Cameron Champ a star in the making on the PGA Tour

By David Salituro | Oct 29, 2018

JACKSON, MS - OCTOBER 28: Cameron Champ plays his shot from the third tee during the final round of the Sanderson Farms Championship at The Country Club of Jackson on October 28, 2018 in Jackson, Mississippi. (Photo by Matt Sullivan/Getty Images) /

Powerful Cameron Champ is known for his long drives, but Sunday at the Sanderson Farms Championship he displayed the all-around game that will make him a contender on the PGA Tour for years to come.

The modern PGA Tour is filled with powerful, athletic golfers who make even the longest courses seem small. One player in particular, however, outdoes them all. His name is Cameron Champ, and he’s the newest winner on tour after taking the Sanderson Farms Championship by four shots on Sunday.

Standing just under six feet tall and 180 pounds, Champ’s stature bellies the incredible power in his golf game. This week in Jackson, Mississippi he led the field with an average drive of 334 yards.

His prodigious driving ability first caught the attention of the golf world at Erin Hills in the 2017 U.S. Open. Still a student at Texas A&M, Champ was inside the top 10 after 36 holes before finishing in 32nd place, leading the best players in the world with a 337-yard average.

The 23-year-old Sacramento native wasn’t sure he would turn professional until that breakout performance. But it showed the talent was there to compete, so after graduating from Texas A&M, he started on the Web.com Tour last season. He won the Utah Championship in July and was sixth on the money list, securing his PGA Tour card for this season. Of course, he led the tour in driving distance at 343 yards; to put that into perspective, Rory McIlroy was the leading driver on the PGA Tour last year at 319 yards.

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Now, in his just his second start of his rookie season, Champ is (ahem) a champ on the PGA Tour. It wasn’t just his driver that put him in the winner’s circle in Jackson, however. Champ displayed an all-round game that revealed a player ready to take the next step in his career. Last year Champ not only led the Web.com Tour in driving, he was fourth in greens in regulation.

The road to his first victory would be bumpy, starting even before he teed off on Sunday. He broke his driver on the practice range and had to quickly switch to a backup. Despite struggling with the driver, Champ one-putted his last six holes, including five birdies, to finish four shots ahead of runner-up Corey Conners at 21-under.

On the finishing hole, Champ even displayed a touch of bravery. In the left rough off the tee, a tree blocking his approach to the green, he could have played safe and pitched back out to the fairway. Instead Champ went for a risky punch shot from 160 yards out and knocked it to seven feet.

While Champ is known for his driving prowess, he’s most proud of how his game has grown on the greens. Along with coach Sean Foley, who first saw him when he was 15, he’s put in work to ensure he could convert the many birdie opportunities his driver presents to him.

“That’s definitely been a part of my game I’ve worked on extremely hard,” he said on Sunday. “I’ve kind of been a streaky putter at times, so I’m just trying to slowly grow.”

“Just to see those putts go in, and just the confidence it gives me throughout the rest of my game, really helped this week.”

Champ’s rise to being a PGA Tour winner wouldn’t have been possible without the support of his grandfather. Mack Champ, who was often turned away from golf courses for being black, introduced his grandson to the game at the age of two. In January, Tiger Woods gave Champ, who’s bi-racial, the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption into the Genesis Open.

His father, Jeff, was also an accomplished athlete, playing minor league baseball in the Baltimore Orioles organization in the 1980s. Jeff was there watching his son on Sunday; their first phone call after the round was to Mack, who was following along at home.

A year ago Champ was still in college in Texas. He recognizes just how far he’s come in the past 12 months, from star amateur to PGA champion.

“It’s pretty unreal,” he said.

This win is surely going to be the first of many more to come for the powerful young man who leaves even the world’s best far behind him.