Jorge Campillo (-4) has had a brilliant start at the Corales Puntacana Championship, a PGA Tour tournament that shares the week with the elevated RBC Heritage. The Extremaduran golfer has handed in a card of 68 strokes and has provisionally entered a crowded top 10. No less than thirteen players are separated by only two strokes.
The leaders are Charley Hoffman (-6), Troy Merritt (-6) and Chan Kim (-6), three veterans seasoned in a thousand battles on the American circuit, although they are not currently at their best. Four players have positioned themselves one stroke away, among which the American Billy Horschel (-5) stands out, another who is desperately seeking to revive old laurels.
Campillo’s first round in the Dominican Republic has much more substance than the result reflects. It has not been a four under par of those that professionals usually qualify as ‘easy’. Quite the contrary. Sleeves up to the elbows and golf stuck in the mud to get the best possible result.
The light of Jorge’s round has been the putter, while the irons have been more in the dark. In fact, he has missed up to eight greens in his debut, although he has managed to make the recovery up to six times. Good short game, but about the putter. “I holed all the ones I shot from two meters down and then I put in two very good long ones, on the 10th for birdie from about ten meters, and another for bogey on the 14th from about eight meters”, he assures Ten Golf. He needed only 22 putts throughout the day.
Let’s say that the feast on the greens is what has allowed Jorge to deal with a complicated day in the shots to green. From the tee he has been outstanding, hunting eleven of the fourteen streets, but in the approach shots he has suffered. One of the best examples was the 10th. He left a good birdie option, but admits that “I was shooting to the center of the green and it ended up coming out in line to the flag, some irons have been grotesque”, assures the Extremaduran with a good sense of humor.
Obviously, there have also been some very good flashes. For example, the shot of hole 9 to end the day, par 3 that today was played with wind in favor. “I had 205 meters to the flag and I hit a soft 7 iron. It was the shot of the day. Very nice. I also remember the hybrid I hit on the 7th to leave me an eagle option… but it was a hybrid, not an iron”, he points out.
Be that as it may, Campillo gets up at the first change in the tournament on his return to the PGA Tour after a week off in Spain.
