Fearless Villegas shook off mistakes when it counted
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
ST. LOUIS -- White on white with a canary yellow belt and cap, the stylish J. Lindeberg attire was decidedly subdued.
Turns out, though, Camilo Villegas didn't need to attract attention with anything but his golf clubs on Sunday at Bellerive Country Club.
The 26-year-old Colombian fired a 68 in the final round of the BMW Championship to beat Dudley Hart by two strokes and win for the first time on the PGA TOUR. The victory came in his 86th start and made Villegas the first player since Tim Herron at the 1996 The Honda Classic to make his first PGA TOUR triumph a wire-to-wire victory.
Villegas also moves to No. 2 in the standings with one event remaining in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. There was another beneficiary to his win at Bellerive, though -- Vijay Singh has now locked up the title and the $10 million bonus as long as he completes 72 holes at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.
Singh may have won the first two Playoff events, but Villegas took a ton of positives from his tie for third at the Deutsche Bank Championship last week. He was as composed as he was competitive at TPC Boston, and Villegas brought that confidence with him to Missouri this week.
"I learned what it takes to win, and I learned that I'm good enough to win, even though it didn't happen," Villegas said. "We had one guy that came and just killed us that day, but that's okay. I just kept the momentum riding from last week and kept hitting good shots and kept thinking positive and kept rolling good putts, and it all happened to fall in place.
"I handled myself, handled my emotions great toward the end, and I got my first one."
Villegas had to return to Bellerive at 7:30 on Sunday morning to complete his final five holes of the third round. He birdied the eighth, his 17th, to seize the lead from Jim Furyk, then went out that afternoon and held off the veteran, as well as the hard-charging Hart, who closed with a 65, and Anthony Kim to seal the victory.
"Camilo played great," said Kim, who played with Villegas and tied with Furyk at 12 under. "He deserved it, made some key putts when it counted, and overall he just handled himself beautifully out there."
Hart, who is 14 years older than Villegas, preceeded the Colombian at the University of Florida, where both earned All-American honors and Villegas was an academic All-American, as well. Hart has watched Villegas' progress with interest and -- if he couldn't win himself -- was pleased to see another Gator triumph.
"He's a great player," Hart said. "He's been playing well out here for a while, obviously. ... You can look in his eyes out there and he's not afraid of anyone and he's very competitive. I think that's probably his strong suit."
Villegas also was fearless at Bellerive last week. He responded to a four-putt double bogey during the second round with birdies on his next two holes. He didn't let consecutive bogeys at Nos. 5 and 6 on Sunday rattle him, either, pulling back into a tie with Furyk after a birdie at the eighth and extending his lead with two more on the back nine.
"I just felt good with myself, felt good with my putting stroke and felt good with my swing," Villegas said. "If that's the case, it doesn't matter which golf course you're playing. You've just got to pick good targets and hit it."
Sergio Garcia was waiting in the scorer's building to congratulate his friend, just as Villegas had waited to do the same when the Spaniard beat Paul Goydos in a playoff at THE PLAYERS Championship earlier this year. Another friend, Eric Axley, was waiting by the 18th green on Sunday to offer his support.
Villegas has clearly found his comfort zone in his third year on TOUR, and that growth may be as important as the prodigious talent he has.
"I think I've matured a lot as a person and as a player and learned how to be patient, learned how to go about my routine and my practice and my life," Villegas said. "When you're a college kid and you get to the PGA TOUR, you go, like, what am I doing here? You don't know anything about it. Everything is new. You've got a lot of surprises.
"It's gotten to the point where I feel very comfortable out here. ... Hopefully I continue learning and that keeps me getting and that makes me even a better player and a better person. I feel comfortable. I think I've matured a lot. I've come a long way, and I think it was about time to win."
Villegas is headed home to Medellin, Colombia on Monday to see his family and friends. His popularity there prompted Colombian TV to pick up PGA TOUR broadcasts two years ago, and he's anxious to see the reaction to this victory in a country with about 40 golf courses and where soccer is king.
"It's not Camilo Villegas, there's a big team behind me -- my family, my friends, all my sponsors here in the States (and) back in Colombia," he said. "They work hard. They work hard just like I do. They motivate me to keep working, they motivate me to keep it going and just to give it all because it's a tough game.
"We're playing against the best players in the world. You can't take anything for granted. You've just got to keep working and working."
Asked how many people play golf in Colombia, Villegas smiled broadly. "I have no clue, but hopefully more tomorrow than today," he said.
"They keep asking me when am I going to win, and I guess they've got it now," Villegas said. "I finally did it, not only for me but everybody back home. Hopefully, the game keeps growing. Everybody, and especially the kids, get excited to play the game and just, I don't know, get all those great opportunities that I've had.
"I mean, golf has given me so much good stuff, so many great opportunities, that hopefully I'm not the only one that sees it that way. Those kids work hard and just bust themselves to be another guy like me that plays golf for a living and plays on the PGA TOUR."
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