Rafael Campos and the art of the letter that netted an Arnold Palmer Invitational exemption

USA Today

06-03-2025

Rafael Campos and the art of the letter that netted an Arnold Palmer Invitational exemption
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Rafael Campos earned a sponsor exemption into the Arnold Palmer Invitational after writing a heartfelt letter to the tournament organizers.
Campos, a PGA Tour winner, highlighted his desire to inspire young golfers in Puerto Rico and the Latin community.
Sam Saunders, Arnold Palmer's son, praised Campos' letter and said he "embodies the spirit of Arnold Palmer quite well."
ORLANDO, Fla. — The pen is mightier than the sword – and the putter, too, apparently.
Rafael Campos was chosen for one of four sponsor exemptions into this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational along with Justin Rose, Mackenzie Hughes and Min Woo Lee and over box-office favorites Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth. Sponsor invites are at the prerogative of the tournament and anyone who has an issue with the choices can pony up in the neighborhood of $25 million to sponsor an event. But at No. 186 in the world and having missed five of his last six cuts, Campos' selection was not so much for what he's done on the golf course – though he did win the PGA Tour's Butterfield Bermuda Championship in November to join Chi Chi Rodriguez as the only Puerto Ricans to win at golf's highest level – but for what he represents for golf on a Caribbean island and an entire cultural region.
In December, Campos typed up a note on his phone to Palmer's daughter, Amy, and son, Sam Saunders, and tournament director Drew Donovan. When the 36-year-old journeyman pro finished he had goosebumps that he was writing to a family of an icon he long admired. After handwriting those words on to three pages of paper, he had another feeling. 'My (right) hand was in such pain. I didn't realize I'd written so much,' he said.
But his words just came tumbling out.
'It has been a lifelong goal of mine to be able to inspire the younger generations of golfers in our island. Having won recently really motivated me to keep working harder for them as I finally was able to give the Puerto Rican and Latin community real evidence that through hard work and perseverance, anything is achievable. Even when I thought I couldn't take it anymore and the endless phone calls to my wife crying, the simple fact that there were hundreds and maybe thousands of kids in our region looking up to me and cheering me on was good enough to help me keep fighting and crawling through this endless struggle to achieve a win.'
Campos claims to have written upwards of 70 letters seeking sponsor invites but his prayers were answered only once before by a Tour event, the 2021 Valero Texas Open. But Campos has been moved by the written word before. He's a religious man or, as he put it, 'I'm a big believer.' One of the moments that shaped the man he is happened several years ago before he made his PGA Tour debut in 2019.
Growing up, he'd visit family members in West Virginia. On one such visit when he was 13, his aunt gave him paper and pencil and told him to write a letter listing everything he was thankful for and his wishes for his future. More than a decade later, when he earned his Tour card for the first time, he played in the Greenbrier Classic, about 40 minutes from his Aunt's home. Campos rented a house and invited his West Virginia relatives to stay with him. Before dinner that first night, his aunt asked him to join her on the porch. She handed him an envelope. It was the letter he'd written to himself at age 13 when he wished for his cousin Hector to come back from the Gulf War and to make golf his profession. Perhaps his biggest wish of all had been to play on the PGA Tour. He began crying as he realized that everything he asked for and worked for had come true.
'I should start writing letters more often because good things keep happening when I do,' he said with a smile when he finished recounting this story on Tuesday.
'I know I might not be a household name, a name many people know, but that is not something that will stop me from doing my best to promote the game of golf to the younger generations. I truly love how Mr. Palmer inspired us since we were little (either through his unbelievable talent in golf or through his loving character on and off it as well) and plan to emulate and use that character as motivation for me to show the younger generation that anything is achievable and possible if you really desire it and work hard.'
The dream to play on the Tour came true for Campos but not exactly as he imagined. He envisioned competing with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy, but as the Tour has become segmented into the Haves and Have Mores, Campos has been left on the outside looking in of signature events. He has had to play whenever he can get into an event and last year as a Korn Ferry Tour graduate he made just one start in the months of January and February. 'It really separates the rank and file by a lot,' Campos said of the difference in points, money and the luxury of competing in no-cut events. 'I have the same card and if I get to see the top guys once a year that's a lot. You have class A, class B, class C. I thought we're all supposed to be on one Tour.'
Campos nearly didn't even go to Bermuda. That Monday, Campos' wife Stephanie gave birth to the couple's first child, daughter Paola. She all but had to kick him out of the house. He arrived at the course 90 minutes before his first-round tee time. He had missed 13 of his last 14 cuts and was in danger of losing his card before shooting a third-round 62 en route to his first Tour title. Life-changing stuff, and just in the nick of time.
While the Arnold Palmer Invitational grabs headlines with its star-studded field and $20-million purse, Campos is being missed back home where the Puerto Rico Open, a $4-million opposite event is being contested without its main attraction. [He did send a personalized video for tournament organizers to share on the video scoreboard.]
'The week of The Arnold Palmer Invitational is very important to me. That same week for the past 15 years we have had a co-sanctioned event on the PGA Tour, the PR Open, one which I have been fortunate to play each year. An event held in the island I live in and an event that has helped me become the man I am today. It has allowed me to show the Puerto Ricans that even though we are a small island, we can produce talented golfers and compete with the best in the world. It has also allowed the younger kids to see myself play and visualize themselves being in the same shoes as me in that prestigious event in the near future.'
Sam Saunders read the passionate letter from Campos and dubbed him 'someone who embodies the spirit of Arnold Palmer quite well.'
'I don't know that anybody's written a more thoughtful letter and put more effort into requesting an exemption than Rafa Campos did,' Saunders said. 'He's genuine, he's kind. He's a steward of the game and that's something that mattered a lot to my grandfather.'
When Campos received the good news via phone, he broke into tears.
'My wife sees that I have tears, and she's like, 'Are you OK?' And I tell her, 'Yeah, honey, I just have to tell you that I'm sorry, but we're not going to go play the Puerto Rico Open,'' Campos said. 'She said, 'What, are you injured or something?' I'm like, 'No, we're going to Orlando.' '
The family arrived on Wednesday to the nine-bedroom McMansion he rented to house 12 family members, including Campos' father, who has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy. But he wouldn't think of missing the chance to see his son play against an elite 72-man field.
Another of Campos' biggest supporters has been Sidney Wolf, the president of the Puerto Rico Golf Association. For years, Wolf has been attending golf's majors and other top events and he'd sit and have breakfast or lunch with the fellow leaders of golf federation's around the world. One by one, they'd bid him adieu as they went off to watch their player at his tee time. Wolf had no player to follow. 'I always was left sitting by myself,' he said.
But he always believed that Campos had the tools to be a champion — and any time Campos needed a new putter he had that, too. Ever since, Campos turned pro, he told Wolf that one of these days he would make it to Augusta National. And so when Campos won in Bermuda, Wolf was the first person outside of his immediate family that Campos called.
'You won't be alone anymore,' Campos told him. 'We're going to Augusta.'
And to the Players Championship and PGA Championship, too. But first Campos has a tee time at 1:50 p.m. ET at the Arnold Palmer Invitational because it turns out the pen is mightier than the putter.