close
close

Semainede4jours

Real-time news, timeless knowledge

Rafael Campos shares lead at Bermuda Championship
bigrus

Rafael Campos shares lead at Bermuda Championship

SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda (AP) — Rafael Campos celebrated the birth of his daughter Monday and now he’s ready for another big moment. Butterfield shot a personal best 9-under 62 on Saturday to share the lead in the final round of the Bermuda Championship.

Andrew Novak also shot a 62 at Port Royal on a day when winds were gusting toward the end of the round, with gusts reaching 40 mph. Novak caught a break in the 18th when his tee shot rolled down a driveway and onto the grass.

Justin Lower, who started the stormy day with a 62, went into the water on the par-5 18th and struggled to a bogey 68 to finish one shot behind.

Campos and Novak were at 16-under 197 and both were looking for their first victory. In many ways, the timing couldn’t have been better for Campos, a 36-year-old Puerto Rican; his gratitude made him a favorite among his peers.

He is ranked 147th in the FedEx Cup and has one tournament left to try to break into the top 125 and maintain full status for next year. Then his wife gave birth to their first child, Paola Isabel, on Monday.

There was no discussion of Campos playing. Her job was in jeopardy, which led them to induce labor. And he said it alleviated some of the stress he was feeling after missing four straight cuts as his rankings continued to slide.

“My wife, first of all, is very understanding of where I stand at FedEx,” he said, struggling to keep his emotions in check. “The whole process of trying to induce labor on Monday was for me to try to qualify for the tournament, so we were always trying to see if I could make it here.”

They came home from the hospital around 5pm on Wednesday.

“I held my daughter in my arms. I thought I should be at the airport in about 20 minutes,” she said. “I want to meet their needs as best I can, so we’re here and luckily everything went well. The fact that I’m doing well this week is a bonus.”

Saturday went great in the strong winds that Campos enjoyed. He made a birdie putt on the 15th, a 10-foot birdie putt on the fearsome par-3 16th, had an up-and-down performance with another birdie putt on the 17th and stayed under par on the closing hole.

The wind was blowing from a different direction. Players who had batted as little as the 18th at the beginning of the week were batting as much as the hybrids.

“If you ask me, I don’t think it’s golf,” Lower said of the closing four-hole stretch. “The balls were going backwards in the air.”

He also said the PGA Tour treats lesser-known players differently.

“I realize a lot of people have to play in this game, but I don’t think it makes sense,” Lower said. “If the best 10 or best 15 players in the world were here and they wanted to Stop, I think the rules officials would have said, ‘Yes, we will stop. If anyone on the field said, ‘I don’t feel comfortable in this game,’ we would be called ‘tough’ and the round would continue.”

Lower is second in Mexico last week. He’s also going for his first PGA Tour win, which looks even more critical as the PGA Tour reduces exemption status to top 100 players starting in 2026.

This is the first time Campos has taken a share of the 54-hole lead. He also tied for the Puerto Rico Open and the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic in 2021.

This time the conditions are different.

“I’m in a really tough situation right now at FedEx, I didn’t want to be in that position. I want a job for next year, I really do,” Campos said. “I was put under a lot of pressure and stress, and the whole thing took about six months. I think everything changed this week, not because I played well.

“I had a girl on Monday and it doesn’t matter if I play bad or not, they don’t care. If I lose my job, I lose my job and I have a beautiful daughter and a beautiful wife at home. I hope I get to hug them. I hope I have a good day tomorrow and we’ll see how it turns out.”

___

AP golf: