Campbell back in time to defend international junior title

Ace Masterton golfer Ben Campbell has put his injury hassles behind him and is now focusing on a repeat of perhaps his most notable victory on the international scene.
Yesterday Campbell received an invitation to again contest the Aaron Baddeley Junior International tournament in China in late November, a tourney he won by a massive 10 strokes last year.
And after a long lay-off with a wrist injury, which first occurred back in April, Campbell is back practising his chipping and putting skills and is hoping to be hitting a golf ball in earnest within the next two to three days.
As it was the wrist problem was not as bad as originally feared. Thoughts were Campbell would have to go under the knife when it was investigated thoroughly by medical staff a few weeks ago but they found nothing "floating around" and decided the healing process should continue without surgery.
It was a decision which tended to support Campbell's view the pain was subsiding and he was on the mend.
"The last couple of weeks before I went to the surgeon everything seemed to settle down so I was pretty hopeful nothing major would have to be done," Campbell said. "There's virtually no pain there at all now so we're just about ready to go.".
Campbell intends to give his wrist its first serious tryout in a competitive sense at a tournament to be played in Martinborough on October 3 and 4. It involves one round of stroke play before going into match play and will be used by Campbell as his final dress rehearsal for the Shirley Open in Christchurch about three weeks later.
Safely through that event Campbell will turn his attention to the Baddeley International which will be played on the same course in China as it was in 2008.
Not surprisingly Campbell has fond memories it, saying the "tightish" layout placed the emphasis on accurate shot making, generally one of his best attributes.
Typically, however, he is loathe to suggest he can beat some of the world's top junior talent for the second successive year.
"It was a bit of a dream last year and you have to wonder whether things could possibly go so well again," he said. "It would be nice but we'll just turn up and see what happens."
Campbell will fly out of China on November 30 and head straight to Australia where he will play in the Australian PGA stroke play tournament to be held at the New South Wales Golf Club.
There he will tee up with some of the leading professional players on the Australasian and Asian circuit, a "huge buzz" for a youngster who only left Wairarapa College about the middle of this year and whose burning ambition is to join the professional ranks himself.
"There will be a few nerves but hopefully they will go pretty quickly and I won't make a fool of myself," he said.