WENTWORTH, England - New Zealand golfer Michael Campbell entertained thoughts of breaking the magical 60 barrier after a blistering start to the final round of the BMW Championship in England this morning (NZ time).
Campbell birdied his opening four holes before slipping back and settling for an nondescript two-under-par 70.
That left him with a tournament card of 288, in a share of 37th place, 17 shots behind the winner, David Howell, of England.
Campbell chipped-in from off the green at the first, sank a nine-foot birdie putt at the par-three second, holed a six-foot putt at the third, then two-putted from 15 feet at the par-five fourth.
The reigning US Open champion's progress was halted by a bogey at the fifth before he birdied the sixth.
That proved to be the high water mark of Campbell's charge as he then dropped a shot at the seventh and never regained any traction.
Campbell parred the next five holes, bogeyed 14 and 15 before another two pars and a closing birdie.
"After birdies at the first four holes I really was really thinking 59 straight away," Campbell said.
"I was thinking that I could shoot 60 out here easily and while I wanted to shoot low today and I got off to a great start, it really didn't happen.
"I didn't play that well at all the first three days as my putter deserted me so it was a little disappointing to end with a 70 and not shoot a 62 or 63.
"But there is glimpses there of good things ahead and I'm going to the Wales Open this week with a renewed confidence."
Campbell said he and his coach, Jonathon Yarwood, worked hard on his putting technique following his third-round 73.
"Jonathon and I spent probably an hour and a half on my putting last night where we changed my set-up and few other technical aspects.
"That helped me immensely today and just what I needed to take to Wales.
"The way I putted the first three days acted like a bit of wake-up call and after watching video footage it looked pretty awful.
"A lot of bad habits crept into my putting and that was done to lack of supervision, you could say, but besides that I can walk away a lot happier with my putting."
Campbell averaged 30.5 putts for the tournament, gradually improving from the 32 he required in the opening round to the 29 used up today.
Campbell's cheque for 28,900 euros ($58,716) left him at 34th on the European order of merit.
- NZPA
