Cameron Champ seeking birdies and balance at John Deere Classic
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SILVIS, Ill. — When Matthew Wolff opened a window into the mental challenges of balancing golf and personal happiness at the recent United States Open, Cameron Champ understood.
On a PGA TOUR that has grown deeper in talent developed early by junior golf and an increasingly competitive college game, growing both inside and outside the ropes can be the last piece of a player’s development.
For the thoughtful and recently married Champ, 26, his fifth professional season and his third on the PGA TOUR has made clear the challenge of balancing life and golf, particularly when a game that produced early wins at the 2019 Sanderson Farms Championship and the 2020 Safeway Open has failed to match his own expectations.
“For me it's not all about golf,” he said Saturday, after firing his way into contention at the John Deere Classic with a 6-under round of 65. Behind Thursday and Friday rounds of 66 and 68, Saturday’s performance put the big-hitting Californian in contention for Sunday success for the first time since the ZOZO Championship in October.
Champ was playing on a Saturday for the first time in five starts, having sandwiched missed cuts at the PGA Championship, Charles Swab Challenge, U.S. Open and last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic around a first-round WD at the Memorial following his second round of 82 in a matter of weeks.
He will start the final round at TPC Deere Run as part of a five-man pack tied for third, two shots behind 54-hole leader Sebastian Munoz. As he does, Champ hopes to maintain a fresh perspective pulled from reflective conversations at home.
“I talked to my wife, I talked with my coach,” he said, noting he came to the Deere with a plan to “just try to have a more open-minded process and enjoy the game more, not be so hard on myself and as long as I put the work in, then results will come.”
Champ’s pursuit of success hasn’t necessarily changed. A goal this week is to win the berth into the Open Championship available to the highest finishing Jonh Deere Classic player in the top five who is not already exempt. But winning that berth or another tournament won’t determine his happiness, he said.
“For me it's not all about golf,” he said. “As a kid and coming out here trying to get on TOUR, it had to be, because that was my situation and I had no other choice. But now I got married, I'm maturing in levels, I'm starting to kind of figure out myself and what works for me.
“Obviously I'm going to put a hundred percent effort into this game. I love it. It has given me so much. But also, I have my family, I have other things that mean more to me than this game. So, for me, it's just kind of balancing that and figuring that out. How I can manage both of those to have my ultimate success.”
As it is for Wolff and several other golf professionals, young and old, who opened up in the wake of Wolff’s revelation prior to the Open, that approach is a work in progress.
“I have many other purposes I want to achieve,” Champ said, noting his background as a First Tee graduate informs the mission of his Cameron Champ Foundation for Youth Mentorship and Golf back home in Citrus Heights, California. “I was given so much as a kid to get me out here, and I'm going to do the same thing.
“It's my father's passion, it's my passion, and obviously as I keep growing out here and keep building as a player I'm going to be able to do even more things than I am now. That is one of my purposes as well.
“But again, it's managing all those expectations and figuring out ways to balance it once you get on the first tee. Everybody's different, everybody adjusts to things differently, everybody thinks differently, everybody's life situations are different and how they affect them. So, for me it's been a learning process, but I think I'm finally starting to grasp it some and come out the other way.”