VALLARTA, Mexico — Brian Campbell cashed in on a huge break Sunday when his tee shot in a playoff bounced out of the trees and back into play, leading to a birdie on the second extra hole to win the PGA Tour’s Mexico Open over long-hitting rookie Aldrich Potgieter.
Campbell, who closed with a 1-under-par 70 to finish 72 regulation holes at Vidanta Vallarta at 20-under 264, won for the first time since he turned pro a decade ago — and the timing could not have been better for the 31-year-old Californian.
The victory sends him to The Players Championship next month, the Masters in April and the PGA Championship in May, along with five of the $20 million signature events left on the PGA Tour’s 2025 schedule.
“To be in this position is just so unreal,” Campbell said after calmly holing a birdie putt just inside four feet on the 18th green for the win. “I can’t believe it, really.”
Good golf wasn’t enough. Campbell needed the break of a lifetime.
Campbell and Potgieter, who closed with a 71, each made a birdie on the last hole in regulation and each began the playoff with a par. With the pair returning to the par-5 closing hole for the third time — a big advantage for the 20-year-old South African with his power off the tee — Campbell hit a low, hard fade toward the out-of-bounds stakes.
The ball crashed into the trees, though, then popped back out into the rough. He still was 94 yards behind Potgieter, but at least he had a shot. He hit a fairway metal that had him 68 yards away, then hit a lob wedge that checked up just short of the hole.
“You’ve got to get those breaks sometimes,” Campbell said. “Unfortunately, I hit a really bad tee shot there, caught the tree, was able to keep it in play and get ourselves in a good position to get a wedge and keep the pressure on.
“I was just so happy that I was able to kind of stay in it to the end.”
Potgieter twice hit the 18th fairway in the playoff and had a 6-iron for his second shot, and both times he made par. The first time was a hard draw over the green. On the second playoff hole, he was posing over a shot on a perfect line until it came up a foot short and went into a bunker.
He blasted out some six feet by the hole and missed the ensuing birdie putt to the left, setting up Campbell for a moment that once seemed so far away. He had been winless in 186 starts on the developmental Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA Tour combined, earning $1,487,830. His payoff Sunday was $1,260,000.
Potgieter started the final round with a one-shot lead, fell behind with two bogeys to end the front nine, then caught up to Campbell with a superb up-and-down sequence on the par-5 14th. Each made one bogey coming in on the way to 20 under.
Potgieter, who led the field in driving distance, failed to capitalize on the par-5 closing hole after hitting the fairway each time.
“Hopefully, my time will come soon,” said Potgieter, who won the 2022 British Amateur at age 17 and last year became the youngest player to win on the Korn Ferry Tour.
“Pressure is a big thing,” he added. “You can’t beat it. You just have to learn and adjust to it the next time.”
Isaiah Salinda, a 27-year-old rookie from California, was alone in third at 19 under after a bogey-free 65 gave him four rounds in the 60s. England’s Aaron Rai, at No. 29 in the Official World Golf Ranking the highest-ranked player in the field, briefly shared the lead with an approach to 20 inches for an eagle on the par-5 sixth. He was 1 over the rest of the way for a 67 and tied for fourth with Ben Griffin (67).
Chattanooga’s Stephan Jaeger played in the final group with Campbell and Potgieter but couldn’t match their pace while chasing a second PGA Tour win to go with his triumph at the Houston Open last March. The former Baylor School and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga standout had a bogey on the first hole, another to start the back nine, and one more on No. 17, negating his three birdies in a par round that left him tied with Joel Dahmen (65) for sixth place at 17 under.
Campbell said it was grit that helped him win, and that goes back further than Sunday.
He played his college golf at Illinois and was the low amateur in the 2015 U.S. Open. He earned a PGA Tour card in 2017 and missed the cut 13 times in 20 starts. One of those was the Zurich Classic, where he received a penalty for slow play in a peculiar ruling because it also involved his partner in the team event, Miguel Angel Carballo.
And then it was back to the minor leagues for the next seven years until he was a runner-up three times and finished No. 8 on the Korn Ferry Tour to get another crack at the PGA Tour.
The victory gives him a two-year exemption on the top circuit through 2027 and gives him a busy March and April with the Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Players Championship, the Masters and the RBC Heritage now all on his schedule.
AP photo by Fernando Llano / Chattanooga resident Stephan Jaeger watches his tee shot on the third hole at Vidanta Vallarta during Sunday’s final round of the PGA Tour’s Mexico Open in Puerto Vallarta. Jaeger tied for sixth.Yin holds off challenger’s late charge in Thailand
PATTAYA, Thailand — Angel Yin won for the second time on the LPGA Tour, with the 26-year-old Californian making a birdie on the 18th hole for a 7-under 65 that was just enough to hold off hard-charging Akie Iwai of Japan in the Honda LPGA Thailand.
Yin started Sunday on the Pattaya Old Course at Siam Country Club with a five-shot lead. She played a bogey-free final round. She had four birdies on the last six holes. And it was barely enough to capture the title.
“I wasn’t that comfortable because Akie shot 10 under the first day, and this course is very gettable,” Yin said. “So I just had to keep my head down.”
Akie, an LPGA Tour rookie — along with twin sister Chisato Iwai — was dynamic to the very end when she made an eagle on the par-5 closing hole to momentarily tie for the lead. Yin got her birdie to finish the tournament at 28-under 260.
There have been only six lower 72-hole scores in LPGA history, with Sei Young Kim holding the record of 257, set at the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic in 2018.
Despite starting the final round with a five-stroke advantage, Yin faced relentless pressure from Iwai, who was playing on a sponsor exemption. She charged up the leaderboard and momentarily shared the lead at 24 under after a birdie on the 12th hole.
However, Yin responded with three consecutive birdies to regain control on her way to becoming the fourth American to capture the LPGA Thailand title, joining Lilia Vu (2023), Jessica Korda (2018) and Lexi Thompson (2016). Yin’s breakthrough win was at the 2023 Buick LPGA Shanghai.
Despite finishing second Sunday, Iwai made history of her own, firing a tournament-low round of 61. She carded 10 birdies and the closing eagle against a lone bogey to settle at 261.
The rest of the top five was filled out by Thai players. Jeeno Thitikul, who is No. 2 in the Women’s World Golf Rankings, finished a distant third at 21 under after a closing 66. Patty Tavatanakit (65), who won the 2024 tournament, and Moriya Jutanugarn (68) were two strokes further back to share fourth place.
Thailand was the first stop of an Asia swing for the LPGA Tour, which moves to Singapore and China over the next two weeks.
AP photo by Kittinun Rodsupan / Angel Yin watches her shot on the first hole of Sunday’s final round in the Honda LPGA Thailand in Pattaya. Yin closed with a 7-under-par 65 for a one-stroke victory.Kruyswijk gets his first win at last
NAIROBI, Kenya — Jacques Kruyswijk closed with a 4-under 67 and held on to win the Kenya Open, securing his first career win on the Europe-based DP World Tour more than seven years after first earning his place on the circuit via qualifying school.
With a bogey-free weekend that included four birdies in the final round, the 32-year-old South African finished the 72-hole tournament at Muthaiga Golf Club at 18-under 266, two strokes clear of runner-up John Parry (68), a 38-year-old Englishman who won the Mauritius Open in December for his second career win but first since 2010.
Kruyswijk held a one-shot lead entering the final round but was overtaken by Parry within five holes. Back-to-back birdies on Nos. 6-7 put him back on top of the leaderboard.
“I’m happy that I can keep the trophy on African soil and obviously bring it back to South Africa,” Kruyswijk said.