Epic bounce propels Brian Campbell to long-awaited first PGA Tour win

For Brian Campbell, the 187th time was the charm.

After 186 professional starts without a victory, and nearly a decade spent grinding to regain the PGA Tour card he’d lost, Campbell, a 31-year-old former collegiate star, put a joyous end to a journeyman’s ride on Sunday by capturing the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld in a playoff over the power-hitting prodigy, Aldrich Potgieter. 

Campbell’s long-awaited triumph came on the second extra hole, the par-5 18th, where he scrambled for a birdie after his errant drive, on its way out of bounds, got a lucky kick off a tree and caromed back in play.

Sometimes the golf gods in work in your favor.

“You’ve got to get those breaks sometimes,” Campbell said of the bounce out of the trees. “Unfortunately I hit a really bad tee shot there, caught the tree, was able to keep it in play and get ourselves in a good position to get a wedge and keep the pressure on. I was just so happy that I was able to kind of stay in it to the end.”

Along with a $1.26 million first-place check, the win gives Campbell a two-year Tour exemption, an invitation to the Players Championship and the Masters, and a spot in 2025’s remaining elevated Tour events.

“I’m just literally freaking out now,” Campbell said. “To be in this position is unreal. I can’t believe it.”

Campbell and Potgieter played the final two rounds of the tournament together, and their pairing made for study in contrasting styles and experience. A one-time standout at the University of Illinois, Campbell earned his Tour card in 2017, only to lose it at the end of the season before spending the next eight years trying to get it back. A short-knocker by Tour standards, he ranked 74th in driving distance among the 77 players to make the weekend in Puerto Vallarta. 

The burly Potgieter, on the other hand, a 20-year-old rookie from South Africa, has been a rocket shot who powered his way into the final group at this year’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines before stumbling into a tie for 15th. The youngest player on Tour, Potgieter is also the longest, averaging 326 yards off the tee this season. On Sunday, he routinely blasted his drives 40 yards past Campbell.

The two men got off to scruffy starts, with Campbell missing a handful of short putts and Potgieter struggling with distance control on his chips. But both righted themselves down the stretch and closed their rounds with birdies to finish in a tie at 20-under, one shot clear of a hard-charging Isaiah Salinda.

Prior to this week, Campbell had appeared in 159 events on the KornFerry Tour and another 27 on the PGA Tour, without notching a top 10. It had been long road, and it got a little longer in the playoff, as both he and Potgieter parred their first extra hole.

On their second go around on the par-5 18th, after Potgeiter found the fairway with a bomb, Campbell flared his drive towards a woodsy area marked by white stakes. His chances seemed lost before a saving carom. Taking advantage of the break, Campbell laid up to wedge distance, then stuffed his third to three feet. When Potgeiter’s birdie attempt from five feet went begging, the stage was set for Campbell to finally take his winning bow.

“Grit,” he said when asked what accounted for his breakthrough. “It’s impressive how far some of these guys hit it out here. But that’s not me. I’ve got to take my game elsewhere.”