Michael Campbell made it to the top.
He said as a ten year old growing up in Tītahi Bay that he’d win a golf major, and he went out and did it.
Only three New Zealanders have won them. He sits in the middle of two of New Zealand’s biggest names in golf, Bob Charles, and Lydia Ko.
His run to become US Open champ began in 2005, and as the field dropped away it became apparent Pinehurst was about to witness a David and Goliath sized battle, with a certain Tiger Woods on the fairway.
Campbell remembers: “He was playing in front of me. So I saw every single shot. I felt the energy from the crowds, you know, it was incredible. You’ve got to understand, right? There’s a Tiger Roar and a normal Roar and I heard every single roar, but I kind of used that in my advantage really. I was pretending that they were actually cheering for me.”
By the 17th hole, Campbell had a 3-shot lead and was comfortable he’d get there.
“I remember in that last hole and looking towards the heavens and thanking my tupuna, the people who passed on before me, gave me strength and courage that last nine holes because it was tough man. It was really, really tough, but it was such a wonderful thing to achieve. For the first Māori to win a major, you know, I broke a lot of moulds (to get there) and which I’m very, very proud about.”
The win was motivated by the number he’d written on his golf ball – 997.
“I love my Porsches and I said to myself, okay, top 10 this week, I’ll buy a second hand Porsche.. now all of a sudden up to three rounds, I’m think I’m third. So, I had to reassess that goal and wrote down brand new Porsche.. I swear on my kids lives that I was always thinking about was the colour of the car, besides the wheels, the shape of the exhaust pipes, the colour of the interior, the colour of the brake pillars, you know, I was thinking about the Porsche rather than the actual US Open trophy.”
He’d buy the car from the dealership a few weeks later, but had to get rid of the personalised plate after it caused a few too many police stops.
“My number plate was 05us05pen.. US Open, you know. I was getting pulled over by these cops all the time and maybe … I was, well maybe five miles over the speed limit, but they heard that I was living in that area and they’d pull me over to shake my hand go well done for winning the US Open Michael. They’d done that about four or five times so okay, I need to change my number plate to number one.”
Campbell remembers every shot he made in the 2005 US Open and the frenzied and intense interest after he won.
One of his favourite moments came at the Trophy presentation, where Tiger Woods showed up. A rarity for a player who’d lost.
“I said, mate. What are you doing here? ‘Because I want to show my respect to you Michael.’ So that was kind of cool.. I was kind of chuffed about it obviously, and to have the best player in the world that ever played the game, I think to be there with me to share this amazing experience and and to share this [was] probably the highlight of my whole golfing career.”
In this weeks Newsmakers Revisited, Michael talks more about the 2005 US Open, the reason he was wearing a smelly shirt and why winning one major was enough. For more o his journey, watch the video above.
