Campbell's confidence high

Chairman of the board: Campbell at the K Club

Michael Campbell is on course for his target of a top-10 world ranking by the end of the year.

The Kiwi boosted his chances by winning the Smurfit European Open at the K Club near Dublin at the weekend.

Campbell is now up to fourth in the European rankings and has climbed 13 places to 16th in the world standings.

And good performances in his next two events could see the 33-year-old achieve his aim.

Campbell stumbles to victory

Campbell faltered over the final four holes on Sunday but eventually won by a shot from Bradley Dredge, Retief Goosen, Padraig Harrington and Paul Lawrie.

His next tournament is this week's Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, prior to the Open Championship at Muirfield.

Improvement

Generous ranking points are on offer at both and, if Campbell can maintain the form he produced for 68 holes in Ireland, his top-10 target could be realised.

He said: "Winning again 18 months after my last win in the Heineken Classic is huge for my confidence for the next two weeks but there is still room for improvement.

Goosen currently leads the Order of Merit

"I want to improve by at least another 20 or 30%, iron out a few creases or faults, and play even better this next fortnight."

Campbell will not have to wait until Muirfield to test his game against some of the world's top players.

Ernie Els and Jose Maria Olazabal return to the European Tour to play in the Scottish Open.

They are joined by a strong American contingent including 1997 winner Tom Lehman, Brad Faxon, Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar.

Current leader Goosen will be trying to fend off seven-times European number one Colin Montgomerie and Els, who are second and third on the European money list.