Jorge Campillo (-14) has crafted a magnificent opportunity to win his first tournament on the PGA Tour this Sunday. He has handed in a card of 67 strokes on the third day of the Myrtle Beach Classic and has risen to second place, four strokes behind the leader Chris Gotterup (-18). We agree that four strokes is a considerable distance, but Campillo has made it clear that he is not going to throw in the towel easily and that he is willing to push the leader as far as his strength and his golf will allow.
The Extremaduran golfer has proven many things today. It is one of those rounds that, surely, when the time that always offers a better perspective of things passes, will be marked in red in his career. For two reasons: first because it was the first Saturday he was in the battle for victory on the PGA Tour and he has done much more than hold on, he is one step closer to the lead. And second, because it has not been an easy round, but quite the opposite.
In the first eight holes he missed two putts of no more than a meter. In the 5th to make bogey and thus lose, too quickly, the fantastic momentum that the eagle of the 4th had given him, sinking a sidereal putt of almost ten meters. In the 8th he missed another very short putt for bogey. Thus, suddenly, despite the start with eagle he was over par, giving up a lot of ground with the head and even temporarily leaving the top 10.
It was a very delicate situation from a mental and emotional point of view. Remember that it was his first time up there on a Saturday on the American circuit. It is logical and even natural that doubts assail you at such a moment. The options are: grit your teeth and cling to your best golf to turn the tables or let yourself be carried away by those two short putts missed and lament your luck.
Campillo, who has shown that experience on the DP World Tour is much more than a degree, has done the former. He has signed an extraordinary partial of 31 strokes in the second nine, with five birdies and without mistake. He started on the 10th, putting a very good putt of just under five meters, reminding himself that the two ‘milikis’ that escaped were mere accidents.
He added another birdie on the 13th, playing by the book this signature hole of the The Dunes Golf and Beach Club. Signing an easy birdie. He still had another good opportunity on the 14th, the hardest hole on the course, with a shot from the fairway with a long iron. It was the prelude to the fireworks he had saved for the end. Beastly shot on the 16th from the rough to half a meter from the flag, brutal shot on the 17th to half a meter from the flag and stratospheric recovery from the trees on the left on the 18th to leave it a meter from the hole. Three consecutive birdies. Three in a row.
Jorge has turned around like a panther and has sent a loud and clear message to Gotterup, curiously, one of his partners in the rounds on Thursday and Friday: 18 holes in Myrtle Beach can be molto longos. We pick up one of Campillo’s own phrases on Friday when he finished the second round. If he continues to play this way, he will fight for victory until hole 72. He is not going to make it easy for Gotterup, a player who, on the other hand, has not had any bad moments in the week, perfectly supported by his hitting and a putt that is bordering on the supernatural. Today he has demonstrated it again with a putt on the 18th for birdie of about five meters. You don’t want tea, take two cups.
Campillo will not go out in the stellar match, but in the penultimate one, trying to put pressure coming from behind. It will be a new experience in his career: fighting for victory on a Sunday on the PGA Tour. But something tells us that this player from Cáceres has very little of a rookie and feels the inner conviction that he can do it.
Jorge is tied with Erik Van Rooyen (-14) and Robert MacIntyre (-14), two old acquaintances from the DP World Tour, although Van Rooyen has also won in the United States. One stroke behind is Davis Thompson (-13) and two further back is Alex Smalley (-12). It seems that among these the victory in this newly inaugurated Myrtle Beach Classic should be at stake in the last 18 holes.
