New father Rafael Campos barely made his Thursday tee time, now co-leads at Butterfield Bermuda Championship

Rafael Campos’ wife got induced Monday – and gave birth to a happy, healthy girl – in order for Campos to be able to tee it up at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

That’s love.

And that’s the fine line for guys on the PGA TOUR who are trying to keep their careers alive.

Campos said Saturday his growing family got home from the hospital at 5 p.m. Wednesday. He held his daughter. He had his moment.

And then, 20 minutes later, he was out the door to get to the airport.

“Everything went well and we got our flights in and we were able to get here Thursday morning and make our tee time,” Campos said. “Obviously it’s a bonus that I’m doing well this week.”

Campos, who came into the week No. 147 in the FedExCup Fall standings, is certainly doing well through 54 holes at Port Royal Golf Course. He’s tied for the lead alongside Andrew Novak at 16-under after both Novak and Campos fired 9-under 62s in the third round.

Justin Lower is third at 15-under and just one back, after he bogeyed his final hole of the day.

“It was a great day, to tell the truth. It was really fun to battle out there like the course, the elements and really happy it turned out the way it did,” Campos said.

With the winds ripping across Port Royal 30 miles per hour and above, Campos – who is from Puerto Rico – was comfortable enough with the setting.

“All I thought about was like, ‘Hey, you've played in the wind.’ It was very windy today, especially at the end, but it does give me confidence. The harder it gets, the better it is for me, I believe,” Campos said. “I was looking forward to a big test today. I was really happy that I was able to perform the way I did and kind of bad shots, kind of let them go away and just focus on the following shots.”

Campos isn’t completely unfamiliar with winning in the wind either, having captured The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic in 2019 on the Korn Ferry Tour in similar windswept Caribbean conditions.

The 36-year-old’s precarious position in the FedExCup Fall standings, however, is of his own making. He’s had just one top-10 result this season, at THE CJ CUP Bryon Nelson – but followed that up with eight straight missed cuts. He finished tied for 13th at the Procore Championship but has missed his last four cuts this autumn.

Saturday’s 62 was Campos’ lowest round of the season – and it came at a spectacular time. He rattled off five birdies in a row at the midpoint of his round, including chipping in on No. 6 and No. 9. He was third in Scrambling on the day, which is a vast improvement from where he’s at in the same statistic for the season – all the way down to 146th on TOUR.

“I think that started giving me a lot more confidence in just understanding and knowing that let's just try to give ourselves some looks, don't do anything kind of stupid, give yourself chances and I started seeing a lot of them fall in,” Campos said of his Saturday short-game prowess. “Overall, it was a great day. I think everything kind of flowed and ended up making some good putts and chips that were very beneficial.”

Campos will need to lean, again, on parts of his game that haven’t been his best over just 18 more holes if he wants to win for the first time on the PGA TOUR. He wants that trophy. He wants, more than anything, a full-time job for 2025. But regardless, he’s got something bigger than that waiting for him at home.

“The only thing that's keeping me balanced right now is my family. I'm in a really tough spot right now on the FedExCup – I did not want to be in this position. I want a job for next year, I really do, but I've put a lot of pressure and stress and just everything the last six months,” Campos said. “At the end of the day if I end up losing my job, I lost my job, and I've got a beautiful daughter and beautiful wife back home just waiting for me to hopefully give them a hug.

“Hopefully I have a good day tomorrow and we'll see how we end up at the end of the day.”