Ben Campbell (New Zealand golfer)

Ben Campbell (born 20 August 1991) is a professional golfer from New Zealand. Since 2018, he has played primarily on the Asian Tour where he won the 2023 Hong Kong Open. He has also won the New Zealand PGA Championship on the PGA Tour of Australasia.

Ben Campbell
Personal information
Born (1991-08-20) 20 August 1991 (age 32)
Masterton, New Zealand
Sporting nationality New Zealand
ResidenceQueenstown, New Zealand
Career
Turned professional2012
Current tour(s)Asian Tour
PGA Tour of Australasia
Former tour(s)Charles Tour
Professional wins3
Number of wins by tour
Asian Tour1
PGA Tour of Australasia1
Other1
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentDNP
PGA ChampionshipDNP
U.S. OpenDNP
The Open ChampionshipCUT: 2022

Early life and amateur career edit

Campbell had a successful amateur career and was ranked as high as sixth on the World Amateur Golf Ranking.[1] In 2010, he won the Carrus Tauranga Open on the Charles Tour, ahead of Michael Hendry in second and Ryan Fox in third.[2]

He was runner-up at the 2010 and 2011 Australian Amateur.[3][4]

Campbell represented his country twice in the Eisenhower Trophy, the World Amateur Team Championship, finishing fourth individually in 2010 behind future European Tour players Joachim B. Hansen, Alexander Levy and Romain Wattel.[5] In 2012, he represented Asia/Pacific at the Bonallack Trophy in Portugal alongside Hideki Matsuyama and Cameron Smith.[6]

Professional career edit

Campbell turned professional in late 2012 and started playing on the PGA Tour of Australasia. In 2014, he finished 4th at the WA PGA Championship, two strokes behind winner Ryan Lynch, having led the tournament after an opening round of 65. In 2017, he was runner-up at both the New Zealand PGA Championship and the New Zealand Open, before winning the New Zealand PGA Championship in 2018.[7]

He earned an Asian Tour card via the 2018 Qualifying School, having finished tied seventh. In his rookie season, he was runner-up at the AB Bank Bangladesh Open, 3 strokes behind Malcolm Kokocinski. He also tied for 3rd at the Fiji International, an event co-sanctioned by the European Tour.

Campbell was runner-up behind Dimitrios Papadatos at the 2022 Vic Open, an event part of The Open Qualifying Series, which earned him a start at the 2022 Open Championship at the Old Course at St Andrews.[1]

In 2023, he was again runner-up at the New Zealand Open before triumphing at the Hong Kong Open, where he birdied the final two holes to beat Cameron Smith by one stroke. He won US$360,000.[8]

In 2024, Campbell took part in a LIV Golf event for the first time, filling in for Cameron Smith on Ripper GC as a substitute after Smith withdrew from the LIV Golf Miami event after the first round.[9]

Professional wins (3) edit

Asian Tour wins (1) edit

Legend
International Series (1)
Other Asian Tour (0)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 12 Nov 2023 Hong Kong Open −19 (66-64-65-66=261) 1 stroke   Cameron Smith

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (1) edit

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runners-up
1 25 Feb 2018 Horizon Golf New Zealand PGA Championship −18 (64-66-67-69=266) 2 strokes   Ashley Hall,   Deyen Lawson

PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (0–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponents Result
1 2017 ISPS Handa New Zealand Open   Michael Hendry,   Brad Kennedy Hendry won with par on first extra hole

Charles Tour wins (1) edit

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 2 May 2010 Carrus Tauranga Open
(as an amateur)
−19 (66-65-64-66=261) 4 strokes   Michael Hendry

Results in major championships edit

Tournament 2022
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open
The Open Championship CUT
PGA Championship
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut

Team appearances edit

Amateur

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Ben Campbell Bio". The Open. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  2. ^ "The Charles Tour - Carrus Tauranga Open". New Zealand Golf. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  3. ^ "Golf: Young Kiwis have to settle for second". NZ Herald. 24 March 2010.
  4. ^ "2011 Srixon Australian Men's Stroke Play Championship" (PDF). Golf Australia. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Team/Player Leaderboard". Golfstat. 4 December 2023.
  6. ^ "Past Results". Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  7. ^ "Ben Campbell has won the 2018 Horizon Golf NZPGA Championship". PGA New Zealand. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  8. ^ "Ben Campbell wins Hong Kong Open to upstage Cam Smith". The New Zealand Herald. 12 November 2023. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  9. ^ "Kiwi called up for LIV Golf debut". The New Zealand Herald. 6 April 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2024.

External links edit