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Rafael “Rafa” Campos He is not the same player –or person– from a year ago. His physical transformation shows it.
If you have a tee time during a golf event weekend at 6:30 am, about four hours before that you’re already up for gym work.
You feel motivated, with a new lifestyle. One that has him playing for the first time in seven years, a full season without injuries.
“You adapt. I had to change the routine. The physique that I had, compared to what this type of sport requires… The body fought too much against that,” Campos expressed to El Nuevo Dia. at the YMCA of San Juan, where it was announced that for the third consecutive year it will sponsor the invitational golf tournament, which raises funds to benefit sports programs and services.
Campos, 35, explained that exactly one year ago he formed an extensive working group with the vision of completing four missions from 2023 to 2024, the year in which the Olympic Games of Paris 2024.
“I lost about 50 pounds. Now I’ve gained about 10, but I think it’s more muscle than anything else”, said the number 334 in the world ranking.
“But I train every day in the gym from Monday to Sunday. Everything has changed for me. Physically I feel excellent. Since the transformation was quite quick, it feels different,” she added.
The main goal of the four points established by Campos and his work group was not to get injured, which, with three tournaments remaining in the year, he is on his way to fulfilling it.
“Honestly, I haven’t played a full year for six or seven seasons,” he noted. “He’s cool. I have not managed to complete all the things I set out to do, but the fact of being well and enjoying myself, of achieving things that I couldn’t before, fills me with satisfaction,” Campos added.
The second goal for the golfer is to win a tournament that will raise his positions in the world ranking, in order to get closer to his dream of competing in an Olympics again. Also that allows you to go up to the PGA Tour.
He hasn’t achieved it, but he has come close.
At the end of june, finished in second place of the Compliance Solutions Championship. This place rose 215 places in the ranking.
Weeks before, in May, he finished tied for fourth place in the Visit Knoxville Open. And in April, he finished tied for seventh in the Home Town Lenders Championship.
“I have had good chances, but I have not executed, which is what leads me to the third point: consistency,” Campos added.
“As a result of not being consistent, I haven’t been able to win a tournament. It’s something we continue to work on. I have not managed to excel at key moments, ”he said.
“And the final mission, which is to qualify for Paris 2024. I have three tournaments left this year to continue climbing points in the ranking. I have until April 2024 for the Olympic qualification”, assured the player.
Campos will leave this Sunday for Nashville, Tennessee, to compete in one of his three remaining events of the year.
He will then go to Columbus, Ohio, and finish the season in Evansville, Indiana.
“There we will know if we go up to the PGA Tour without a hitch or if I stay at the level I am at,” said Campos, who resides on the island.
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