In 1993, he turned professional. He nonetheless remained in contention until the final hole, missing a playoff with
Costantino Rocca and
John Daly (eventually won by Daly) by one stroke. At the end of 1995 Campbell had moved to 28th in the
Official World Golf Ranking. Within three years after his third-place-finish in The Open Championship, Campbell fell into a slump and went down to 465th in World Ranking. He won the
PGA Tour of Australasia's Order of Merit during the 1999/2000 season. Campbell failed to make the cut in his first five 2005 tournaments. He made a quick turnaround and missed only one cut in the next 16 tournaments. He finished in the top six of both the Open Championship and PGA Championship, and recorded top-five placings in three other tournaments. who at one point closed to within one shot of Campbell. In the end, Woods was undone by bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes, and Campbell won his first
major by two shots, carding an even par of 280. With his win, he became only the second New Zealander to win a major (after
Bob Charles), and also the first winner of the U.S. Open since
Steve Jones in 1996 who had entered the event via sectional qualifying. Two months later, in August, Campbell finished in a tie for 6th in the
PGA Championship at
Baltusrol, won by
Phil Mickelson.
World Match Play champion In September 2005, Campbell won the
HSBC World Match Play Championship at Wentworth. He defeated Australian
Geoff Ogilvy (1-up) before being taken to the 37th hole by another Australian,
Steve Elkington, in the quarter-final. In the semi-final he faced
Retief Goosen who the previous day had recorded a 12 and 11 win over
Mark Hensby. Campbell defeated Goosen 7 and 6 and the next day beat Irishman
Paul McGinley 2 and 1 in the final to take the championship and win the £1,000,000 richest prize in golf. He became only the fourth golfer to win the U.S. Open and the World Match Play titles in the same year, joining
Gary Player,
Hale Irwin and
Ernie Els, and the win moved him to the top of the European Order of Merit, ahead of Goosen. He finished the year ranked second on the Order of Merit.
Later career, retirement and comeback Campbell had no top-10 finishes on the European Tour between 2009 and September 2012, although his U.S. Open win meant he retained his playing rights. In December 2017, Campbell revealed in an interview with
bunkered magazine that he was planning to make a European Tour comeback in 2018 with a view to playing on the
Staysure Tour and
PGA Tour Champions when he turns 50 in February 2019. He is automatically qualified for the U.S. Senior Open from 2019 until 2028 as all former U.S. Open champions are exempt from qualifying for ten years. He was unable to play in the
New Zealand Open as planned, having aggravated an old injury to a tendon in his left ankle during training. == Personal life ==