Weekly Fantasy Golf Recap: Campbell Again Rings the Bell

Brian Campbell hits his drives an average of 276.6 yards. That may sound good, but in reality you couldn't hit it any shorter than that. Well, you could, but then you wouldn't be on the PGA Tour. You see, Campbell is the absolute shortest driver on Tour, ranked 174th out of 174.

So it is nothing short of amazing that Campbell is now a two-time winner this season, after beating Emiliano Grillo with a par on the first playoff hole to capture the John Deere Classic on Sunday at TPC Deere Run.

Campbell also won the Mexico Open back in February, also in a playoff, and in that one he beat the absolute longest hitter on Tour in Aldrich Potgieter (328.4 yards).

Those are the only two tournaments in which Campbell has even finished in the top-30 all season. What those two events have in common, besides weaker fields, are shorter tracks. Deere Run checks in at 7,289 yards and Vidanta Vallarta Golf Course played at 7,436, both par-71s. They aren't the shortest courses on Tour, but they also aren't the big behemoths the golfers often face today.

Campbell has a pretty good game outside of that big, um, shortcoming. And it hurts him so many weeks to be hitting his second shot from 30, 40 or maybe 50 yards or more behind other golfers. It's not insurmountable – as we often say, there's always more than one way to win a golf tournament – but it makes the margin for error so much finer.

"You know, I'm not going to tell them to hit it any shorter, that's for sure," Campbell said, when asked about all the "bombers" he beat this week. "I think they'll be just fine doing what they do. It just goes to show that there is so many different games out here and so many different ways to play the game.

"There is not one way to get it done, and that was something that I proved to myself earlier this season, and it's paid off."

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Campbell is ranked 32nd on Tour in both Strokes Gained: Approach and Putting, and he's 18th in Around-the-Green. Those are outstanding numbers. He's also ranked 22nd in driving accuracy, which didn't matter much on the wide-open fairways at the Deere, but usually does.

"I'm definitely a grinder," said Campbell, 32, who went to college nearby at the University of Illinois. "Ever since my junior golf days and college golf I've just loved to save par. I love having the moment to figure out any shot. …

"I pride myself on my putting, too, my ability to find the hole. And strategy. Definitely course management is something that's huge for me, thinking my way around course.

"I'm not going to outdrive everybody. I'm not going to out ball strike everyone every week. I can do my best to outthink everybody."

It also helped Campbell that the scores were much higher this year. He and Grillo shot 18-under, 10 strokes worse than Davis Thompson's record-setting score a year ago.

This win came at the perfect time for Campbell, not that there's ever a bad time. It moved him to a career-best 55th in the OWGR, which will get him into the Open Championship in two weeks. But first he'll play in the upcoming Scottish Open. It also moved him to 28th in the FedExCup Standings, inside the TOUR Championship cut line for now.

All thanks to two good weeks.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Emiliano Grillo
This would've been Grillo's third career win. Normally an accurate driver -- he's even better than Campbell, ranked 17th -- he hit his drive way right in the playoff. He ended up flying the green on his approach and couldn't get up and down. This was Grillo's first top-10 all year, but it's actually been a good season, at least of late. He had top-25s in four of his five starts leading into the Deere.

David Lipsky
This was a crusher for Lipsky, who was seeking his first career win. Playing behind both Campbell and Grillo, he eagled 17 to forge a tie with them. But then he dead-yanked his drive on 18 and wound up with bogey to finish in a two-way tie for third. That had to be nerves. He had missed five straight cuts coming in, and this high finish moved him only to 115th in points. 

Kevin Roy
Roy has turned around his entire season in the past two weeks – eighth at the Rocket Classic, now T3 at the Deere. It moved him to 71st in points, one slot out of playoff position. He now has seven top-25s on the season, which are a lot, but he was well outside playoff position until the past two weeks..

Max Homa
The struggling Homa led for a chunk of this tournament, including on Sunday. But he wound up in a six-way tie for fifth, which counts as his first top-10 in more than a year. Homa did play very well, but in a very weak field, so expectations of a return to prominence should be tempered. He will not be in either the Scottish Open or Open Championship. After that, there are just two more tournaments till the playoffs, and Homa will need to do something special to qualify. 

Matt Kuchar
The 47-year-old Kuchar tied for fifth. It was his best showing of the season, in a somewhat limited schedule of 12 starts. He's also among the very shortest hitters, ranked 171st on Tour.

Lucas Glover
Glover notched his second straight top-10 (T5) and fifth of the season. He missed the playoffs last season. He will not only make them this year, he's got a good chance to reach the TOUR Championship, currently in 23rd place in points.

Jacob Bridgeman
Even though Bridgeman has not won in 2025, he's one of the biggest surprises of the season. His tie for fifth was his fifth top-10 and he is 29th in points. He's now finished second, third, fourth and fifth this season. The 25-year-old's career earnings before this season were $431,359. He's already cleared $3 million in 2025.

Kurt Kitayama
The tie for fifth matched Kitayam's best result all year. It has not been a great season, as he's missed almost half his cuts – 8 of 17.

Carson Young
Young tied for fifth, his best showing in what has been a pretty bad year. He's ranked 132nd in points.

Nick Dunlap
No top player has had a worse season than Dunlap, to the point it's not even accurate to call him a top player. He has missed eight of 19 cuts, but at the Deere, he notched his best result in six months. He tied for 11th. Still only 21, Dunlap had fallen out of the top 75 of the OWGR and is still far back in the FedExCup Standings, in 122nd place.

Jackson Koivun
The 20-year-old Auburn student tied for 11th, giving the amateur three made cuts in four starts this season. The other two came at the Farmers and Bay Hill, so he appears to be Tour-ready. We should see Koivun on Tour -- as a professional -- after one more college season. 

Rickie Fowler
A week after a bad missed cut at the Rocket Classic, Fowler tied for 18th. That moved him to 68th in the standings. He won't be in the upcoming Scottish Open but he's already qualified for the Open Championship.

Kevin Yu
Yu now has eight top-25s on the season after tying for 21st. He'll be in the Scottish Open and Open Championship.

Zach Johnson
This was Johnson's 23rd start at the Deere. He's now made 20 cuts, after tying for 44th. Johnson will play in the Open in two weeks.

MISSED CUTS

Ben Griffin, Jason Day, Sungjae Im, Luke Clanton, Si Woo Kim, Aldrich Potgieter. Griffin and Day were the two top guys in the field. Griffin had been playing so much, this MC might work in his favor in the long run, getting him ready for the playoffs and maybe the Ryder Cup. … Im is ranked 173rd on Tour in SG: Approach, and it's almost impossible to make a cut with that inaccuracy, no matter how weak the field is. … Clanton shared runner-up at the Deere last year as an amateur. … Kim could've qualified for the Open Championship with a slightly better week. … Potgieter withdrew after the third round for an undisclosed reason.

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