Illinois alum Brian Campbell clinches first PGA TOUR card in eight years

Brian Campbell is headed back to the PGA TOUR. Sometimes the journey makes it all the sweeter.

Campbell, once a highly touted amateur and now a wily veteran, stands No. 10 on the season-long Korn Ferry Tour Points List with five events remaining. He cannot fall outside the top 30 at season’s end, hence he is safely #TOURBound. The California native will be a 2025 PGA TOUR member, marking his second TOUR season and first since 2017.

Campbell, 31, has recorded eight top-25s in 20 Korn Ferry Tour starts this season, highlighted by a pair of runner-up finishes at the Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard in February and The Ascendant presented by Blue in July. He has yet to enter the Korn Ferry Tour winner’s circle, but steady play has carried the day.

This won’t be Campbell’s first foray at the game’s highest level. The University of Illinois alum turned professional in 2015 and didn’t waste much time earning a TOUR card, as he finished No. 15 on the 2016 Korn Ferry Tour season-long standings to earn his card. He failed to retain his TOUR playing privileges after finishing No. 180 on the 2017 FedExCup standings, though, and he has spent the bulk of his time on the Korn Ferry Tour in the interim.

Campbell has been close to regaining his TOUR card at times (he finished No. 30 on the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season standings, when just the top 25 earned TOUR cards), and at times he has fought just to retain exempt status on the Korn Ferry Tour. There have been low points, like the 2020-21 combined season when he finished No. 98 on the season-long standings and lost exempt status for 2022, a season where he made just three starts. He could have thrown in the towel at several junctures, but he kept grinding.

Along the way, Campbell has maintained an upbeat outlook that his resilience and talent would win out. Now he has the result to prove it: a 2025 PGA TOUR card, which he’ll receive in two months' time.

Thirty PGA TOUR cards will be finalized at the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance, contested Oct. 3-6 at French Lick Golf Resort’s Pete Dye Course in southern Indiana.

About Brian Campbell

Age: 31
Hometown: Newport Beach, California
Alma mater: University of Illinois
PGA TOUR starts: 24
Cuts made: 9
Best PGA TOUR finish: T12, 2017 John Deere Classic

Notes: In addition to 24 career TOUR starts (20 of which came in 2017), has made 154 career Korn Ferry Tour starts. He has compiled seven career top-three finishes on the Korn Ferry Tour but has yet to win a TOUR-sanctioned event ... Finished as low amateur at the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay (T27) and then received a congratulatory text from then-Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell, who shares the same name ... Was Big Ten Player of the Year as a college junior in 2013-14, a season where he compiled a season-long scoring average of 71.08, the University of Illinois school record at the time. Followed it up with a 71.1 scoring average as a senior in 2014-15 ... Favorite sports team is the Green Bay Packers.