DETROIT – The return to Earth for Cameron Champ has been both swift and staggering.
The long-hitting wunderkind gained plenty of attention last year, bombing drives well beyond his competition en route to a stress-free promotion to the PGA Tour. That trend continued in the fall, when Champ jump-started his rookie campaign with a surprising victory at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
Suddenly, the hype train kicked into high gear. The 24-year-old had gone from the reshuffle category to fully exempt through 2021 in the span of four days, and not long after that his name and likeness began popping up on ads and promotional materials with a regularity that might make Brooks Koepka jealous.
In a sport that’s been looking for the next big thing since Tiger Woods felt his first back twinge, Champ’s pedigree offered a potent combination. He didn’t look like his competition, he didn’t swing like his competition, and he put a trophy on the shelf seemingly before he’d been sized up for a new headshot.
Then reality hit.
It’s rarely smooth sailing out on Tour for the most established veterans, let alone prodigies who are learning new courses every week – not just when there’s an inaugural event like this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic, where Champ has come out of hiding to grab the second-round lead.
Champ capped the fall by contending at the RSM Classic, and he tied for 11th in the limited field at Kapalua, where his eye-popping drives carried even farther. But since then it’s been a lean run of missed cuts and middling finishes, as Champ hasn’t cracked the top 50 since February while quickly plummeting back to also-ran status.
“Just embracing failure,” Champ said. “I just turned 24, so I had a lot coming at me and distractions. I had to just really adjust and prioritize what’s important to me. It was good personally, it was kind of a wake-up call.”
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The adjustment that followed Champ’s Sanderson victory coincided with injury woes. He tweaked his back at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, withdrawing from The Players in his next start. While back issues are scary for any player, they proved especially problematic for Champ and his Tour-leading 129 mph clubhead speed.
But the whirlwind didn’t slow down just because Champ was on the mend, leading to a difficult stretch of three months in which he was still often in the spotlight but failed to make a single cut.
“His expectations had to have gone through the roof, not because he won, but because he won and then he’s on the cover of Golf Digest, and stuff that he very much deserves, but also stuff that just changes the way you’re approaching the game a little bit,” said Peter Malnati. “It doesn’t matter how mentally tough you are, I think it does that.”
Like Champ, Malnati broke through for his first Tour title at the Sanderson back in 2015, and he struggled to adjust in the subsequent months. Having dropped back to the former Web.com Tour Finals last year in order to earn back his card, Malnati reflected on the period that immediately followed his victory as one of outsized expectations.
“All of a sudden you win, you’ve got your starts locked up for three years and the mindset goes to, ‘Well, I should win,’” Malnati said. “’I should compete every week, I should contend every week.’ Then when you don’t, then sometimes frustration can build in.”
It’s an assessment that matches Champ’s recent arc, as the missed cuts and bogey putts began to stack up at an alarming rate. He wasn’t feeling the same heat as some of his rookie brethren looking to hold onto fleeting status, but Champ’s recent grind was nonetheless a struggle as hard work failed to translate into results.
With his physical health again restored, the biggest challenge for Champ has been fixing the space between his ears.
“It’s pretty big, because at times I can definitely be tough on myself. It’s kind of how I’ve always been,” Champ said. “You can think one way and you’re probably going to play that way. You can think another way and you’re probably going to play that way. I really like some of the stuff Brooks (Koepka) is saying, even though people might take it as arrogant or whatnot. But it’s the truth. You just have to try to believe in yourself and whatever you’re doing.”
Belief has transformed into birdies this week in Detroit, where Champ went out in 28 en route to a second-round 65 that gave him a two-shot advantage. Suddenly the towering drives, five of which crossed the 340-yard threshold Friday on sun-baked fairways, are traveling straight and true. The occasional missed green with a wedge in hand hasn’t reared its head, and the putts are starting to fall with frequency.
Still only halfway home, Champ isn’t ready to rest on his newly-found laurels. But he takes comfort in the fact that, at least through two rounds in Detroit, the performance and attention are once again aligned.
“I’ve been working hard, so it’s nice to see the results coming,” Champ said. “Knew if I just kept doing the things I was doing, it would turn around eventually.”