'It's going to be a big year' Cambo predicts

EXCLUSIVE: IT'S the last thing you expect to hear from arguably New Zealand's most frustrating and beleagured sportsman – but Michael Campbell is convinced he has another Major left in him.

And while critics offer Ian Baker-Finch, the Australian whose career fell apart after his one and only Major and now earns a living as a TV commentator, as a more realistic career path, Campbell himself puts up one of the game's greats as the reason he refuses to give up.

"I saw Tom Watson a couple of weeks ago and what he did at Turnberry last year was very inspiring," said New Zealand's highest profile golfer of the past decade.

What Watson did, of course, was come within a hair's breath of winning the British Open – aged 59.

For Campbell, it was an endorsement of his belief that if he keeps plugging away, the tide will turn.

"I've just got to chip away and just keep on working hard," said Campbell in his first significant interview since England's Daily Mail newspaper last month said he planned to retire.

"I've definitely been working the hardest I have since 2005 (the year of his US Open triumph).

"I want to win another Major and for me it's always been the British Open, I've tended to do well there.

"Every time I go back I seem to find an extra gear."

And despite a disappointing start to this year, where he has missed the cut in all three tournaments he has started, Campbell feels the planets are about to align in his favour.

"My golf goes in five-year cycles," he said. "Go back to all my great years: 1995 was a great year for me when I finished third in the British Open and fifth on the European Tour order of merit; 2000 I won four times, finished top five in Europe again; and in 2005 I won my first Major.

"So 2010, if my maths are right, it's going to be a big year."

Of course, the critics say Cambo will have to do a lot better than relying on years ending with a five or a zero if he is to scale the giddy heights of the past. It is why healthy scepticism from sections of the international golf media dog Campbell as much as any fairway woes.

"The reports about me quitting were completely out of contex. One thing I'm not is a quitter, I'll never quit this game.

"The question the reporter put to me was, `Do you ever feel like retiring from the game?'

"And I said, `No, I love the game so much. It may flash across my mind for a split second after shooting 83, 77 or whatever it was at the time. When you're out there playing, of course that's going to flash through your mind. But that lasts a millisecond.

"When I read the article I just laughed, it was taken completely out of context."

It's easy to understand why Campbell would use laughter as an antidote to criticism.

"I don't take much notice of critics," he said. "I think it's a reflection of their own lives, maybe they don't understand golf, maybe they don't understand sport.

"Form changes, look at the All Blacks, they've won one World Cup in the last 20 years, work that out. "

Not that Campbell hides from his own mistakes. He candidly and regularly admits he took his foot off the gas to enjoy the trappings of success after he became only the second Kiwi to win a Major.

But, he says, the real reason behind his five-year struggle was the decision to rebuild his golf swing.

"I did relax a bit off the golf course. Winning my first Major was like climbing Mt Everest. You think, `what's after that?' There's no higher mountain to climb," Campbell said.

"The biggest mistake I made was I wanted to change too much in my swing. I just thought if I change this and change that I'd get better but I went backwards.

"I wanted to hit the ball further and it was detrimental to my swing.

"Basically, I've always faded the ball from left-to-right. I wanted to draw the ball right-to-left which means you get more distance. I'm going back to what worked before and hopefully it will fall into place.

"Winning the US Open has a 10-year exemption on the European Tour so I'm lucky enough to be exempt for another five years.

"I'm not panicking. When you start pushing the panic button, that's when it's time to give up.

Keeping positive is a key for Campbell.

"You have to be positive and I get great support from fans, golfers, other sportspeople, rock stars, actors, all wonderful mates of mine.

"If I did retire tomorrow I can look back on a great career. I've won 15 times around the world, gone to Buckingham Palace for my CBE, won New Zealand sportsperson of the year – I've done a lot in a short period and I can be very, very proud.

"But I feel there's more gas left in the tank.

"All it takes is one good week, one good day, one good round and I'll be away."

- © Fairfax NZ News