It is not common for the two most important golfers in a country to have the same person speak in their ears, empower them and convince them that they can be at the top. And that happens with the two most important players in the history of Colombia, Camilo Villegas and Juan Sebastián Muñoz.
(You may be interested in: Camilo Villegas: ‘You just have to keep a path and your mind where it should be’)
The common point of the two is Jose Luis Campraa 43-year-old Argentine, born in Córdoba, who many years ago was a rival of Villegas, who then, more than 20 years later, became Muñoz’s cadi and now, with a job that was projected to last a year but It paid off much earlier, it put Villegas back into the winners’ circle, without even needing to accompany him in person all the time.
Campra lived his own story and, although he did not have the same success as a player, he has made others grow. “I don’t come from a family of golfers, but we had a weekend house in front of the Córdoba Golf Club in Villa Allende and that’s how I got into golf. I had friends from school who played. It was for pleasure, nothing more,” Campra recalled in a conversation with EL TIEMPO.
His early years were promising, especially his youth career. They met Villegas in a South American Youth Championship in February 1998, in Medellín. Argentina took the title. And then, playing together, they won the Doug Sanders International Junior Golf Championship, one of the largest junior tournaments in the world, in Scotland.
Campra did not hear from the Colombian for 14 years. Both went to study in the United States, Villegas jumped to the Nationwide Tour and then to the PGA Tour, while the Argentine went the other way. He trained as a cadi in his country and took charge of several compatriots. But there was one figure who ended up being fundamental to his life: Ángel Cabrera, the Pato, the only South American to win the US Open, in 2007, and then the Masters, in 2009.
“Many times I would come back from school and play nine holes with Pato. What the guy did: during the week he scored 62 in Villa Allende, which was astronomical. “It made him look normal, he wasn’t on a big tour, but he played at that level,” he said.
Campra graduated in Economics and Finance and then became a golf professional, although he could not repeat the successes he had as a junior. And finally, in 2007 he decided to stop playing. Six years later, he carried Cabrera’s bag.
“It was an incredible experience. It served me in every way: it was my first opportunity to work in the United States, where one longs to be. Cabrera was an established player, everyone knew him. He had worked for good players, but not of his caliber. Cabrera, the one who taught me, would tell you absolutely everything I know today regarding golf course management,” he insisted.
It was a year and three months at Pato’s side. When the relationship broke up, he returned to Córdoba, somewhat disappointed. But then he had to do with the growth of Emiliano Grillo and took the opportunity to continue studying as a coach.
“On free weeks I would go see teachers in different places in the United States, I would tell you for ten years. I took online courses, but at the same time I went to see teachers in Hawaii, in England, in Sweden, in… I mean, I didn’t stop, I would go three, four days, even a week, and I would sit down and watch them. teach, and then at night I would invite them to eat and sit down and ask them questions to learn even more. In those years I forged my teaching methodology and what I want from a golf player,” she said.
The Colombian connection
Campra was already a well-known figure on the PGA Tour and worked with several American golfers, until, in September 2021, Juan Sebastián Muñoz contacted him to be his cadi.
“Before that we didn’t cross paths much. But there was always a relationship of respect. And with Mateo (Gómez, Muñoz’s cadi at that time) we did share many lunches, when he asked me a question he was always there. Just as they helped me at the beginning, I always like to be there. And when Mateo went to pursue his career, I think he suggested my name to Sebastián. He didn’t know me personally nor did I know him, we had shared little. Today I am grateful for the opportunity to work with him because we have a very healthy relationship that is based on a lot of respect, on a very open dialogue and which has allowed us to grow in a certain way,” he said.
The beginning was not easy, and even less so when there was a long-standing friendship between Muñoz and Gómez: “The first week we played in Las Vegas, we missed the court by four or five strokes, we didn’t play well at all. And the next day, Saturday, we did a practice session which I think was the breaking point in our relationship. Sebastián, like me, is a person who doesn’t say much, who prefers to listen more than talk. And the first week had a lot of that, like one was more aware of the other, what they might need or how to manage the relationship. But that practice was super productive, we threw all our cards on the table and from there we began to build and get to know each other.”
Muñoz had missed the first three cuts of the season. “We went to the CJ Cup, we came in 40th place on a relatively easy course, where Sebastián scored like 13, 14 under par and came in 40th place. And from there we went to the Zozo Championship in Japan and finished third, then two weeks off and in the RSM we did 60 on the first day, we did 60 shots and we finished third. From then on everything went up,” was Campra’s assessment.
