Golf: Campbell buoyed by 3rd placing

Kiwi golfer Michael Campbell lines up a putt during his successful outing at the Johnnie Walker Classic in Beijing this weekend. Picture / Reuters

BEIJING - Michael Campbell will travel to Europe and the start of the business end of the European Tour season buoyed by his superb result in the Johnnie Walker Classic in Beijing over the weekend.

Campbell produced a superb confidence-building performance in the Chinese capital to fight his way to a share of third place behind Australia's Adam Scott.

Scott joined Campbell as a Johnnie Walker Classic champion after leading from start to finish to win by three strokes and claim a ninth success in his five-year professional career.

Campbell won the same trophy five years ago in Taiwan but after a final round level par 72 yesterday took him to 13 under for the tournament was quietly savouring the effort with his wife Julie.

Campbell's share of third was his best result since ending runner-up to Frenchman Thomas Levet in last July's Scottish Open.

But it then turned pear-shaped for Campbell who recorded some embarrassing scores towards the end of his European Tour season.

His New Year also began badly when he missed the cut in his first five events including the New Zealand Open at Gulf Harbour.

But after a 12th in the TCL Classic in China and now a top-three result also in China, Campbell will head to this week's BMW Asian Open in Shanghai and then on to Europe with renewed enthusiasm.

"It is just nice to come to this event and finally play well as it's been a real struggle from the end of the last year and for the first handful of months this year," he said.

"To do so well in front of a high-class field was a great lift for me and a big turning point for me.

"I knew my game was there or thereabouts so it was just a matter of being patient and putting in the hard work and I knew the result would come.

"There were a lot of people around me panicking but I wasn't.

"I was missing halfway cuts by one or two shots and it was very hard to explain to yourself what is going on in your game when that happens when those people are not present at the events.

"All everybody looks at are the scores and the results. An example of that is the week of the Dubai Desert Classic when my coach travelled from Florida to see me play 36 holes.

"But whilst I missed the cut in Dubai, I did feel my game was getting close and I have spent plenty of time working on my game and it's paid off this week in Beijing."

Campbell will head to Shanghai for Thursday's starting co-sanctioned BMW Asian Open and while he's quietly confident of repeating his Beijing effort, he is looking more to Europe and the major events on the schedule starting with May's British Masters.

"It's a good time to be playing well because it is in Europe when I want to be playing at my peak," he said.

Also heading to Shanghai is Wellington's Gareth Paddison who will bank his third European Tour pay cheque in six starts this year.

Paddison ended the Johnnie Walker Classic with a last day 71 for a share of 23rd place and a cheque for £12,625 ($NZ33,739).

- NZPA