Moses Campaan of Jacksonville has had a great year of junior golf and he was rewarded for his stellar play with an opportunity to compete at the AJGA Junior PLAYERS Championship earlier this month.
Although there were several North Florida Junior Golf Foundation members that played in the event, Campaan was the one who earned his spot based on his performance in the local qualifying series.
He won multiple tournaments in the past year and finished better than 119 golfers in the final local standings.
Campaan had never played in a AJGA competition prior to the Junior PLAYERS.
“It lived up to everything that I expected it to be,” Campaan said. “Everything was very well run, from the range balls to breakfast and the communication with the players.”
According to Campaan, he had played THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in past events, but the level of difficulty in the course preparation took a step up, especially in the quickness of the greens.
“It expressed all the weaknesses in my game, but it helped with my mental side of the game,” Campaan said. “I learned you’ve got to have your game at 100%, but it was fun to play against the best kids in the world.”
After a slow start that saw him tied for 35th in a field of 78 players following the first two days, he was able to get on track and made a push on the final day to finish tied for 24th at 7-over.
“I’m generally a pretty accurate driver of the golf ball,” Campaan said. “When the competition is better, that’s when I usually tend to thrive.”
Although he found it tough to pick a favorite hole on the course, because there was something he loved about each one, he stated he enjoyed playing the 470-yard par four No. 15, the 393-yard par four No. 6 and even the difficult 462-yard par four No. 18.
Golf has been a part of Campaan’s life ever since he can remember, as he was first introduced to the game when he was one year old.
He just played for fun with his family, until entering his first tournament when he was 11 years old.
He is now 19 and one of the best junior golfers in the area.
“They (family) didn’t mean for me to pick it up like I did,” Campaan said. “I just wanted to go out and hit balls with them. It led to a lot of positive memories growing up.”
One of those memories included a tradition of playing with his dad every Monday for the first 10 years of his life, usually at Bent Creek Golf Course in Jacksonville.
Campaan will not be able to play junior golf once he turns 20 years old, but he plans to continue playing at the amateur level.
He has been invited to play in the South Beach International Amateur Tournament at Miami Beach in December.
“I’m comfortable with how my game can travel at the various courses throughout the state,” Campaan said.
