Golf: The ruthless pursuit of money

By MARTIN DAVIDSON

Michael Campbell got greedy. It's not an easy confession to make for a man who is worth an estimated $9 million, according to the National Business Review's latest rich list, simply because he can play golf better than most.

But he does believe money - or more precisely the distraction of the vast wealth to be made in the United States - contributed to him finding his career bunkered in America this year.

He said he took his eye off the ball, allowing his attention to be diverted from the course to the tournament purses on the PGA Tour where this year alone players are competing for US$225 million ($387 million).

That can always be a trap for young players, but, at 34, Campbell should have known better and was probably a touch naive.

"I think I ended up playing for the wrong reasons. I went to America playing for money rather than playing the game itself," the New Zealand No 1 said.

"I still remember standing on a green at the Wachovia Championship in Charlotte and I turned to my caddie Michael Waite and said, 'Mate, I'm here for the wrong reasons.' He said, 'What do you mean?' I replied, 'I'm here to win money. I'm not here to play the game of golf and enjoy it'."

It is a touch ironic that just when dollars signs were flashing brightly, Campbell could not buy a putt, with his only collect in America being US$30,000 ($51,697), courtesy of his first-round exit from the WGC-Accenture Matchplay Championship in February.

Only now are the bruises beginning to fade after a four-month character test during which Campbell failed to make a cut in nine strokeplay events on the PGA Tour.

Having once endured a stretch of 17 successive missed cuts back in his early days in Europe, Campbell was not particularly perturbed about that; more worrying was the way he was playing.

A shoulder injury forced his withdrawal from one tournament, and he was disqualified from another after shooting 89 and signing an incorrect scorecard, prompting his memorable line about "aliens invading my body."

A sickly scoring average of 73.93 reflected his on-course mood, a scattergun approach from the tee saw him find just 48.1 per cent of fairways, his world ranking plummeted from 18th last Christmas to outside the top 50, and he even switched sports psychologists as he sought cures.

For all that, Campbell's decision last month to return fulltime to Europe, where he had forged a fine career since the mid 1990s, was motivated by matters much closer to his kitchen than the 18th green.

Family has always topped Campbell's priorities and life in the United States for wife Julie and sons Thomas and Jordan meant changing hotels every week as they followed the tour.

The excitement and sense of adventure quickly lost their appeal and, for Campbell, the message was delivered by Thomas during a family holiday in the Caribbean.

"Week after week on the road was no fun at all. We had no base, we just went from hotel room to hotel room. It's hard enough for adults to do something like that, let alone young kids," Campbell said.

To give them a break Campbell took the family to the Bahamas for three weeks, lapping up the sand, sunshine and swimming.

Amid the fun and laughter, though, five-year-old Thomas stopped his father in his tracks.

"One day he turned around and said, 'Daddy, I want to go home. I want to go home to my toys, to my bed.'

"We were in the middle of paradise and he was saying he wanted the simpler things in life. I thought OK, let's pack our bags and go home to Brighton."

Campbell had himself grown uneasy with the rock star status afforded sportspeople in the United States, where they can become so wealthy it can take your breath away.

"Players are treated like movie stars over there," Campbell said in Brighton after celebrating his return to Europe by winning the Irish Open, the ninth title of his career and the first in 13 months.

"They really fall over themselves with people who are on TV all the time. That's not me. I shy away from fame. I'm a person who likes to be a home body and a good father."

Being a good father and a winner is even better.

His Irish Open success reaffirmed Campbell's belief in himself and particularly pleasing was the emergence of the old-style Campbell, who allowed his flamboyance to filter to the surface.

He took delight in the manner of his success, when he launched an immaculate eight-iron 134 metres to within tap-in birdie distance of the flag on the first playoff hole to beat Denmark's Thomas Bjorn and Swede Peter Hedblom.

He compared it with his triumph in the 2000 NZ Open when a wonderful four-iron off a difficult downhill lie set up an eagle-three to beat compatriot Craig Perks in a playoff.

"That was special, too. I've now won two times in two playoffs, and that feels good."

Even in hindsight Campbell does not regret uprooting his family as he tested himself in the United States after being encouraged to take the plunge by his peers.

"A number of Australian and American players had been on to me about playing in America. They all said it would suit me.

"At the time I had to give it a try. I may go back there again. If I went over there with more confidence, fully fit, things might be different.

"But we are very comfortable in Europe. We have a nice house in Brighton, the kids go to school here and their friends are here."

That is not to say he is gun-shy about returning to America.

"If I was young, single and had no kids, I'd pack my bags and go anytime.

"I wanted to see how far I could go. It didn't work out, but I'll still play 10 to 12 tournaments there each year through invites."

- NZPA