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Reflections |
Chad Campbell
Professional golfer
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Throughout sports media there are experts raving about a kid who they think will be the next great star at a sport.
The experts are rarely right.
But when the athletes themselves start heralding a player as the next big thing? That’s saying something.
When Sports Illustrated surveyed PGA Tour players in 2003 and asked them which young golfer was most likely to win a major, Chad Campbell was the name they picked.
Of course, no major for Campbell yet — apparently even the professionals can’t see into the future. He’s had a few close calls, though, including a second-place finish at the 2003 PGA Championship and a tie for third at the 2006 Masters.
What he has done is win three tournaments (2003 Tour Championship, 2004 Bay Hill and the 2006 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic) while finishing in the top 30 on the money list for four straight years.
Born in Andrews, Texas, Campbell attended the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, where he helped lead the Running Rebels to a second-place finish in the 1996 NCAA tournament his senior year. Campbell also won three times on the Nationwide Tour before moving up to the PGA Tour.
The mellow Campbell utilizes a compact swing to earn his millions, a swing that some say mimics fellow Texan Ben Hogan’s.
— Seth Jones, senior associate editor
"The conditions have improved across the board (since I first started playing). I just became a member at Shady Oaks (Country Club, Fort Worth, Texas), and they have a new superintendent there, Brent Doolittle (CGCS, 23-year Class A member) and it’s looking great. (The superintendent) is kind of behind-the-scenes. I spent a summer working for our superintendent back when I was 17, 18. I cut holes and I watered, and I cut fairways. It’s a lot more work than you think — you’re constantly mowing, weed eating, raking bunkers. It’s seven days a week. It’s a tough job; there’s a lot of pressure on those guys, especially when they’re trying to keep bentgrass greens alive in the summer." |
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