KAPALUA, Hawaii — The cream-colored envelope arrived at Rafael Campos’ home in Puerto Rico on Dec. 23, and there was no doubt about its origin — Augusta National — or what was inside. That’s why he waited a few days to open it and find his invitation to the Masters.
“I wanted it to be my Christmas present,” Campos said. “And it was surreal. I’m just trying to understand, “This is actually happening, isn’t it?” » And it was so cool.
Six weeks after Campos, 36, had one of those feel-good moments in golf by winning the Bermuda championship, he still struggles to understand what happened.
He feared he would have to miss the Bermuda championship because his wife was due to have their first child. He took their daughter home and arrived in Bermuda about two hours before his departure time. And then he won.
No wonder he can’t stop smiling.
“At least one night a week for the last month and a half, my wife has made a statement like, ‘This really happened,'” Campos said.
But for how much longer?
The PGA Tour has a long history of such moments, and they could happen much less often under the new 2026 structure. Only the top 100 players — down from 125 previously — keep their full cards. The size of the fields decreases. Monday qualifying spots are reduced. It’s even more cut-throat.
Campos remembers the first time he heard about this new system.
“In the back of my mind, I was like, ‘Man, it’s going to be even harder for us now,’” he said. “I’m not a fan of it. I understand why they do that, like reducing the time so everyone can finish, and supposedly it’s for the sponsors. Here again, you are cutting jobs from us. And it’s not easy. There are so many thousands and thousands of incredible golfers who deserve to be there. »
That out-of-nowhere victory — the first by a Puerto Rican since the beloved Chi Chi Rodriguez, who died three months earlier — is what brought Campos to Maui for the start of a PGA Tour season that he said , would not include it.
It gave him job security for two years, something he never had, and a chance to plan a schedule instead of hoping tournaments would make room for him. And yes, he is going to the Masters.
None of this seemed possible for much of the year.
Campos learned his wife, Stephanie, was pregnant in the spring and all he could think about was making sure he could provide for them. And then he started missing cuts, three in a row, then nine in a row. He was short of time, just like his wife.
His scheduled date was the Sunday of the Bermuda Championship, the penultimate tournament of the season. Campos was No. 147 in the FedExCup, and even if he remained in the top 150, the chances of playing were going to be severely limited in 2025.
He couldn’t afford to miss Bermuda.
“I always had a backup plan,” said Campos, who turned pro after playing at Virginia Commonwealth and had only one previous season in the big leagues. “It was the first time – honestly, things were extremely bad – that I didn’t have a fallback plan. It was hard for me to know that, “Man, I worked so hard for 15 years that I could lose everything and start again from square one.” »
His wife suggested inducing labor. Campos was not willing to leave Puerto Rico until he could bring his wife and child home. Their daughter, Paola, was born Monday evening and he was able to bring them home Wednesday, less than 24 hours before his departure time.
“I remember saying to my wife, ‘Can I spend 20 minutes with the baby, alone in the room?’ It was so cool to hold her,” he said.
Gone was the stress of trying to make cuts over the last six months, replaced with peace and joy. And then he flew to Boston, arriving after midnight and sleeping at the airport until his connection to Bermuda in the morning. He arrived in Port Royal a little less than two hours after his departure time.
That’s normally enough time to prepare for departure, except Campos couldn’t stop talking about the birth of her baby girl. What followed over the next four days is unclear.
With his breakthrough in Bermuda, Rafa Campos is now part of the PGA Tour winners’ club
Campos has struggled with his ball striking and getting going this year, but the 36-year-old Puerto Rican won Bermuda’s Butterfield Championship on Sunday for his first Tour title.
He made the cut, then shot 62 in the third round to tie for the lead. And on Sunday, he kept his cool and came out on top with a 68 to win by three. A Golf Channel reporter approached him on the 18th green and Campos was sobbing.
“I just can’t believe this is happening to me,” he said.
The $1,242,000 was more than he had earned in his previous 53 starts on the PGA Tour. But it wasn’t just about money. It was about being a tour winner, a lifelong dream. He didn’t even realize he would be going to Kapalua, let alone the Masters.
He thought back to when he was 9 years old and his father was invited to play golf for the first time, thinking it would take an hour or two. He dropped his children off at the driving range. Six hours later, Campos was still hitting the little white golf ball. He was addicted.
And then, in his 14th year as a professional, the week he became a father and feared losing his job, he won the Bermuda championship.
How did this happen?
“It’s funny how everyone says, ‘It only takes a week.’ And you still believe it and all that, but you don’t realize it. It’s true in this sport. One week can truly change your life and that of your family.
