It’s a good thing Rafael Campos’ flight wasn’t delayed.
He didn’t get to Port Royal Golf Course until 11:30 a.m. local time Thursday, about an hour an a half before his tee time at the PGA Tour’s 2024 Butterfield Bermuda Championship. He was at home with his wife, Stephanie, who gave birth to the couple’s first child on Monday.
Campos stayed at home as long as he could, then took an early flight Thursday and got to the course. Now, he’s a PGA Tour winner.
Campos earned his first PGA Tour victory Sunday, winning the Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course during a breezy final round. He started the week at 147th in the FedEx Cup standings but will move to 80th after the win, on top of numerous other accolades that come with winning a PGA Tour event.
Butterfield: Leaderboard | Photos
A $1,242,000 winner’s check. A 2025 Masters invitation. Job security for 2025 and beyond. All thanks to a brilliant performance in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean over 72 holes.
“I just can’t believe this is actually happening to me after such a year,” Campos said while struggling to talk through tears in his post-round TV interview. “I’m just grateful to be able to call myself a PGA Tour champion. It’s something I’ve dreamt about all my life.
“It’s been an unbelievable week, best week of my life.”
It’s somewhat of a surprising win, as Campos had missed 13 cuts in his past 15 starts, including all five of the events he had played previously in the FedEx Cup Fall.
It’s also a lesson in patience that he learned in the past and was reminded of his week.
During the round, Campos said his mind wandered back to a time about 12 years ago when he would write down his goals and aspirations. He recently found one of those notes, and he had achieved everything on the list.
“I’ve been praying every day the last year, you know, hoping to get a good week, hoping to just give myself some security and today or this week, I just knew he was with me, I knew my family was with me,” Campos said.
Campos shot 3-under 68 in the final round, including an eagle on the par-5 seventh that gave him the lead for good. He topped Andrew Novak by three shots for his maiden victory, with Campos finishing at 19-under 265.
Campos is the 14th first-time winner on the PGA Tour this season and the third during the FedEx Cup Fall. He’s also the second Puerto Rican to win on Tour, joining Chi Chi Rodriguez.
“I’m just extremely happy to be a champion and not have to worry about where I’m going to be playing the next couple of years,” Campos said. “That was something that was bothering me for the last like six months and ironic how everything just flipped and fortunately I can just go out and enjoy and play golf.”
There’s a world where Campos wasn’t even in the Bermuda, regardless of the birth of his first child.
Last year, he finished 30th in the Korn Ferry Tour points standings to earn his PGA Tour card, and that came only after a penalty dropped Shad Tuten from the 30th spot, allowing Campos to slide up and earn the final PGA Tour card available.
Fast forward 13 months, Campos was on the outside looking in of the FedEx Cup top 125, needing to do something special to keep his PGA Tour card for the 2025 season in one of the season’s last events.
He’s now 80th in the standings and has a job through the 2026 season.
“For me, honestly, like I said before, the most important thing for me was job security,” he said. “That’s something we struggle here on the PGA Tour with because it’s so hard to get up here and it’s so easy to lose everything.”
As has been the case with numerous PGA Tour stars in recent months, Campos joins the latest group of recent dads finding the winner’s circle.
This week in Bermuda, his perspective was off the charts.
“It’s funny, my game got really bad as soon as I found out I was going to be a father, like extremely bad,” Campos said. “Thinking I remember that’s something I spoke to my psychologist about and we were trying to figure out why everything has gone so bad the last like six months.
“I remember she asked me like, ‘hey, when did it start?’ I’m like, ‘ironically it started as soon as my wife told me we’re pregnant after the Puerto Rico Open.’ She said, ‘what do you think changed?’ I said I just know that — I remember since that day, I’m like now I really want to play well, I want to make money so I can save so I can give her the life — my mind just completely shifted. I just started focusing on like, man, I want to do as well as I can just to provide for her, which is a great way to think about it, but it completely took me off target. I missed, what, 14 out of the last 15 cuts or something like that.
“Stories like that do come true apparently. I just can’t believe I’m here sitting with you guys and being able to say I’m a PGA Tour champion.”
