ISPS HANDA SENIOR OPEN

July 22, 2026

Michael Campbell

The Gleneagles Hotel, Kings Course

Quick Quotes

Q. Welcome back to Gleneagles. You played in the Pro-Am yesterday. What do you make of the Kings Course and how excited for the test this week?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I was lucky enough to play here four years ago. I love the course. The weather wasn't too kind but the weather is okay for Scotland you could say. The golf course is fantastic, one of my favourites here. A few tough you have holes but all in all it's a great little test, and I think everyone is going to enjoy it.

Q. We witnessed one of the great finishes of The Open on Sunday. Can you sum up your thoughts?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Yeah, it was so exciting. I was so proud of him. The whole country would be proud of him, what he achieved three days ago. Winning The Open, to have a putt to win The Open and birdie the last hole and the way he played the last four how wills, phenomenal, four birdies, are you kidding me, in a major? Those three shots on 18 were incredible.

He manned up and just said I'm going for it. He's such a gutsy, gritty little player. He's aggressive, determined, and great ball-striker. I first played with Foxy about 15 years ago and he was a little bit rough around the edges, but he's obviously now smoothed out all those kind of niggling bad shots and stuff like that. It's great to see the country is proud of him.

I think it's one of the best golfing achievements ever, besides my win and obviously Bob Charles and Lydia Ko winning three majors. I think under the circumstances, he's definitely just phenomenal to see him play well. Just amazing.

Q. Is that relentless determination to win, is that part of the Kiwi mentality?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: You saw it, you know, he had a sniff and he took it. That's one thing I like about Foxy. You see him, how many he's won and in America, and the PGA Championship in Wentworth, got in the lead. He took it by the throat and decided to play well and he did.

The way he played the 15th hole was very, very smart. Goes to show that he was in the moment. Goes to show that he's very focused on what he's doing, and the result was obviously winning The Open.

Q. I believe you sent him some words of advice before the final round on Sunday. Is that true?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Yeah, I did. I texted him. I said look, all the preparation is done, the hard work is done. Trust your process. Play with freedom, enjoy and flow. I can't remember what I said to him, but yeah, he replied, and yeah, it was great.

Look, I've been around him a few times, and he's always been asking me questions because I've taken on that role, really, as help for him because I said before, I played with him 15 years ago. He was just a little bit rough. But now it's all smoothed out. He's got a great team around him. His coach I've known for a very long time. It's a swing that you can't replicate but works for him. That's the main thing, swing your swing. A lot of golfers can get away from that. You can't copy what Scottie Scheffler does or Rory McIlroy or Xander Schauffele, professionals. Most of the guys are sitting on a desk and watching in front of the computer and play golf on the weekend and practice once a week.

I think my advice to all these youngsters watching this video is swing your swing and do your thing. You can't copy or replicate these athletes. If you think about it, they are on range 12 hours a day. They have got trainers. They train twice a day. They stretch twice a day, physio.

And of course they can swing the way they swing because they can physically create a lot of problems, damages them, thinking they can swing the way Rory McIlroy or Adam Scott swings, and you can't.

Q. Have you spoken to him since the win?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I've tried to get through a few texts but he's busy right now. It's going to change his world, life-changing. When I do talk to him, important thing is give him some advice about managing your time because time now is going to go so fast for him. The pressure, the expectation is going to be higher.

He has to go out there and just forget that and play golf and let his team deal with all of the off-the-golf-course noise. There's going to be a lot of noise around him for the next six months or so, and you've just got to keep on going and play and enjoy the moment.

Q. How proud of Foxy to join yourself and Bob Charles and Lydia Ko as major champions?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Yeah, the first win was in 1963 with Bob Charles, as you mentioned, a long time ago, and then my victory in '05. It was 40-something years between majors and Foxy obviously last week, so that's another 20 years. Then Lydia Ko has won three majors, and a Gold Medal and Silver Medal and a Bronze Medal. Super proud.

But I think about it, we've only got 5 million people in the country. We do punch way above our weight, if you think about it, the way we've performed in all sports, beat the English in cricket, beat the Irish in rugby, won three World Cups in rugby, yachting, America's Cup. I'm just dumbfounded on how we can produce so many world champions and Gold Medalists with such a small population.

Q. How bright is the future for Kiwi golf, and what could Foxy's win do for the sport?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: I think Foxy's win is going to be inspirational for the young kids that will hopefully be out in the backyard hitting a golf club now.

After my win I noticed a big change, a big shift, you could say, of more young kids playing the game. No disrespect to the other sports. Rugby, rugby league, netball, cricket, whatever, but now it's opened like a new door for kids to see that it is possible if Grant Fox can do it, if I can do, it Lydia Ko can do it, so can they. It's all about just dreaming and believing you can do it.

So hopefully this will kickstart again the interest in golf and have more champion golfers out there.

Q. How good would it be to have more Kiwi success this week?

MICHAEL CAMPBELL: Yeah, Stevie and I watched it at a friend's barbeque on Sunday night. Nice to share that moment with him. This week, once again, always enjoy playing major tournaments and especially senior majors now because these are my mates. We are still competitive. There's no question about that.

We still love competing and beating each other. I've known these guys for 30 years. I know their wives and girlfriends and kids and grand kids now. We've got grand kids. It's a wonderful atmosphere, friendly atmosphere but definitely a bit of competitiveness out there, which there's always going to be with these golfers. We love to compete and win.