It didn’t matter to Brian Campbell that it took some good fortune to capture his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Campbell caught a huge break on the second playoff hole on his way to a birdie to win the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld on Sunday in Vallarta, Mexico.
Campbell posted a final-round 1-under-par 70 and third-round leader Aldrich Potgieter of South Africa shot a 71 as they ended at 20-under 264.
Campbell and Potgieter both birdied the last hole of regulation to separate from a three-way tie. Then they had pars on the first hole of the playoff.
Campbell hit his final tee shot well to the right, but the ball struck a tree, bounded back toward the fairway and stayed inbounds. He went on to notch another birdie on the 18th hole, which was used for both playoff holes.
“I can’t believe it, really,” said Campbell, who had a matter-of-fact initial reaction as the final putt fell into the cup. “It’s awesome.”
Campbell said he knows he benefited from a fortunate ricochet.
“I hit a really bad tee shot there, caught the tree and was able to keep it in play,” Campbell said. “… I was just so happy that I was able to kind of stay in it to the end.”
The 31-year-old, ranked No. 222 in the world, had never even produced a top-10 finish in 27 previous outings on the PGA Tour.
Excluding a withdrawal last month, Campbell had missed the cut at five of his previous seven tour starts, finishing outside the top 50 in the other two. Overall, this was his 187th tour-sanctioned event counting the Korn Ferry and PGA tours, finally coming with the outcome he coveted.
“I’m literally freaking out on the inside,” he said later.
In regulation, Campbell’s last putt was just shy of 4 feet in length to take a brief lead until Potgieter matched it. Campbell played the 18th hole at 5 under during the four regulation rounds of the tournament.
On the 18th, Potgieter crushed a drive 312 yards and followed that with a shot that settled in a right bunker short of the green. He chipped on and made a 3-foot, 3-inch putt for his second birdie of the tournament on that hole.
Potgieter, 20, was making the 10th start of his PGA Tour career and was disappointed with the last day of the tournament. He said he hopes the experience will pay off.
“You can’t beat it,” he said. “You just have to learn and adjust to it next time.”
Isaiah Salinda posted 65 and ended up third at 19 under. He had to wait to see if he would be in a playoff, something that was nixed when the final group made their putts on the 18th green.
Potgieter got it together after playing the front nine in 2-over. He had birdies on Nos. 12 and 14 before a bogey on No. 15 put him a shot behind Campbell.
Campbell’s bogey on No. 16 created a tie at the top.
Ben Griffin (67) and England’s Aaron Rai (67) shared fourth place at 18 under, and Joel Dahmen (65) and Germany’s Stephan Jaeger (71) tied for fifth place at 17 under. Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard (67) was eighth.
Rai shared the lead after nearly recording an albatross on the par-5 sixth hole. That eagle came two holes before a bogey — one of three he endured the rest of the way.
Salinda made a move earlier Sunday by finishing with his second 65 of the tournament. He had four birdies across the final eight holes in what became his only bogey-free round of the tournament.
Salinda, 27, had just one top-10 finish in 14 previous events on the PGA Tour.
–Field Level Media
