Campbell Keeps a Low U.S. Profile

Four more rounds and 2005 goes into the books for the PGA Tour and there’s no question this week that the most important books are ledgers. The $5.5-million Target World Challenge, the last event of the year, begins today at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, where the winner gets $1.2 million and last place is still worth $155,000.

There are 13 of the top 20 ranked players in the world on hand, a field that includes Michael Campbell, the U.S. Open champion.

Campbell made $1.58 million this year on the PGA Tour, all but about $215,000 at Pinehurst, where his even-par total of 280 and closing round of 69 beat Tiger Woods by two shots.

Campbell played only five tournaments sanctioned by the PGA Tour, all of them also part of the European Tour -- the British Open, the PGA Championship, the NEC Invitational and the American Express. And next year, he’s going to play only 10, limited to that number by the PGA Tour rule book because he didn’t fulfill the required 15-tournament schedule when he played the tour in 2003.

Campbell wanted to play at least 12. He can’t and he’s disappointed.

“They won’t let me. It’s a shame,” he said.

His U.S. Open victory gives him a five-year exemption to play the PGA Tour and Campbell said he probably would join again, possibly in 2007. Because Campbell failed to play 15 events in 2003, he forfeited his exemption for 2004 and unless he joins the PGA Tour full-time, he can play only 10 events through 2008.

In the meantime, he’s hoping that when the alarm clock goes off in his hotel room this morning, he will at least know what it is, which was not the case Wednesday morning. This is Campbell’s fifth straight week of playing, a streak that has included tournaments in Australia, Hawaii, Japan and China.

But he said he isn’t sorry for his schedule.

“It is all part of the price of winning a major,” he said. “I’m not complaining. Bring it on.”

Since Pinehurst, his life has been a whirlwind.

“I can’t remember the last six months,” he said.

But what he can clearly recall is how his improved outlook changed his golf for the better. And it all happened at Pinehurst on the last day with Woods close by.

“I told myself, ‘It’s time to play some golf. You are good enough to win.’ I convinced myself. It’s amazing when you have a positive mind-set, things fall into place so easily.”

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If “Where’s Waldo?” is one of the most popular games, “Where’s Phil?” should be right up there too. As of Tuesday, Phil Mickelson still had not decided whether to play in the winners-only Mercedes Championship that starts the 2006 season at Kapalua in Hawaii.

He and wife Amy and friends are scheduled to begin a weeklong Mexican vacation today.

Mickelson didn’t play the Tour Championship, but he did play the PGA Grand Slam, although he skipped the pro-am. After winning the PGA Championship, Mickelson played five times, only two of them full-field events, but none since he missed the cut at Las Vegas nearly two months ago.

Should Mickelson miss Kapalua, his first 2006 start will be at the Bob Hope.

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Colin Montgomerie, who began the year ranked 83rd, is now ninth, which means he has to change his goals. His goal this year was to reach the top 25 in the rankings.

“Last year’s goal was to get into the top 10,” he said. “Now, next year’s goal is to stay in the top 10.”

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Here’s Woods’ list of his top three accomplishments in golf, “in no particular order,” he said: Holding all four major championships at the same time, making the Tour Championship in 1996 despite playing only seven tournaments and winning the 1997 Masters by 12 shots.