Jorge Campillo has already achieved many great things throughout his career. To begin with, he has three victories on the DP World Tour. However, it’s never too late to keep adding achievements to his record, even if, as in this case, they might be considered anecdotal. The Extremaduran has achieved something in the third and final round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship that he had never done before on the European Tour. Specifically, we’re referring to making two eagles in a single nine-hole stretch. He made them on the 1st and the 8th, the outward nine of the East Course at the Royal Johannesburg Club. These two eagles in just eight holes are precisely what propelled him to a very good final scorecard of 65 strokes, finishing in the top 25 of the tournament.
Campillo had previously managed to make two eagles in a single round on the DP World Tour on three occasions. He did it in the fourth round of the Irish Open in 2018, also in the second round of the True Thailand Classic in 2016, and once more in the Nelson Mandela Championship in 2014. However, on those three occasions, he made one eagle on the front nine and another on the back nine. That’s what makes today’s round special.
Although not many players on the DP World Tour can boast of having done it, the reality is that it’s not a major achievement; it’s not something that will be remembered from his career when he decides to hang up his clubs, but it is curious and interesting. To start with, it indicates that he played very well today; otherwise, it would have been impossible. In this regard, he wasn’t too far from matching Shaun Norris’s round of 62 strokes, although we’ll get to that later…
First, let’s talk about the eagles. Campillo himself explains it to Ten Golf shortly after finishing his round in South Africa. “On the 1st hole, I hit a drive that ended up on the right, blocked by the trees. From there, I hit a low 3-iron, opening it up, similar to the one Chacarra hit on Friday, and I left it about four metres away. It was a great shot. Meanwhile, on the 8th hole, I hit a good drive and another 3-iron that ended up pin-high on the right, on the fringe. I chipped in from about 25 metres with the 54-degree wedge,” he notes.
The reality is that Campillo wasn’t far from making even three eagles in this round, something he hasn’t done in his career yet. On the 18th hole, just before the 1st as he started on the 10th, he left himself an eagle putt of just under five metres. He had to settle for a birdie. This serves as an example of the good round the golfer from Norba displayed.
Beyond the eagles, he played very well. On the 12th, he made a birdie from two metres, on the 13th he left it close, in addition to the aforementioned birdie on the 18th and the eagles on the 1st and 8th holes. From there, he missed a clear birdie putt of one and a half metres on the 14th, another par putt from the same distance on the 15th, another of just over three metres for birdie on the 16th, and one more of just over a metre on the 7th, also for birdie. So, he wasn’t too far from matching Norris’s 62.
In any case, it was a great end to the South African tour for Campillo. With this top 25, the 119th of his career in 408 tournaments, he is placed 26th in the Race to Dubai. Two tournaments and two top 25 finishes.
As for the rest of the Spaniards, beyond Chacarra’s third place, Alex del Rey (-7) finished with a very good scorecard of 66 strokes, in 40th place, and further back were the Elvira brothers and Ángel Ayora with -6, Rocco Repetto (-3), Pablo Larrazábal (-1), and Sebas García (-1).
