Campbell in the rough: $7m sell-up

Struggling golf star and former US Open champion Michael Campbell is quitting his multimillion-dollar mansion in Britain to settle in his historic Sydney beachfront home.

His sprawling seven-bedroom English home, complete with putting green and bunker, in the seaside town of Brighton is for sale for $6.8m.

The traditional two-storey brick home, with leadlight windows and several fireplaces, features a master bedroom painted in pink and lilac hues and decorated with a chaise longue and purple upholstered bed.

Campbell's golfing career has been faltering, and this weekend he missed the cut in the US PGA championships.

He and his wife Julie plan to relocate permanently to the posh eastern Sydney suburb of Bellevue Hill - where media magnate Kerry Packer once lived - with their sons Thomas, 10, and Jordan, 8.

Campbell needs to sell his English mansion, which boasts a gym, sauna, hot tub and pond in manicured gardens, before he begins an extensive two-year restoration of their 100-year-old, six-bedroom Sydney home.

Campbell and his Sydneysider wife bought the house three years ago for $11m. The beachfront home has a swimming pool and tennis court and, according to the Mail on Sunday, was "a bit of a financial stretch" for the couple.

Julie Campbell told the Mail they planned to use the proceeds of the sale of their English home to renovate their Sydney house.

Campbell told the Mail his roots were in the Southern Hemisphere. His two sons needed to settle at one school and Sydney offered an outdoor life. While Campbell has earned more than $9m since he won the US Open and the World Matchplay Championship in 2005, his on-course earnings this year have been woeful. With just two months of the global season to go, Campbell has earned only $23,575 on course.

Broadcaster and sports presenter Peter Williams said yesterday that Campbell had become a "total enigma".

"People in the world of golf are just bewildered as to why it has all gone so wrong so quickly."

Campbell kept saying he was "not far away from playing at his best", Williams said, "but the reality is that he's slipping further and further off the pace.

"It's not uncommon in the world of golf. People just forget how to play really and there's been numerous cases where guys who have been number one in the world have just dropped completely off the radar. It's just one of those unexplainable things."

During this weekend's US PGA championship Campbell "missed the cut by miles", said Williams. "It's got to the stage now where New Zealand golf followers looking for his scores on the internet in the morning start from the bottom up, instead of from the top."

Golf has been part of Campbell's life since he first played as a 7-year-old at Hawera. He joined a club at 12, represented New Zealand at 17 and has been playing professionally since 1993.

Williams said that at 40, Campbell should be coming into his prime. The golfer recently said he thought he had five or six good years left.

"You really wonder if he's saying that with much conviction."

Although Campbell had suffered from a back and shoulder injury, Williams said, the British press had been caustic, accusing him of not showing heart and "withdrawing at any excuse to get out of a tournament whenever he's scoring badly".

Williams assumed Campbell would be financially secure with the help of endorsements and investments.