Peter Campbell shot a closing 70 to hold off Zhang Huilin and win his first pro title at the RMB1.5 million Beijing Championship, the ninth event of this year’s PGA Tour Series-China.
Campbell, 35, is the third Canadian to win on Tour, following 2015 winners Justin Shin and Eugene Wong.
The left-hander held a two-stroke lead after the second and third rounds at Topwin Golf and Country Club, and finished 17-under, just one ahead of playing partner Zhang (68), a winner on the Tour in 2015 and 2016.
Korean Jung Woo-jin (69) was third at 15-under, one ahead of American Ryann Ree (70), while Korean Todd Baek(68), winner of May’s Haikou Championship, shared fifth at 13-under with American Yoon Se-jun (72), who also played in the final group.
Singapore’s Quincy Quek (71) was alone in seventh at 12-under, one ahead of Japan’s Yuwa Kosaihira (64), while Hong Kong’s Yeung Mo-tin (70), Canadian Shin (71) and Thai Gunn Charoenkul (68) tied for ninth at 10-under. Kosaihira and Yeung both tied American Charlie Saxon and England’s Callum Tarren for most top-10s this year with four.
Campbell, who previously played on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamerica, had considered withdrawing ahead of the Beijing Championship after missing the cut in the previous two events, but decided to play with a ‘no-care attitude’ at Topwin that helped him cope with the pressure of leading.
“It worked. I don’t know how I did it. I mean, nothing really phased me out there. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done before, so definitely something to think about going forward,” said Campbell, who was joint-second after 54 holes of the Chongqing Championship in March before a 74 left him tied 14th, his best result in the first eight events.
Peter Campbell strikes his approach shot to the final green.
“It’s just awesome. This came out of nowhere and I was able to put some good swings together. It was a tough day, we had a good group, we all battled out there and luckily I was able to come away with it.”
China’s Zhang, 28, produced his best performance of the season, with a tie for 11th at the Changsha Championship in May his highest finish until his return to Topwin.
On the par-five closing hole, Zhang missed the green with his five-wood second shot and was unable to get close enough with his chip to give himself a strong birdie chance, but was otherwise delighted with his week.
“My swing and putting were great. I was very focused on my game and this is my best result in the past two years,” said Zhang, who just missed out on last year’s Web.com Tour after finishing sixth on the 2016 Order of Merit.
The Tour will resume next month with the Suzhou Open at Jinji Lake Golf Club from August 30-September 2 and the Qinhuangdao Championship at Qinhuangdao Poly Golf Club from September 6-9.
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