Campbell the Glory, Hendry the Gold

Masterton's Ben Campbell

New Zealand amateur representative Ben Campbell held off the challenges from more experienced professionals to win the Carrus Tauranga Open today.

The Masterton 18 year old fired a 66 today to finish on 19-under-par to become the first amateur in more than two years to win a Charles Tour event.Campbell is only the second amateur to win the Tauranga Open, following on from local star Josh Geary who won five years ago, and this performance alone could go a long way to locking him a spot in this year's Eisenhour team. 

He finished five shots ahead of North Harbour professional Michael Hendry, last year's winner who had the compensation of claiming the top prizemoney cheque.

It was an excellent week for the amateurs with fellow international Ryan Fox finishing third on 13-under par after firing a four-under 66 today.

The big mover on the final day was local professional Jared Pender, who fired a seven under 63 on Saturday and 64 today to finish fourth on 12-under after just making the 36-hole cut.

Campbell, who beat Danny Lee to win the national under-23 title two years ago, said this victory was just as sweet. "It means a lot to win this. I came in feeling that my game was not quite there but my short game was great all week," said Campbell, who finished runner-up in the Australian Amateur earlier in the month."I learned in that final that the winner Matt Jager had a short game that was much better than mine. So that is pretty much what I have concentrated on since and it paid dividends this week. The chipping and putting was really good.

"If I missed a green I felt quite confident with my ability to get it up and down and really attack the flag with my chipping. There were some excellent professionals here this week with tour cards and playing with the likes of Mattie Holten and Michael Hendry was great and I learned a lot from them. It's always good to get a win under your belt and to do it against the pros is even better."

Campbell will head to Europe in a month where he will compete in a number of high profile events including the British and Scottish Amateurs.

He started the day with a three shot advantage from Wellington professional Andrew Green who faded out of contention today.

The charge early came from defending champion Hendry who got within three shots after six holes but was unable to kick on as Campbell weathered the storm.

The amateur produced his fourth straight round in red numbers and was able to keep his poise while his challengers were unable to mount a serious threat.

Men's scores, round 4, Tauranga GC, par 70, (a) denotes amateur:
261 Ben Campbell (a, Masterton) 66 65 64 66
265 Michael Hendry (North Harbour) 69 65 66 65
267 Ryan Fox (a, Auckland) 67 67 67 66
268 Jared Pender (Tauranga) 69 72 63 64
269 Andy Gang (Auckland) 67 67 67 68, Mathew Holten (Christchurch) 66 66 71 66,
272 James Hamilton (a, Omanu) 68 69 67 68, Grant Moorhead (New Plymouth) 68 65 68 71
273 Kieran Muir (a, Omokoroa) 70 67 69 67, Nick Meyer (a, Mt Maunganui) 69 71 66 67, Daniel Pearce (a, Hastings) 67 68 67 71
274 Cody Harper (a, Invercargill) 63 68 72 71 Andrew Green (Wellington) 62 63 73 76
275 Peter Fowler (Auckland) 71 66 69 69, Mahal Pearce (Dunedin) 69 70 68 68, Marcus Wheelhouse (Auckland) 70 70 68 67, Troy Ropiha (Taupo) 67 71 67 70, Pieter Zwart (a, Waipukurau) 67 69 69 70, Peter Lee (a, Springfield) 65 72 67 68
276 Tane Robson (a, Cambridge) 68 69 69 70, Ben Taylor (a, Omokoroa) 71 69 68 68, Cameron Jones (a, North Shore) 70 67 71 68, Matt Perry (a, Hamilton) 70 66 68 72, Brad Kendall (a, Mt Maunganui) 71 65 67 73
277 Kevin Budden (a, Waitemata) 67 70 70 70, Mark Purser (Hamilton) 67 72 69 69, Richard Lee (Auckland) 69 59 72 77
278 Ben Wallace (a, Auckland) 67 68 71 72, Sam An (a, Titirangi) 67 71 70 70, Blair Riordan (a, Takaka) 70 69 70 69
279 Glen Millin (Cambridge) 67 72 69 71, Dean Sipson (North Harbour) 69 70 68 72, Sam Davis (a, Otumoetai) 73 66 68 72, Leonard Morgan (a, Tokoroa) 69 67 70 73, Steven Han (North Harbour) 68 70 71 70, Brad Hayward (a, New Plymouth) 74 66 71 68
281 Peter Spearman-Burn (a, Miramar) 68 66 73 74, Nick Gillespie (a, Royal Wellington) 65 63 76 77, Scott Johnson (a, Muriwai) 67 70 69 75
282 Brenden Stuart (Wellington) 64 74 69 75, Ben Gallie (Queenstown) 67 71 72 72, Alex Tait (Northland) 72 67 72 71, Dominic Barson (Auckland) 70 66 73 73, David Klein (Te Anau) 67 70 71 74, Joon-Ho Choi (New Plymouth) 70 68 75 69
283 Josef Edge (a, Hamilton) 74 67 70 72, Blair Murdock (a, Tauranga) 68 69 74 72, Tyler Lock (a, Castlecliff) 70 68 73 72, Shaun Richards (Wellington) 70 68 74 71
 284 Gary-John Hill (a, Titirangi) 69 71 72 72, Ilsuk Jung (Auckland) 69 71 71 73, Aaron Leech (a, Royal Wellington) 72 68 70 74, Jordan Dasler (Nelson) 72 68 69 75, Tom Cardno (a, Waitemata) 69 70 73 72, Leighton James (Hawkes Bay) 66 73 73 72
286 Andrew Stewart (a, Omokoroa) 70 70 74 72
289 Campbell Irvine (a, Mt Maunganui) 70 68 74 77, Tom Brockelsby (a, Royal Wellington) 65 75 72 77
290 Andrew Searle (Cambridge) 70 71 77 72
292 Mark Boe (Australia) 69 71 80 72
294 Jonty Philipson (Masterton) 70 71 75 78
298 Scott Hill (Australia) 65 75 74 84