Strong start for re-energized Campbell

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HONOLULU -- The way Chad Campbell saw it, he had nowhere to go but up.

"I wasn't putting very good, I wasn't hitting the ball very good and I wasn't driving it very good, for sure," he recalled matter-of-factly. "I could only improve on every aspect."

Chad Campbell earned the fourth win of his career at the Viking Classic. (Feldman/WireImage)

Chad Campbell

in the '07 Fall Series

Tournament Finish Score to Par Turning Stone Resort Championship T54 -3 Viking Classic 1 -13 Valero Texas Open T15 -11 Frys.com Open benefiting Shriners Hospitals for Children T74 +2

So when he failed to advance past the second round of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup last year, the talented Texan decided to play the first four events of the Fall Series. He'll never regret it, either.

Campbell picked up his fourth PGA TOUR victory at the Viking Classic, and suddenly a sub-standard 2007 season did a dramatic about-face. The confidence he gained at Annandale Golf Club has stayed with Campbell, too.

"I knew I liked Jackson and I had played good there in the past, and it's just kind of funny that I went back there and was able to win," said Campbell, who had finished fourth and second in his two other starts there.

"It gave me a lot of confidence going into this year and definitely made the off season a little more enjoyable.

Granted, he opened the 2008 season at Kapalua with a 75. Campbell shook the rust off, though, and proceeded to play his next 54 holes in 13 under to tie for 12th in the Mercedes-Benz Championship.

And on Thursday, that 4-under-par 66 at Waialae Country Club left Campbell two shots off the lead at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Campbell made six birdies and one eagle while dropping four strokes to par on a course he says has always been one of his favorites. He now has 11 sub-par rounds at Waialae -- including a third-round 62 in 2005 when Campbell tied for second.

Thursday admittedly didn't start quite as he would have liked. Campbell hit his drive at the first hole into the rough, wedged out and made bogey. He got that stroke back, though -- and then some -- when he holed an 8-iron for eagle at the par-4 third, and he never looked back.

"That kind of got me going," Campbell agreed. "(I) made a few birdies. (In the) middle of the round I started missing fairways and it cost me a couple bogeys, but it's nice to finish up with birdies on two of the last three holes."

Campbell may have strayed into the rough a few too many times on Thursday, but he recovered well -- hitting just under 78 percent of his greens in regulation. That was his Achilles heel last year. Campbell entered the Viking Classic ranked 150th in GIR but finished first in that category on the way to victory.

If the 33-year-old learned anything from last season, Campbell says it was the value of perseverance. Even when things didn't go the way he wanted, the straightforward man from Texas needed to be patient and believe in what he was doing.

"I wasn't really worried, but in a way I was," Campbell said. "Not playing that well for that long a period of time I'd never really been in that kind of stretch before. It was nice to put it all together in Jackson. I think going back to a course where I'd had success, that's a huge part of it."

Campbell wants to continue to build on that success. He dearly wants to make his third straight Ryder Cup team. He's not in any of the majors yet, either, so he knows he needs to perform -- but he doesn't want to get ahead of himself like he did last year.

Most of all, he's eager for the challenge.

"I'm not really worried about that stuff as long as I play good solid golf," Campbell said. "If I get in great, if I don't, there's another day. ... I think it'll be great. I think it motivates me maybe a little bit more. Last year I got a little lazy and didn't work on my game enough, even though I thought I did. So maybe it's a good thing for me."