The Punter's De-brief: Lucky break sees longshot take the title in Mexico

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Having led by four at halfway and having been matched at as low as 1.684/6 during the third round, after a scruffy finish on Saturday, pre-event 70.069/1 chance, Aldrich Potgieter, led the Mexico Open by just a stroke with 18 holes to play.

Pre-event 600.0599/1 shot, Brian Campbell, who was matched at as high as 950.0949/1 before the off, sat second, with the experienced, Stephan Jaeger, alone in third and three off the lead through 54 holes.

It looked highly likely that those three would fight out the finish but having trailed by six with a round to go, Aaron Rai started round four brilliantly.

The Englishman birdied the first three holes, eagled the sixth, and when he hit his approach to inside nine feet on the eighth, to set up a birdie opportunity to take the lead, he was matched at just 2.186/5 but the putt didn't drop and he lost his way a bit after that, playing the next three holes in one-over.

Jaeger, who was far and away the most experienced of the leading trio, was hugely disappointing, playing his first ten holes in two-over and the leading pair struggled too with so much on the line.

The 20-year-old South African, Potgieter, holed a string of long putts to stay in the race but he was still two-over-par for the day after 11 holes and Campbell wasn't exactly convincing in-the-mix, missing a three-footer at the par five 12^th that would have seen him edge in front again.

With Rai, Potgieter and Campbell tied for the lead with just six to play, it was a tough tournament to call.

Campbell hit the front again with a birdie at the par three 13^th and Rai's challenge faded with bogeys at 16 and 17 and we were eventually left with a playoff when both Campbell and Potgieter birdied the 72^nd hole to edge ahead of Isiah Salinda, who had posted a six-under-par 65 to post 19-under-par.

Potgieter and Campbell both parred the first extra hole and Potgieter hit a low of 1.21/5 at the second playoff hole when it momentarily looked like he had the upper hand.

The South African hit a fine drive to the righthand side of the fairway before Campbell caught this huge break off the tee.

Luckiest break ever?!

Brian Campbell's ball bounces off the trees and stays in bounds on the second playoff hole! pic.twitter.com/KWBMbGtaKE

-- PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 23, 2025

Potgieter was still the most likely winner but after he'd found sand with his second and Campbell had laid up, the initiative swung back the other way.

Campbell stiffed his third shot to within four feet and when Potgieter missed his birdie putt from six feet, the writing was on the wall.

Having a best finish on the PGA Tour of 12^th and having made 158 starts over the last ten years on the Korn Ferry Tour without success, Campbell is the biggest surprise winner on the PGA Tour so far this year, but he deserved the win.

Campbell had been drawn AM-PM, and that side of the draw was disadvantaged to the tune of 1.8 strokes.

Pedestrian Parry caught and passed by Kruyswijk 

In-form Englishman, John Parry, looked a good thing to go on win the Magical Kenyan Open at the halfway stage when he led the flaky Frenchman, Benjamin Hebert, by a stroke and everyone else by at least five.

Trading at odds-against, I thought he was a decent bet but after a brilliant first few days, he lost his way over the weekend.

Hebert was pretty hopeless on Saturday, posting a four-over-par 75, but Parry's disappointing one-over-par 71 opened the door and with a round to go, it was South Africa's Jacques Kruyswijk that led Parry by a stroke and the rest by four.

Having begun the tournament trading at 85.084/1 and having been a 50.049/1 chance at halfway when trailing Parry by seven, Kruyswijk was the 2.26/5 favourite with 18 to play.

I still liked Parry's chances, and I thought he'd put Saturday's poor round behind him.

He started nicely enough, hit the front after back-to-back birdies at four and five and he was matched at a low of 1.635/8 but straight after that he did an on-course interview with Sky and the wheels fell off.

I know the odd player does an on-course interview and it has no effect on their game but there are far too many incidents of players losing their game after talking to Sky midround and I just don't understand why they take the risk when in the heat of battle like that.

To his credit, Kruyswijk was excellent after a slow start saw him par the first five holes and he sealed the deal with this birdie at the par three 16^th.

Three shot lead and look what it means for Kruyswijk #MKO2025 pic.twitter.com/O4goiz0Xg0

-- DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) February 23, 2025

Parry birdied the last to close the gap to two, but it had been a disappointing weekend for the Englishman. He'd been the only man in the field to go bogey-free over the first two days and he'll feel it's an event he really should have won.

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter

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