Brian Campbell cashed in on a huge break Sunday when his tee shot in a playoff bounced out of the trees and back into play, leading to a birdie on the second extra hole to win the Mexico Open over Aldrich Potgieter.

Campbell, a Mater Dei product who closed with a 1-under 70 at Vidanta Vallarta, won for the first time since he turned pro a decade ago and the timing could not have been better.

The title sends him to the Masters, The Players Championship and the PGA Championship, along with five of the $20 million signature events left on the PGA Tour schedule.

“To be in this position is just so unreal,” Campbell, 31, said after calmly holing a birdie putt just inside 4 feet on the 18th green for the win. “I can’t believe it, really.”

Good golf wasn’t enough. Campbell needed the break of a lifetime.

Campbell and Potgieter, who shot 71, each made birdie on the 18th in regulation and began the playoff with a par. Returning to the par-5 closing hole for the third time, Campbell hit a low, hard fade toward the out-of-bounds stakes.

But it crashed into the trees and popped back out into the rough. He was 94 yards behind Potgieter, but at least he had a shot. He hit fairway metal to 68 yards short, and hit a lob wedge that checked up just short of the hole.

“You’ve got to get those breaks sometimes,” Campbell said.

“I was just so happy that I was able to kind of stay in it to the end.”

Potgieter twice hit the 18th fairway in the playoff and had a 6-iron for his second shot, and both times he made par.

Campbell was winless in 186 starts on the Korn Ferry and PGA Tour combined, earning $1,487,830 and just more than $300,000 on the PGA Tour. His payoff Sunday was $1,260,000.

Campbell said it was grit that helped him win, and that goes back further than Sunday.

He played his college golf at Illinois and was the low amateur in the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay. He earned a PGA Tour card in 2017 and missed the cut 13 times in 20 starts.

Then it was back to the minor leagues for the next seven years until he was runner-up three times and finished No. 8 on the Korn Ferry Tour to get another crack at the PGA Tour.

The win gives him a two-year exemption through 2027 and a busy March and April with the Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Players Championship, the Masters and the RBC Heritage all on his slate.

Monterey Park native Angel Yin (Arcadia High) won for the second time on the LPGA Tour, making birdie on the 18th hole for a 7-under 65 that was just enough to hold off hard-charging Akie Iwai (61) of Japan in the Honda LPGA Thailand.

The 26-year-old is the fourth American to capture the LPGA Thailand title, joining Lilia Vu (2023), Jessica Korda (2018) and Lexi Thompson (2016).

Despite finishing second, Iwai made history of her own, firing a tournament-low round of 61. She carded 10 birdies and a closing eagle against a lone bogey to settle at 261.

Jacques Kruyswijk held on to win the Kenya Open in Nairobi, his first DP World Tour title. The South African shot a 4-under 67 at Nairobi’s Muthaiga GC to finish 18 under for the tourney, two shots clear of runner-up John Parry (68).

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Zoe Brooks scored a career-high 33 points to help N.C. State’s No. 13-ranked women’s team beat top-ranked Notre Dame 104-95 in double overtime in Raleigh, N.C., ending the Fighting Irish’s 19-game winning streak while keeping alive its hopes to share the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title.

Brooks had 10 rebounds for the Wolfpack (22-5, 14-2 ACC), while Aziaha James added 20 points.

By the end, the Wolfpack had hung on in a game featuring 21 lead changes while denying the Irish (24-3, 15-1) the chance to clinch the ACC regular-season title outright.

Hannah Hidalgo had 26 points for Notre Dame, while Sonia Citron added 23. including a 3-pointer over James with 0.6 seconds left in regulation to extend the game.

In a men’s top-25 game:

INDIANA 73, NO. 13 PURDUE 58: Malik Reneau and Trey Galloway each scored 15 points, and the Hoosiers (16-11, 7-9 Big Ten) allowed just 21 in the second half to overcome a 12-point halftime deficit and beat the visiting Boilermakers (19-9, 11-6).

SKIING

Mikaela Shiffrin is 100% the best in skiing’s World Cup history book.

Shiffrin’s record-extending 100th career World Cup race win fulfilled a quest put on hold by a serious crash in November.

Back to racing in her favored slalom event, Shiffrin kept and added to her first-run lead to finish 0.61 seconds ahead of Zrinka Ljutic in Sestriere, Italy. Shiffrin’s U.S. teammate Paula Moltzan was third.

Shiffrin, 29, also tied an all-time World Cup record for men and women, as her 155th career top-3 finish on the podium matched Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark.

MOTORSPORTS

Christopher Bell edged Carson Hocevar and Kyle Larson in overtime in a close NASCAR Cup Series finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Bell led only the final lap in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and had a slight edge on the outside when the caution light came on in overtime following a wreck by Josh Berry.

The 30-year-old Oklahoma driver has 10 career Cup victories.

Austin Cindric led in his Team Penske Ford before he and William Byron, the Daytona 500 winner last week, wrecked with three laps remaining, setting up the overtime.

FIGURE SKATING

Local favorite Kim Chae-yeon of South Korea won the Four Continents competition with a near-flawless free skate to prevent a U.S. sweep of the podium in Seoul.

Kim, who led after the short program, produced a season’s best score of 148.36 in the free skate to finish with a total of 222.38 points.

Bradie Tennell of the U.S. also had a season-best free skate with 137.80 points and was second with a score of 204.38. American Sarah Everhardt was third with 200.03 points, edging out compatriot Alysa Lu who was fourth with 198.55.

MISCELLANY

Lynn Biyendolo scored 42 seconds into the match and the U.S. beat Australia 2-1 in the SheBelieves Cup in Glendale, Ariz.

The No. 2 UCLA gymnastics team remained unbeaten in the Big Ten Conference after a 197.550-196.850 win at No. 15 Michigan. The Bruins are 9-2 overall and 6-0 in the Big Ten.