What Jack Nicklaus told Cambo
Kiwi golfer Michael Campbell was still basking in the afterglow of his 2005 US
Open victory when golfing great Jack Nicklaus bluntly told him he had to do more.
In a rare sit-down New
Zealand interview to screen tonight on Sky TV,
Campbell reflected on how a chance meeting with Nicklaus changed his outlook on golf, and why he’s coming out of retirement to play professionally again at next week’s 100th New Zealand Golf Open.
Nicklaus, who has won more majors than any player (18), caught up with the Titahi Bay-raised Campbell soon after he’d won his first (and only) one at Pinehurst in 2005.
At the time Campbell was verging on the world top 10, caught up in the whirlpool of celebrity and media commitments after beating back world No 1 Tiger Woods.
He was back in America as part of the International Team playing the United States, when the Golden Bear gently mauled him.
"Jack Nicklaus was the captain of the American team. He saw me – this is three months after I won the US Open – he comes beaming over to me, I thought ‘what have I done here’?
‘‘He was saying ‘well done Michael winning your first major’ then his face turned and he said – his eyes, his beady eyes staring, he was pointing – ‘and now, you have the responsibility to grow this game, as a major winner you have to grow this game around the world’.
‘‘I was taken aback, and he walks off. I thought woo, ok, what do I do? I’ve thought about it, when I planned this trip back to New Zealand.’’
Campbell is back home to play in the 100th New Zealand Open in Queenstown. Well that’s the business part of it, the rest of the time he’s been taking on board the words of the great man by spreading the golfing love.
He has visited ‘‘a whole pile of schools’’ in both islands. ‘‘It was hectic, it was manic, but I had to do it.’’
Thinking back to 2005, Campbell recollected the aftermath of his win over Woods was a blur, in fact he could recall only talking to his parents, Prime MInister Helen Clark and driving home at 12.30am with the trophy on the front seat of his car.
But on the course he clearly recalls talking to himself on the 10th tee, when he was leading by one shot and waiting for the fairway ahead to clear.
‘‘I was thinking and thinking. Then I thought ‘look, I’ve got two choices here, you can think greatest, or you can think not good enough’,’’ he told interviewer Phil Tataurangi.
‘‘I decided to go down the pathway of thinking I’m good enough, I’ve worked hard. I visualised an empty cup and I was pouring all these wonderful positive affirmations, into this cup. You’ve got a choice – you can think you’re not good enough, or you are good enough. You can face your fears, or you can run away from your fears.’’
Later when it was over he watched a video of the win, and was surprised to see how many people were on the course. He was so in the zone, he hadn’t seen them.
In the interview he reflected golf had brought him pleasure, heartache, good times and bad, and Halberg Awards.
‘‘When I do look back on my career, I’m pretty pleased with it, you know.’’