Hometown win for Campbell

Chad Campbell, a local favorite who grew up 35 minutes from the The Club at Mission Dorado, posted a three-under 69 on Sunday to win the Buy.com Permian Basin Open by four shots.

Campbell finished at 24-under-par 264 to break Paul Gow's 1997 tournament record by three shots.

This marked the second win of the season for Campbell, who won the Richmond Open in May. He collected the first-prize check of $76,500 to vault into second place on the Buy.com Tour money list.

"It's nice to win any time, but it's especially nice to win in front of all of the hometown people," said Campbell, who needs one more win this season to earn the tour's "battlefield promotion" to the PGA Tour.

"This was totally different than Richmond. There, I didn't know anybody who was following me. Here, I think I knew three-fourths of them. Walking up 18 was really something special. They expect you to do well and I wanted to do well in front of them. That probably put more pressure on me, but maybe I needed it because I hadn't played well since Richmond."

Todd Fischer finished alone in second at 20-under par, followed by Kelly Gibson at minus-19.

Campbell opened with four pars before he picked up only his second bogey of the week at the par-four fifth hole. Eric Booker had drawn within two shots of the lead but Campbell quickly ended that threat.

Campbell dropped his nine-iron approach at six to two feet to set up birdie then ran home a 20-foot eagle putt at the par-five seventh to extend his advantage.

"That putt at No. 7 was huge," Campbell said. "It really gave me a boost in confidence. I felt like I was hitting the ball as well as I had been, I just wasn't getting any putts to drop. Seeing nothing go in gets old. A two-shot lead can go in a single hole. Birdie, bogey and it's gone. It's so much easier playing with a four- or five-shot lead."

Campbell hit greens in regulation after the eagle at seven and had five birdie putts inside 15 feet at this next six holes. Although he missed all of them, Campbell saved par from 15 feet at the 15th hole then notched a birdie at the next hole from the same distance to lock up the tournament.

"I saw that when Chad got to 23-under and I figured it was up to him at that point," said Fischer, who carded a final-round, five-under 67. "I did the best I could. To win a golf tournament you need things to go well for four days."

Tim Petrovic, Tom Carter and Booker tied for fourth at 18-under par.

Jason Hill, Jonathan Byrd, Anthony Painter, Jeff Gove, Phil Tataurangi and John Patterson shared seventh at minus-17.

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