Campbell facing early exit
Michael Campbell was facing an early exit from the Celtic Manor Wales Open today, less than two weeks before the defence of his US Open title.
Campbell struggled to a six over par 75 in the first round, 15 shots worse than overnight leader Phillip Archer, who missed a six-foot putt on the 18th for the first ever 59 on the European Tour.
The New Zealander insisted there was no need to panic however, despite ending the day in joint 150th place in the 156-strong field.
“I had seven birdies in the pro-am on Wednesday, felt great on the first tee yesterday but it went south pretty quickly,” said Campbell, who defends his title at Winged Foot from June 15-18.
“The yardage was in-between clubs, sometimes I’d hit the club 10 yards further than it should go and I didn’t hole a putt all day until the last.
“It was bizarre but I can put this behind me pretty quickly. The beautiful thing is this game can change very quickly – look at Thomas Bjorn winning the Irish Open after a 78 in the first round.
“Hopefully I can go out on Friday, shoot low and make the cut.”
That was looking extremely unlikely however and a bogey on the 10th, his opening hole, dropped Campbell to seven over par and in need of a round similar to Archer’s to be here for the weekend.
Archer was among the later starters and held a one-shot lead over Sweden’s Robert Karlsson, with Colin Montgomerie and Francois Delamontagne two shots further back.
Campbell was not going down without a fight however, and a hat-trick of birdies from the 12th took him to four over par and back in with a chance of making the cut.
The biggest move up the leaderboard this morning had come from Hartlepool’s Graeme Storm, birdies at the 12th and 13th taking the former Walker Cup player to six under par and a share of third place.
Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam had just double-bogeyed the 15th however to fall back to three over.
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