The true story behind Jorge Campillo‘s absence from the Team Cup begins yesterday afternoon, Wednesday. Nicolai Hojgaard is not feeling well and suddenly becomes a serious doubt for playing in Friday’s first fourballs session. A decision needs to be made. There’s no choice but to call a reserve in case the Dane doesn’t recover in time.
The first on the list is Jorge Campillo and the second is Julien Guerrier. This is noted in Luke Donald‘s notebook and his assistants’. So, the obvious and direct question is: why this Friday, once it’s confirmed that Nicolai cannot play, is it Julien Guerrier who will tee off at the 1st of the Abu Dhabi Golf Club and not the golfer from Norba?
The explanation is simple. The captain and his assistants decide to call Gorka Guillén, Campillo’s manager, who also happens to be the same for Francesco Molinari, captain and player of the Continental Europe team. They ask if Jorge is already in the United Arab Emirates, as he is scheduled to play the Hero Dubai Desert Classic next week. The answer is no, as the Extremaduran is planning to fly next Sunday from Madrid.
With this information in hand, Luke Donald and his close team decide it’s better not to ‘bother’ Campillo by making him travel urgently to Abu Dhabi when there’s a possibility he might not play. They consider it preferable to call Julien Guerrier, who lives in Dubai and finds it much easier to travel to Abu Dhabi. It’s an hour’s drive.
Guillén understands/accepts the decision and only asks that they contact Campillo to explain what happened and why the decision was made, making it clear that he was first on the list but due to logistical circumstances, they preferred to move to the second. This is where the lack of tact occurs.
No one from the European circuit contacted Campillo to inform him of the decision until this Thursday afternoon, when the news of Nicolai Hojgaard‘s possible withdrawal was already public, and it was known that Guerrier had been called. A piece of news, by the way, reported by Canal Plus France at eleven o’clock this morning.
Luke Donald and Francesco Molinari have shown, at the very least, a lack of tact in handling this situation. It’s not questioned that they considered Campillo’s convenience, but with perspective, common sense dictates that they should have called Jorge first, explaining the situation, telling him the truth, that there was a chance he might travel and not play, and allowing Campillo himself to make the decision. That seems logical.
Finally, Nicolai Hojgaard is out, and Julien Guerrier is going to play the Team Cup, a competition that, by the way, Campillo was very excited about. If he had travelled on Wednesday night, he would have arrived in time to play on Friday, but he hasn’t even had the chance to consider this option. By the way, the person who called Campillo today is Stuart Cage, the DP World Tour’s director of player relations. A call from Molinari or Donald wouldn’t have gone amiss. Lack of tact.
