The unseen life of the LIV Golf reserve

Golf has always been a waiting game. That rings particularly true for the handful of reserves on the LIV Golf League.

Just ask Ben Campbell, who has spent half of his year globetrotting on standby.

The 33-year-old New Zealander has boarded more red-eye flights than Gary Player this year, mixing his playing commitments on the Asian Tour with LIV’s worldwide schedule.

Greg Norman’s league takes along three reserves for each of its 14 events to cover for injuries and illness. All expenses are covered. From Mexico to Las Vegas, and Hong Kong to rural Staffordshire, Campbell has not missed a single one. Yet he’s played just six competitive rounds of golf.

“You ride the highs and the lows so, mentally, you end up a bit drained because you prepare like you’re going to play, then you don’t,” he tells bunkered.co.uk on a rare off-week back home.

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“You sort of know someone is running an injury, you’re getting prepared to play, and then the next day you go through the same scenario. It’s just how it goes.”

It has been an exhausting experience that Campbell has no desire to repeat, but also wouldn’t change.

“I spent 13 weeks in a row on the road,” he says. “It’s one of those things. I went from Nashville to Valderrama and then down to Morocco (and won). Even though it was a long time away from home, you learn a lot of things about your game which you might not learn if you don’t have that. 

“I wouldn’t want to do it again but you learn a lot about yourself and everyone around you when you do. I’m lucky to have an amazing team around me.”

Campbell goes about his work largely unnoticed at LIV events but, back on the Asian Tour, he’s one of the key protagonists. He’s fourth on the circuit’s International Series behind John Catlin, his fellow LIV reserve, with three events remaining.

The winner gets a guaranteed LIV contract for 2025.

“I treated the LIV events like training weeks,” Campbell says. “If I got in, well that was great. It was tricky but throughout the year I adjusted a few things. I tried to figure out what worked, what didn’t and making sure I was really prepared for the International Series the next week. It was a great learning experience.”

The elephant in the waiting room was that Campbell had to hope for a golfer to get sufficiently injured so that he could step in and play. It made for an intriguing dynamic during tournament week.

“I would get ready the first couple days and treat it exactly how I would a tournament week,” Campbell explains. “I get out there, play nine holes both days and do some practice. Then, near tournament day if it doesn’t look like I’m going to get in, there might be certain things in your game you need to improve. 

“Day two, I literally prepare like I’m going to play. If I don’t get in, once they’ve teed off, again, I do a bit of extra practice. Day three, we have to stick around the whole day until the final putt drops. I prepare as if I’m going to play and, if I don’t, I go in and have a coffee. It ends up being pretty much like a tournament week without playing.” 

Campbell’s LIV highlight reel is limited but the best moment inadvertently came via Jon Rahm’s misfortune in June.

The Spaniard was forced to pull out midway through LIV’s Houston event with a nasty foot infection that also led to his subsequent US Open withdrawal. Campbell came in cold and shot a cool five-under 67 in his final round. It was easily the best score on Rahm’s Legion XIII team.

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“That was a pretty solid round when you don’t have much time to prepare,” he smiles.

Campbell also filled in for an unwell Cam Smith for two rounds in Miami and made his only full start at Greenbrier in August, where he finished 39th after finishing his 54 holes on five-under-par. The other 11 events, however, came and went without a shot being struck.

Campbell still maintains the thousands of extra air miles have been completely worthwhile. A taste of the LIV experience has left him hungry for more.

“Everyone’s working so hard to be out there,” he stresses. “That’s the thing I’ve taken away from it. You look at Phil Mickelson, how hard he is working at that age. It gave me a lot of confidence in the things I was doing with my coach and physio. It cemented what I was doing is correct.

“Motivation-wise, I’d love to play out there next year.”

A place on LIV for this dedicated Kiwi remains a tangible goal, too.

Should Campbell fail to chase down Catlin for the International Series crown, he will battle for the other golden ticket at LIV’s newly-structured Promotions Event. And if he does manage to earn his place, he will be the first golfer from New Zealand to play a full season on the circuit.

Only then, perhaps, would the waiting game finally be over.

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.