Golf: Campbell ties for 20th in British Open

By MARK GEENTY

New Zealand's Michael Campbell walked away from Royal Troon with a top-25 British Open golf finish but still wondering how his confidence deserted him at the halfway point.

Campbell finished in a five-way tie for 20th, including with world No 3 Vijay Singh of Fiji, after another flat final round of 73 saw him finish on 285, one-over par.

It was Campbell's second best finish in 10 British Opens, after his third placing in 1995, but he was still rueing what might have been as he pocketed prizemoney of £38,000 (NZ$109,700).

He was poised three shots off the lead, four-under at the halfway point after an opening round 67, but struggled at the business end as the putts didn't drop.

"It's all a bit frustrating. I could have done better than I did, but there's next year, and the year after," he said after a final round including three birdies and five bogeys.

The turning point for Campbell came at the par-three 14th hole yesterday when he sat three-under and still in touch with the leaders.

His tee shot trickled into one of the devilish greenside bunkers and he slammed two shots into the front lip before blasting out with a third, eventually walking away with a triple-bogey six.

Things never recovered as Campbell began the final round seven shots off the pace and couldn't make up ground.

"I had a great start but at the weekend I lost a bit of confidence, my putter went cold," he said.

"It's just a mindset, more of a confidence thing than anything else."

Today he had 29 putts in his round, including birdies at the fourth, 13th and 16th, but bogeys at three, nine, 10, 11 and 17.

He was tied with Singh, his playing partner yesterday as both watched their title chances slip away, along with England's Gary Evans and Paul Casey, and American Bob Estes.

Local legend Colin Montgomerie, who was roared around his old home course by huge galleries from start to finish, was a shot further back at two-under for the tournament after a final round 76.

Typically, Campbell still felt satisfied with the bigger picture after his second placing at the Scottish Open a week ago to turn around a horror year including missed cuts at the US Masters, US Open and European Open.

He flies to Dublin tomorrow to defend his Irish Open title in a confident mood.

"I'm looking forward to that, it's a new golf course, a links course so it's been good practice this week."

"All in all the last couple of weeks have been pretty good.

"I achieved a lot of goals, I feel pretty happy with my game. Hopefully this is the kickstart for the rest of the year."

- NZPA