Julie Campbell spoke today of the tear-jerking moment her husband became US Open champion and revealed: "I just wanted to climb through the TV and hold him."

Kiwi Michael Campbell pulled his visor down to hide his face as he wept on the 18th green after realising a life-long dream at Pinehurst on Sunday night.

Australian Julie cried with him thousands of miles away in the sprawling Brighton house which has been home to the Campbells and their two young sons, Thomas and Jordan, for the past five years.

The 41-year-old from Sydney locked herself away to share from a distance the magical evening when Michael saw off the challenge of the world's No. 1 golfer Tiger Woods to become a major winner.

Julie, still struggling to come to terms with Michael's overnight conversion from golfing journeyman to guest on the famous David Letterman chat show in the States, said: "I didn't feel I wanted to be socialising and, because I'm not a golfer myself, I didn't want to hear when he had a difficult putt.

"I battened down the hatches. I took no phone calls, had no-one with me and I put the children to bed before the first hole. I spent a lot of time in my room because I didn't really want to watch every bit.

"It was really overwhelming, the concept that my husband could be the US Open champion, and I didn't want to put that in my mind until I was absolutely sure. I was doing a bit of meditation, it was the only way for me to try and relax.

"As soon as I saw his tears it was only natural for me to join him. Just to see how overcome he was made me cry too. I just wanted to climb through the TV and hold him. I was really grateful that his caddie, Mike, was there to give him a really big bear hug. He really needed that.

"He spoke to me within two minutes. He'd just put his scorecard in and he was still very emotional. We didn't say too much, just having that intimacy through the phone was lovely. I just said how proud I was and that he deserves it and to enjoy the experience."

The boys, six-year-old Thomas and Jordan, aged four, slept through the drama in North Carolina. They woke up to join in the celebrations in the early hours when Julie invited round a few close friends, including the wife of another Brighton-based tournament pro from New Zealand, Stephen Scahill, and cracked open a bottle of Bollinger.

"Thomas wanted to watch, but I wouldn't let him," Julie said. "I promised him if daddy was doing really well I would wake him up on the 17th. He understands the scoring and everything and who is who. I told him but he was so tired.

"With the little bit of commotion when my friends came, both the boys came downstairs and sat on my lap. I told them daddy won and, as we watched a re-run of the trophy presentation, the first thing Michael said was something about myself and the boys which was brilliant. They were really chuffed. He rang at about 2.30 in the morning and spoke to the boys, which was really nice."

Julie has very quickly appreciated life will never be the same again. The glamorous blonde, who met Michael when he was playing in a tournament in Sydney in 1993 and married him three years later, spent hours yesterday in a local salon, having her hair done, but it had nothing to do with his sudden stardom.

The appointment was made weeks ago, when the family were planning to join Michael in Paris for this week's Paris Open, an event he has now withdrawn from so that he can spend a few days at home.

"Michael left his phone here by accident, which in hindsight was probably a pretty good thing," Julie said. "I looked at it at nine o'clock yesterday morning and he had 55 text messages.

"Then there was our e-mail, the website e-mails, my texts and the phone, which never stopped ringing from the time I got up. Every so often the messages made me cry, because they were from people who are so much part of our lives and they just hit a nerve.

"I might have been alone in my lounge watching but I was absolutely not alone in any other way because of the amount of well-wishers and really heartfelt messages.

"I was speaking to a girlfriend in a taxi on the way home from the hairdressers and I just started balling my eyes out. It comes in waves. This is the biggest thing that has ever happened to either of us.

"Michael has fulfilled his lifelong dream. Some people have dreams they will never fulfill. At 16 this would have been pie-in-the-sky, oh yeah, dream on boy. He did dream on and he's done it. That's the thing I can't get to grips with, that it has really happened.

"It wasn't a big boozy night for Michael but he woke up yesterday morning with a light hangover. When you live out of hotels in different time zones you are a bit disorientated, so he was looking around. He turned his head and there was the US Open trophy, right in his face, and it all came flooding back. Imagine what that must have felt like? It wasn't a dream, it really happened."

Although golf has made Michael a small fortune and, now, fame as well, Julie would rather the boys did not follow in their father's footsteps.

"We've got a putting green in the garden, but I don't really want to encourage it," she said. "Both the boys have decided in the last couple of months they want to be a professional golfer like their dad.

"Golf is for fun and business meetings. Gary Nicklaus is a friend and watching his life is hard. I'm not comparing Michael to Jack Nicklaus, but Michael in New Zealand now is God. I'd rather they find something else to do."