Muñoz’s change in swing has been one of the keys to his growth. Campra, with sincerity, gives credit where credit is due.
“That’s not my job. That’s a very good job that he has done over time with his coach Troy Denton. In fact, when we started working, one of the things I told him was: “Look, I understand the golf swing, I am a golf coach, but I am going to be in dialogue with your coach. He makes the decisions. And I will always be aligned with the places or things where he goes. His swing from 2017 to today has evolved a lot and that has allowed him to be more consistent,” he said.
The reunion with Villegas
While Muñoz was growing up, Villegas was going through very difficult times in his life: the shoulder injury that left him without competing for 21 months and the death of his daughter, Mía, in July 2020. And he was not into sports. The Antioquian crossed paths with Campra again at one of the tables at Muñoz’s wedding party with Daniela Granados, in August of last year.
I never talked about swing with Camilo, I never talked about anything. I always spoke from a point of view of admiration and friend. At that wedding he told me that he was going to play on the Korn Ferry Tour (the PGA promotion circuit). I congratulated him: a player of his magnitude, who won four tournaments, they say they don’t return to Korn Ferry. But then we didn’t talk about it anymore,” he said.
In January of this year, the three Colombians who were on the PGA Tour at that time, Villegas, Muñoz and Nico Echavarría, met at Torrey Pines. None of them made the cut and the first one was left throwing balls on the practice field. That was the turning point for the revival of his career.
Camilo was throwing balls with his brother, Manny, and I approached as if to get closer. He turned around and said ‘Would you be interested in giving me a hand?’
“Camilo was throwing balls with his brother, Manny, and I approached as if to get closer. He turned around and said ‘Would you be interested in giving me a hand?’ But at that moment I didn’t know if he was really telling me that. I knew Camilo’s swing perfectly: even though we didn’t talk, I always like to record players, see what they do well, what they do badly and think if I would ever have the possibility of working for him or for anyone else. , What would I do. Then he told me: ‘No, it’s serious. I’d like to see what you think and how you could help me.’”
“We went to have a drink in the caddis tent and I told him what I would do with him. I began to explain to him how his swing worked and how the golf swing works. And what would he do to change. Simplifying things I told him: ‘Your ball flight is low, it curves a lot from right to left and the ball has very little spin. In other words, with those impact conditions it is very difficult, very difficult to compete. And not to mention if, in addition, the speed is not optimal, you do not have a speed that is above the tour average. Beyond the technical changes, the ball flight has to change completely.’ I explained it to him in the simplest way, but it is not that simple either,” he noted.
It was a risky bet: “In the short term I will probably play even worse golf than I was playing. And I told him that it was very important that he stay in contact with me, even though he didn’t like me. The first two or three months, a lot. Because I needed to make sure he was in contact with me. And in those difficult moments of change he maintains motivation. If not, he was going to abandon the process. That’s how it all started. I needed a plan to make him believe in the plan. If I managed to generate an optimal ball flight that allows him to be competitive again, he will know how to do the rest.”
And it really was complicated, Camilo didn’t make the cuts at the beginning. “He wanted to play a lot. I was not in favor of him playing a lot. He did it anyway. He doesn’t like to do anything technical during tournament week. I tried to use the weekends when I missed cuts or the times he had when he came home. We called each other, he asked him to send me videos. There were many hard moments: he was starting to feel better, he went to the Honda Classic and in the first lap he scored 82: those are very strong blows to self-esteem. And that was my fear, that he would lose that motivation, that Camilo Villegas would stop believing in him. He never did. I would have liked to spend more time in person with him. But as I told him on the first day: I owe myself to Sebastián Muñoz and my time is limited.”
In one of Campra’s visits to Villegas, in July, there was a phrase that ended up marking the relationship and recovery. “Camilo, let’s play the Masters again!” the man from Córdoba told him. “Stop, stop, for that you have to win,” the Antioquian responded. “Well, then we’ll have to win,” was the reply. He hit him in the woods in Los Cabos, in Mexico, where he arrived as the leader on the last day. And then, the moment of glory in the Bermuda Championship, in which Camilo, once again, dressed in glory, last Sunday.
JOSÉ ORLANDO ASCENSIO
Sports Deputy Editor
@Josasc
AND
GERMÁN CALLE
For the time
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