The disappointment of Jorge Campillo after finishing second at the Hainan Classic was more than obvious. He feels he had it and played enough golf to take the victory. However, when it mattered the putts didn’t drop. That was the difference. He could hardly make another shot, while Jordan Gumberg, the champion, was sharp on the greens and completed several very creditable recoveries.
“It’s tough not to have won this tournament. I haven’t missed a shot from the 7th hole onwards”, he summed up to Ten Golf shortly after signing the card. From here, this is what happened in his own words:
“I made a good birdie at the 8th, with a booming shot to three metres. At the 9th I probably hit one of the worst drives of the day, but afterwards it was a very good 4-iron, at the front of the green. Long putt to just over one metre and I missed the putt. On the 10th I hit a good tee shot with the 2-iron, at least it looked good, but the wind grabbed it and it finished just on top in the bunker and fell into the sand. The bunker shot was weak and I missed the five-metre par putt”, he explains.
This was the toughest part of the round. But you can see the fine line in this sport. For the same price, he could have come out at -1 instead of +2 for that stretch. It was about making the par putt on the 9th and the ball on the 10th bouncing one metre longer and it would have been a birdie opportunity. On holes 9 and 10 Gumberg ended up in the bunker and made the recovery to save two key pars. There and on the 11th was the key to everything.
Campillo kept playing well. “On the 11th I hit a massive 4-iron to three metres. He had a similar distance. I missed mine first and then he made his. On the 12th I hit another huge drive and a 5-iron just past the hole. I overshot the green with the approach and putted to one metre. He didn’t lose the ball off the tee by two metres and then saved the par. On the 13th I hit a 5-iron from three to two metres and Gumberg from two metres for par. I played first and missed it and he made his”. One of those days when it seems everything falls the other way.
Jorge continues. “Huge shot again on the 14th, I left it about three metres and it lipped out over the top. On the 15th we both left it 7-8 metres. Neither of us made it. On the 16th I hit another big shot that narrowly didn’t carry the lip and it came down. Two putts. He from the back fringe, two putts. On the 17th I left it at the front of the green, short, and I hit a good putt. I told myself: “this one I make”. Nothing, it didn’t go in. Gumberg from the back of the green, with the lip in front, also two-putted”.
One shot behind and everything to play for on the 18th. “I hit a big 7-iron again, to about six metres. And he went to the back bunker. He got it out to a metre and another putt that I missed. That one was makeable, a shame”, he stressed to Ten Golf.
It is Campillo’s eleventh runner-up finish on the DP World Tour, a statistic that, while it can be painful given the number of winning chances that have slipped away, also speaks to the number of times the Extremaduran has been in position to win. There are not many others with similar numbers. There’s nothing else to do but look at the glass half full, especially with three important weeks ahead in India, China and Turkey. For now, Campi is currently in a PGA Championship spot.
