Person-American Named Brian Campbell Books Masters Trip
Journeyman holds off long-driving South African rookie in Puerto Vallarta. Plus, other weekend wins, White House session fails to produce peace, and how MLB's spat with ESPN could help golf.
History! National Opens! Playoff! Another Masters invitee!
And it was all pretty much downhill from there.
The first-ever (goosebumps!) playoff in Mexico Open at VidantaWorld history produced a seemingly nice Human Being American winner named Brian Campbell. The 31-year-old former Illinois golfer collected his initial PGA Tour win in his 28th start and will drive up Magnolia Lane despite launching one deep into a Mexican jungle only to find the fairway, setting up the eventual winning birdie. Who says strategy is dead in the modern power game?
Campbell’s final-round 70 included four birdies, three bogeys, and, sources close to those who could handle listening to NBC’s first of many clunky gabfests over uninspired courses, plenty of loose final-round play by Campbell and rookie South African Aldrich Potgieter.
The win gave Campbell his first PGA Tour career top 10 after graduating from the Korn Ferry Tour last fall. Potgieter, the 20-year-old bomber from the same KFT graduating class, could not convert a 54-hole lead. Barring a win in the coming weeks, the golf world will be deprived of seeing the young South African unleash his mighty driver on Augusta National again (he missed the 2023 cut as an amateur). Potgieter and his 190+ ball speed led the field with a 324.6-yard average on All Drives. Instead, Campbell and his 284.7 all-drive number will play a fourth major this April, along with the PGA in May.
In three U.S. Opens, Campbell has recorded a missed cut, a T27 (low amateur in 2015), and a T56 last year.
After entering the week ranked 172nd in the world, Campbell displayed a sense of humor by toasting the jungle that should have swallowed his playoff tee shot but instead spit the ball back into play:
Also…
2025 Latin America Amateur winner and San Diego State senior Justin Hastings finished a respectable T13/-13.
Defending champion Jake Knapp finished T25 (-11) in a title defense NBC/Golf Channel treated like Francis Ouimet showing up at the 1914 U.S. Open.
The field featured just two top 30 players (Aaron Rai and Akshay Bahtia), four top 50 players, and just 26 in the top 100. And that’s with the OWGR heavily tilted toward the PGA Tour.
If you must relive this one…
South African Jacques Kruyswijk captured his first DP World Tour title by two strokes in the 2025 Magical Kenya Open presented by absa. Kruyswijk’s final round 67 held off Englishman John Parry. The 32-year-old entered the week ranked 361st in the world and beat a field that featured no player ranked inside the world top 100. Here are the highlights should you have a light Monday schedule.
Angel Yin earned her second LPGA Tour career victory at 2025 Honda LPGA Thailand. The southern California native made seven final-round birdies to post 28-under-par. The win also came after Yin needed a last-minute fill-in when her regular caddie fell ill. The highlights, in case you survived the Magical Kenya recap and decided to cancel all of your appointments.
The Honda LPGA did go viral over the weekend after A Lim used Aimpoint to assist in reading an 18-incher. There was more to the story, as Meg Atkins noted here. And Aimpoint still looks ridiculous.
Work, Work, Construction Working Session Work!
The healing powers of reunification remain locked away somewhere in the White House. Or the Global Home. Or, some undisclosed location. But the really bad news? We’ve gone from close to a deal to a conversation initiation phase. This pathetic and embarrassing mess never ends. Bonuses for everyone!
Last Thursday’s White House meeting detailed above did not produce a decision over how the PGA Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia will work together going forward. Maybe the group of Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, Jay Monahan, Yasir al-Rumayyan, and Donald Trump are waiting until the two-year anniversary of the “framework agreement” to pat themselves on the back? With the PGA Tour now referencing “His Excellency,” the once-soon-to-be-maybe-again Chairman of the PGA Tour may be on track to get the title he covets (along with 14 club membership status).
I’ll spare you the social media and other reactions other than to say they range from “wake me when you morons figure this out” to “not going to watch again.”
A foursome of New York Times reporters drew a conclusion that more Trump-owned courses will benefit whenever “reunification” happens.