Campillo hoping to erase the pain of Spain

Spaniard Jorge Campillo is the focus of the second instalment of our series on the “Six faces to follow” on this season’s Challenge Tour…

Every year a tale of woe unfolds on the final day of the Qualifying School – Final Stage, and last year that unfortunate fate befell Jorge Campillo.

The amiable 24 year old appeared to be cruising towards a first European Tour card after successive rounds of 66-71-68-69-69 over the first five days at PGA Catalunya Resort, in his native Spain, only for all his hard work to unravel with a closing round of 81.

Campillo was understandably distraught in the immediate aftermath, having missed his card by five shots when even a round of 76 would have been sufficient to secure promotion to the top tier.

But after careful consideration, he might reflect that a full season spent honing his technique and sharpening his competitive instincts on the Challenge Tour can serve only to improve his already bright prospects of enjoying a long and prosperous career in the upper echelons of the game.

Campillo was raised in Cáceres, a province in the Extramadura region of western Spain, where the first golf course was only built in 1993.

He was first bitten by the golf bug as a three year old during the Campillo family’s regular summer holidays to Marbella on the Costa del Sol, where courses are in plentiful supply.

As his game progressed he earned national recognition, with victories in Spain’s Under 12 and Under 14 Championships helping Campillo win a place in the national team.

He subsequently won a scholarship to study Sport Marketing and Management at Indiana University, America, and it was in his fourth and final year that the idea of pursuing a professional career in golf crystallised in his mind.

Soon after his conversion to the professional ranks Campillo was snapped up by management and media goliath IMG, who secured him a handful of invites on The European Tour, with a top ten finish at the 2009 Madrid Masters his highest finish.

Some equally impressive displays on the Challenge Tour followed, most notably a tie for fifth place at the Credit Suisse Challenge and a tie for eighth at the Fred Olsen Challenge de España, which helped cement his reputation as a burgeoning talent.

Last year Campillo struggled to build on the promising start he had made to his professional career, however, having tinkered with his swing during a season with more troughs than peaks.

But after rediscovering his form for five days at the Qualifying School – Final Stage, and having made an encouraging start to his 2011 Challenge Tour campaign at the season-opening Gujarat Kensville Challenge recently, the signs are that the Spaniard is slowly starting to fulfil his potential.

Off the course Campillo is an avid Real Madrid supporter and, whilst his globetrotting inevitably prevents him from attending many matches in person, the one game he did manage to catch last year saw Real triumph 6-1 over Racing Santander. His other sporting passion is basketball, citing Spanish NBA star Pau Gasol, of the LA Lakers, as one of his idols.

Inevitably Seve was his golfing hero, and the signed picture of him standing alongside the ‘Matador’, taken some ten years ago, still takes pride of place in his room to this day.

Campillo clearly has a long way to travel before his achievements can be mentioned in the same breath as those of his hero, but this coming season could well prove pivotal in shaping his future fortunes.