Golf: Campbell gunning to reclaim spot

US Open champion Michael Campbell tees off during the German Masters at Cologne. Picture / Reuters

COLOGNE - Michael Campbell has vowed to fight to the finish despite being relegated into second place on the European Tour Order of Merit.

South Africa's Retief Goosen has moved ahead of Campbell and to top spot on the money list after claiming a one-stroke victory in the German Masters in Cologne.

Goosen won his second event in succession and a third victory in his last five events despite a bogey at the last hole in his round of 67 on the Gut-Larcenhof course.

The world number five earned a first prize payout of €500,000 ($871,989) that has also pushed his European Tour career winnings past €14 million to join Colin Montgomerie, Ernie Els and Darren Clarke in achieving the feat.

Last month Goosen claimed The International on the US Tour and arrived in Cologne after a tearaway six-shot victory in the China Masters.

Campbell finished well down in 36th spot in Germany to earn €21,000, but now joins Goosen in heading to this week's HSBC World Match-Play trailing his Springbok golfing rival by €261,538 on the money list.

"It's nice to get back to the top of the Order of Merit as that is my goal this year, to win the title for a third time. But these next few weeks will be the key and I need to do well in them, and maybe win one of them and basically it would be over," said Goosen.

Goosen and Campbell have three events each - the World Match-Play, the Amex Championship (Oct 6-9) and the season-ending Volvo Masters (Oct 27-30) - before the European Order of Merit title is decided.

Campbell recorded an eagle and four birdies over his closing eight holes in a last day 67 for an eventual eight under tally.

After three-putting the 10th, Campbell ignited his superb finish when he holed a 1m putt for birdie at the 11th.

Then at the par five, 13th, Campbell chipped-in for eagle from 20m out. He birdied the 14th after hitting an eight-iron to 4m and then two-putted for birdie from 6m at the next.

The reigning US Open champion received warm applause walking up the last and then delighted fans by holing his 2m birdie putt.

Campbell attributed just 11 putts over his last eight holes to a change in his putting set-up but it was his overall four round putting display that spoiled the likelihood of a higher place result in Cologne.

He had 30 putts on day one, 27 on day two, 32 on day three and a tally of 31 in his final round.

"The whole week has been strange and it's been a tournament where I have had a lot of lip-outs and too many three putts, including three today," he said.

"It was nice then to see them drop over the last eight holes and that's because I figured something out in my putting set-up that seemed to work well."

Campbell's next event is the HSBC World Match-Play Championship at Wentworth starting on Friday.

It will be Campbell's second appearance in the 16-man event that this year carries a first prize purse of £1 million.

But it is only the second year prize-money earned will count towards the Order of Merit and with both Campbell and Goosen competing, Campbell believes whoever comes out ahead could go on and claim the European number one title.

"The Match-Play could be the make or break tournament in deciding who eventually wins the Order of Merit," said Campbell.

"Both Retief and I are competing at Wentworth, so too is Monty, but it is going to be a challenging last couple of months for me if I am going to win the European number one title."

Standings (previous position in brackets)

1. (2) Retief Goosen (South Africa) €2,057,910 ($3.6 million)

2. (1) Michael Campbell (New Zealand) €1,796,372

3. (4) Angel Cabrera (Argentina) €1,566,868

4. (3) Colin Montgomerie (Britain) €1,546,989

5. (6) David Howell (Britain) €1,524,302

- NZPA