and had failed to record a single top-10 finish prior to this event.
Potgieter suggested that the pressure of the play-off may have affected him in being unable to get over the line.
“Hopefully, my time will come soon,” he said.
“Pressure is a big thing,” he said. “You can’t beat it. You just have to learn and adjust to it the next time.”
America’s Isaiah Salinda ended the tournament in third on 19 under while there was a tie for fourth between America’s Benjamin Griffin and England’s Aaron Rai.
What is the next event?
The next event on the PGA TOUR schedule is the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches taking place between Feb 27 – Mar 2 at the PGA National Course in Florida.