Cambo back in the swing of things

I MUST admit, there have been times over the past nine years when I’ve bumped into Michael Campbell (below) in clubhouses, hotel elevators and the like, and really not known what to say. Befitting his status as one of the game’s gentlemen, he’d always warmly say hello. But, after the opening pleasantries, how do you have a conversation with a man who went from beating Tiger Woods to win the 2005 US Open to falling so far he was outside the world’s top 1,300? There are only so many polite variations on ‘Why bother carrying on?’ aren’t there? Well, at the age of 43, the man known far and wide as Cambo has come up with his own response, and what a gratifying one it is, too. At the Portugal Masters on Sunday, the Kiwi confirmed the small recovery steps he has been taking by finishing third for his first podium placing for four long years. Moreover, he put together four scores in the 60s for the first time since 2003. This morning, he must feel almost as elated as he did on that unforgettable day seven years ago, when parliament back home in New Zealand suspended business so they could watch one of their own win America’s

national title.