This PGA Tour Winner Deserved His Place at Bay Hill

View From The Fairway by Derek Clements

The Arnold Palmer Invitational is one of the biggest and best events on the PGA Tour schedule. The game’s leading players were all in the field for the PGA Tour's latest signature event.

But a couple of absentees caught my eye. There was no Jordan Spieth and there was no Rickie Fowler in the field.

The reason for that is clear enough. Their recent form simply hasn’t been good enough. 

Both men needed to win the Cognizant Classic in order to earn a last-minute invitation to Bay Hill. Instead, Joe Highsmith showed them how to do it. Having made the cut on the number, he was eight shots back coming into the weekend but played brilliantly in the final two rounds to claim his maiden PGA Tour title.

Much has been said and written about the signature events.They are limited field tournaments. As you would expect, limited places are reserved for sponsor exemptions, and many have wondered why Spieth and Fowler were not invited to play at Bay Hill.

The reality is that both men have already had sponsor invites this season and have failed to make the most of them. They are not playing well enough.

Last season Webb Simpson accepted plenty of sponsor invites and was heavily criticised by many of his fellow professionals for doing so - they argued that his form did not justify those exemptions, and his performances back that up. It meant he was denying places to more deserving causes. Adam Scott was another who was handed invitations. Unlike Simpson, the Australian played well enough to finish the season in the top 50 in the FedEx Cup in 2024.

These are important tournaments, offering massive prize money and huge FedEx Cup and world ranking points. It is simply not enough for any golfer to expect to be allowed to compete based on their past performances. Fowler has been struggling with his game for months and Spieth had a long layoff after wrist surgery. Had he returned to the PGA Tour looking sharp then I don’t think that anybody would have begrudged him his place in the field but that hasn’t happened.

Now take the case of Rafael Campos. 

A 36-year-old journeyman from Puerto Rico, Campos has spent much of his career scratching around to make a living from the game.

Campos played in nine events on the PGA Tour in 2019-20 before a back injury caused him to miss the rest of the season. Due to the adjustments to PGA Tour eligibility as a result of the Covid pandemic, he was able to retain membership in 2020-21 without having to rely on a medical extension.

In February 2021, he recorded his best finish on the PGA Tour at the time, with a tie for third at the Puerto Rico Open. He had held a share of the lead after 54 holes. A few weeks later, Campos was in contention to win again at the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship. He eventually finished tied for second behind Joel Dahmen. 

And in November last year, he finally claimed his first victory on the PGA Tour at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. It secured his playing privileges for two years but it did not get him into the Arnold Palmer Invitational. 

So what did he do? He wrote to the tournament director Drew Donovan, effectively begging for a place in the field. And when he was told that he was in he admitted that he cried tears of joy, even though it meant he missed his home Puerto Rico Open. Campos has written many such letters over the years and has constantly been rebuffed. So this really mattered to him.

He said: "I've probably gotten into two events out of probably 150 requests I've sent."

After sending his letter he received a text message asking him to call Donovan.

Campos said: "It's not often you get these calls. He was extremely kind and all of a sudden said, hey, we want to extend you an invitation basically. I was outside, I start crying because it means a lot to us, to me, to us, the Puerto Ricans, just being able to go and play in a bigger event, bigger opportunity. It really motivates the younger generations back home to realise that if you put in the work, if you dedicate your time and really work hard, you can move to those bigger and better opportunities."

We have seen several times this year that dreams can still come true. Who would ever have predicted the victories achieved by Brian Campbell or Joe Highsmith? 

Sadly, Campos did not bring his A game to Bay Hill and failed to make it to the weekend. But at least he was given the chance to tee it up alongside the biggest names in golf. In my view, he fully deserved his place in the field. Spieth and Fowler may have achieved a great deal in the game in the past but they did not merit a starting place.