Multiple majors winner Ballesteros, long known for his remarkable scrambling skills, redesigned the Crans-sur-Sierre course some years back.
And Campbell managed to save par from parts of the course today that would have done the Spaniard proud.
His 69 contained five birdies and three bogeys as he sat in a share of 37th place, seven strokes behind Australian Brett Rumford, who scorched around the par 71 layout in just 62 strokes.
Danny Lee shot 71 and Mark Brown, the third New Zealander in the field, a 72.
Campbell had his caddie Peter Coleman guessing on a number of occasions after managing to hit just six of 13 fairways and 11 of 18 greens in regulation.
But once on the putting surface, Campbell was in command as he required just 24 putts.
"It was a pretty good scrambling round out there today so to finish in red figures is not too bad," Campbell said.
" I just seem to struggle off the tee but then somehow I then managed to get myself back in position and save par.
" It wasn't the prettiest of rounds but it's nice to finish sub par."
An example of Campbell's errant manner was his tee shot at the par-five ninth hole.
He hit his drive into trees and his second shot was directed down the adjoining first fairway. Campbell used a rescue club for his third which ended up to the left of the green, chipped on for his fourth and holed the par putt.
At the par-five 14th, Campbell's tee shot went straight right on to the nearby 13th tee. He took a drop off the tee before a few minutes later landing a sandwedge to 15 feet to also save par.
While Campbell was having his adventures, there was also nothing routine about Lee's level par 71.
Days after finishing 10th equal at the Johnnie Walker Championship in his debut as a professional on the European Tour, the 19-year old produced a mixture of seven birdies, three bogeys and a pair of double bogeys.
