Golf & Tourism Magazine July - September 2014 | Page 26

Cover Story “It was a good experience, and I tell all the kids now that if you don’t go to college you don’t learn a very important thing: losing,” he says. “In this sport you lose 98 percent of the time, and you have to learn how to do it.” The structured, rigorous nature of NCAA golf also provided lessons on the more practical aspects of being a golfer; the little things away from the course that can end up being the difference between birdie and bogey on the fairways and greens. “I learned a little bit more about how you have to prepare; I learned a lot about how to travel,” says Campos. “In college, we might be traveling for three weeks, so you learn to pack, to take care of yourself.” Those lessons would come in handy soon enough. He felt ready to become a professional golfer before finishing school, but he was determined to get his diploma. “That’s something that my family and I were very clear on: I was going to graduate and at least have my Bachelor’s degree,” says Campos, who majored in Business. As soon as he achieved that goal, he began the next chapter in his career by turning pro. A Consistent Contender Campos spent the next year and a half playing primarily in the now defunct Tour de las Américas, where he had multiple top-10 finishes and, in 2012, finished third on the money list. That earned him full membership status on the newly formed Latin American circuit under the PGA TOUR umbrell K