Campillo-led crew rakes in mid-season honors before start of spring campaign

In junior Alex Martin’s first year at IU, the men’s golf team held a ranking outside the top 50 and didn’t qualify for the Regional Tournament.

A lot has changed.

Last year, the team went to the NCAA Championship for the first time since 1996 and recorded the second-best finish in program history.

After a successful fall season in which the team placed in the top five in each of its five tournaments, the Hoosiers are now ranked as high as seventh by Golfstat, a Web site devoted to collegiate golf.

Martin said with talented players joining the program, he envisioned future success upon joining the Hoosiers.

“I thought with guys like Jorge (Campillo) and Seth (Brandon), Drew (Allenspach) and me and some of the other guys coming in, we had a chance to make the program grow,” Martin said.

IU coach Mike Mayer, who said this is one of the best rankings in program history, said he feels it is well deserved after a very competitive fall season when his team played many of the nation’s elite programs.

“I think it’s reflective of where we stand,” Mayer said. “I think it’s a true indication of where this golf team is right now and obviously we take a lot of pride in that.”

In the only other year Mayer could think of that compared to the current season, the Hoosiers had a player named Jeff Overton, a two-time All-American and PGA Tour member since graduating in 2005.

Currently the Hoosiers have another special player.

Campillo, a senior and native of Caceres, Spain, has captured eight individual tournament titles, and in his first NCAA Tournament last year he finished runner-up, earning All-American honors.

After two tournament victories and a second-place finish at the Isleworth UCF Collegiate Invitational, considered one of the most prestigious tournaments on the collegiate calendar, Campillo earned Mid-Year Player of the Year honors from GolfWorld magazine.

When asked about the honor, Campillo, the No. 2 amateur in the world, said it meant very little to him because he has bigger goals.

“It doesn’t really mean anything,” Campillo said. “It is good that people know and recognize that I am playing good, but it really doesn’t mean anything. I need to keep going and get the Player of the Year at the end of the year, and then it will mean something.”

Mayer said that attitude is what makes his star player so special.

“He is a very competitive young man and a very driven young man,” Mayer said.  “I think there is still a lot for him to accomplish and he realizes that.”

In addition to his individual success, Campillo has helped motivate his teammates, including his current roommate, Martin, who earned Most Improved Recognition in GolfWorld’s Mid-Season College Awards.

Mayer said having one of the top players in the world to play with on a daily basis has helped his team grow.

Martin agrees.

“You get to see day in, day out what it takes to be at the top,” Martin said. “You learn little things here and there and improve to try to catch up with him. I think it’s obviously been a huge help to have Jorge around.”

Mayer added with Martin’s nearly three-stroke drop in average from last year and finishes this fall including a tie for first at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational, the future of the team is in good hands.

“Alex is a great player, and he’s really developed into an outstanding player and he is part of our future,” Mayer said. “We have challenged him to push Jorge this year and he is doing that. We’ve also challenged him to develop and prepare for what he will need to do for us next year and lead this program when Jorge is gone.”