Jorge Campillo (-1) has experienced a real roller coaster of emotions in the first round of the RBC Canadian Open, a PGA Tour tournament that takes place from Thursday to Sunday at the Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Ontario. The Extremaduran, the only Spanish golfer present at the tournament, played in the afternoon shift, and of his 18 holes, less than half were pars. Although in the end, with a birdie on the 9th, his last flag of the day, he managed to achieve the goal of beating the course and placing himself in an interesting 34th position in the ranking, just three strokes from the top 10.
The man from Cáceres, who started with a bogey on the 10th, his first hole, was not as usual one of the players who hit the ball the longest from the tee. But he was one of the most accurate, managing to ‘hunt’ 11 streets out of 14 (fifth best tied in this record). And as if that were not enough, he also stood out in his game around the green, which allowed him to generate numerous birdie opportunities, of which he was able to convert up to six (fourth player tied with more birdies in this first round). Although the mistakes penalised him too much…
3 birdies on his last 4 holes 👀@McIlroyRory moves up to T4 @RBCCanadianOpen. pic.twitter.com/u3eIvZovUw
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 30, 2024
To the bogey on his first hole he added another on the 14th and one more on the 18th, after having managed to get to par with birdies on the 16th and 17th. Three consecutive birdies on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th seemed to launch him towards the top places in the ranking, but again the mistakes appeared, a three-putt on the par three of the 6th and a bad approach on the 7th that ended up in a high grass area, to slow his momentum. Luckily, he was able to leave with a good taste in his mouth with a great birdie on the par four of the 9th, playing by the book and sinking a two-metre putt, to place himself in a good position.
He cannot afford to be careless tomorrow because the equality is maximum and he only has a one-stroke margin with respect to the cut line. But the good thing is that above, except for the Englishman David Skinns (-8), with a tremendous 62, the Americans Sean O’Hair (-7) and Sam Burns (-7) or the Scotsman Robert MacIntyre (-6), the differences are minimal and easily recoverable, even with Rory McIlroy (-4), the big favourite to win. A comeback that Campillo will have to try from tomorrow to give himself opportunities over the weekend to fight for a good result and continue adding points with an eye on the Games… and on his card.
