Golf: Campbell rues missed chances

TROON - Michael Campbell walked away from Royal Troon with a top-25 British Open finish, but still wondering how his confidence deserted him at the halfway point.

Campbell finished in a five-way tie for 20th after another flat final round of 73 saw him finish on 285, one-over par.

It was Campbell's second best finish in 10 British Opens, after his third placing in 1995, but he was still rueing what might have been as he pocketed prizemoney of $109,700.

He was poised three shots off the lead, four-under at the halfway point, but struggled at the business end as the putts didn't drop.

"It's all a bit frustrating. I could have done better than I did, but there's next year, and the year after," he said after a final round which included three birdies and five bogeys.

The turning point for Campbell came at the par-three 14th hole yesterday when he sat three-under and still in touch with the leaders.

His tee shot trickled into one of the devilish greenside bunkers and he slammed two shots into the front lip before blasting out with a third, eventually walking away with a triple-bogey six.

"I had a great start in the first two rounds, but then I lost a bit of confidence, my putter went cold," he said. "It's just a mindset, more of a confidence thing than anything else."

Typically, Campbell still felt satisfied with the bigger picture. He was second at the Scottish Open a week ago and the two tournaments have turned around a horror year including missed cuts at the US Masters, US Open and European Open.

He flies to Dublin today to defend his Irish Open title in a confident mood.

- NZPA