October 26, 2008

CAMPOS CAPTURES CROWN AT LANDFALL
VCU finishes third in team standings
Full Results

WILMINGTON, N.C. – Somewhere in this world there sits a set of golf clubs that belong to Virginia Commonwealth University junior Rafael Campos (right).

The Guaynabo, Puerto Rico native would like them back eventually but he’s proven he can play some pretty good golf without them.

Campos shot a 1-under-par 71 Sunday on the Nicklaus Course (Marsh and Ocean nines) at the Country Club of Landfall. That gave him a 54-hole total of 1-over-par 217 and a two-shot victory in the Landfall Tradition.

As a team, VCU finished third. The Rams moved up one spot each day.

It was Campos’ first collegiate victory since he won the Argonaut Invitational as a freshman, and he did it with a makeshift set of borrowed clubs. Campos played for Puerto Rico earlier this month in the World Amateur team championships in Adelaide, Australia. He returned in time to join the Rams for this trip. His clubs did not and he’s not sure where they are now.

So he borrowed some from teammates, Coach Matt Ball and even the pro shop at Landfall to come up with a set he could use in the tournament.

“It worked out pretty well,” Campos said. “You have to make some adjustments. One of my woods, it hits it lower than most other clubs. Some of the irons I had here seemed to want to go off to the right. So I had to get used to all that.”

Campos’ birdied the eighth hole yesterday – his 17th – to take a two-shot lead. He played a solid 18th hole, leaving himself with a very short tap-in to secure the victory, “the kind of putt you want to have when you are looking to win,” Ball said.

“Rafa is such a great ball striker and the course played into his hands. And he made some key putts. He had a long putt to save par on his 16th and then that putt on his 17th put him in control. It was exciting.”

Campos said he got some bad information. Someone told him he was one shot down on his 17th rather than one shot up. So he thought he had to make the putt to tie for the lead. He was confident standing over the putt. He birdied the hole all three rounds. But he was also “pretty nervous. I really wanted to knock it in and I got pretty pumped when I made it.

“It has been a long time since I’ve won one and it was good to have those nerves again.”

Iowa’s Vince India and Wisconsin’s Danny Zimmerman finished tied for second.

Iowa won the team championship with a combined score of 24-over-par. Tulsa was next at 36 over, followed by the Rams at 44 over. VCU finished six strokes ahead of fourth-place Virginia Tech.

Individually, junior Vincent Nadeau (Penhook, Va.) finished in a tie for 19th after a 72 in the final round. That gave him a 12-over-par total of 288 for the tournament. Junior Lanto Griffin (Blacksburg, VA) was tied for 26th (75-231) at 15-over. Sophomore Mark Jargren (Helsingborg, Sweden) came in tied for 29th (73-232) at 16-over and senior Matt Brookbanks (West Midlands, England) finished tied for 56th (87-253) at 37-over.

“We came back with a good final round,” Ball said. “It was a struggle early in the tournament but it turned out OK. We beat some good teams. Lanto got off to a tough start yesterday and hung in there. It was great to see Mark come back and shoot a 73 after struggling the first two days.”

The tournament concludes the fall portion of VCU’s season. The Rams will begin the spring portion of the season at the Rio Piner Intercollegiate in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 23-24.