How The Last Two Weeks In Golf Have Shown It's Not All About Money

Come on, Rafa, big breaths. Let it out. Ok, that’s enough, pull yourself together, man. He just about managed it, did Rafael Campos, the Puerto Rican securing his PGA Tour card in the most dramatic circumstances at the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship, taking the last of the 30 spots available on the money list at the very last moment.

The waterworks that followed were entirely understandable. It was an emotionally charged interview and provided an insight into what this game means to those players who have had to suffer more bad days on the course than good.

After the Ryder Cup last week and the raw emotions on display from both sets of players, it served as another welcome reminder that nothing can beat that feeling of accomplishment, or the sheer joy of winning. 

“It’s been a long year, a lot of work,” Campos just about managed to say after earning another crack on the PGA Tour. The 35-year-old missed a short putt on the last hole and thought his race was run, only to receive a bump back inside the bubble after Shad Tuten received a two-shot penalty.

The tears weren’t because he was out and then back in, although that no doubt put him through the ringer; nor were they for the players who missed out, even if he did admit, “I feel bad for 31st”. Hard work, set-backs, more hard work… that’s why he could barely string a sentence together. You wanted to shake the guy's hand. 

After missing 18 of 25 cuts in his only previous season on the PGA Tour, in 2020-21, it’s one of the feel-good stories of the year, the type you often get at this time when aspiring Tour pros, journeymen golfers and even former Tour stars get their hands dirty at the lower end of the table.

This game will break even the most hardened of players. For twenty years, Tiger Woods made us all believe he was some kind of robot, programmed in such a way not to show any emotion, save for the odd flash of disgust if hitting a less-than-perfect approach shot. Then, in 2019, against all the odds, he won a fifth Green Jacket, which led to some of the most emotional scenes ever seen at Augusta National. 

Last week, in Rome, you had 24 of the world’s best golfers playing for pride. Come the end, there was barely a dry eye in the house. Rory McIlroy wasn’t the only one who struggled to fight back tears. Europe’s winning captain Luke Donald was more teary-eyed than most as he talked about what it meant to lead his team to victory. A fired-up Shane Lowry, meanwhile, looked ready to burst into tears on Saturday. 

The players at the top of the game compete for millions of dollars pretty much every week – this is the way it is, one long league table in order of who’s won the most cash. At times, it can make it hard to get excited on a Sunday afternoon. ‘This putt for a million dollars’… it’s not one of the main reasons why golf fans tune in to watch professional golf.

It’s when we start welling up during a post-round interview, or feel the hairs standing up on the back of our neck when a player walks up the 18th, that’s when we know we're getting the best out of our television subscription. We like blubbering, basically. It’s something that can’t be manufactured and it’s something that, when it happens, rarely has anything to do with money.