The man on the bag was Villegas' secret weapon
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
ATLANTA -- Caddies like to joke that their job is simple: Show up, keep up and shut up.
Lucky for Camilo Villegas, though, the man who totes his bag also knew when to speak up on Sunday during the final round of THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola,
Villegas fired the day's low round of 66 and then beat Sergio Garcia on the first hole of sudden death to win the finale of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. The victory was the 26-year-old's second in as many starts, and, as he sat in front of the Waterford trophy, he gave a ton of credit to a well-timed pep talk he received.
Villegas had just hit his tee shot on the par-3 sixth into the water. He went on to make double bogey there and bogey on the next, giving back both shots -- and another, to boot -- that he'd recouped with a hot start. Suddenly, he was once again trailing Garcia by five strokes, and Gary Matthews knew it was time.
"My caddie looked at me straight in the eyes, and he goes, 'You ain't going to give up on me. We can still do it,'" Villegas said. "He was probably the only one believing that at that point."
Matthews' words struck a chord with the young Colombian. He went on to birdie five of his next six holes - making putts of 13, 29, 11 and 42 feet, and two-putting from 41 on the par-5 ninth -- to grab a share of the lead.
And when he made another bogey, Villegas responded with a 7-iron he called "probably the shot of the tournament," at the 17th hole to set up a 12-footer for birdie that would get him back into a share of the lead. Then when Garcia missed the green in the playoff and Villegas two-putted from 46 feet, the title was his.
In perhaps the most lucrative playoff ever, the victory was worth a cool $4.26 million -- counting Villegas' first prize and the $3 million FedExCup bonus he got for finishing second to Vijay Singh. Garcia, who has now lost two playoffs and finished second at the PGA in his last five starts, earned $2,756,000 for finishing second.
And had it not been for what he called an "expensive" missed cut at The Barclays, Villegas might have been challenging for the $10 million Singh, who won the first two Playoff events, earned this week in Atlanta.
The money, though, was the least of Villegas' worries.
"You can look at it in two ways: You can just be grinding, or you can say, this putt costs a million bucks or this putt costs 1.5 or whatever it is," Villegas said. "So let me ask you the question: How are you going to feel more comfortable, when you're just thinking about the hole or when you're thinking about the money? I try to go with the first one."
And it worked. The excitement was palpable all afternoon at East Lake. At one point Villegas, Garcia and Phil Mickelson all shared the lead. The red-hot Anthony Kim, still greeted by cheers of "U-S-A," figured into the mix, as well.
"It was crazy out there today, man," Villegas said. "What a great week. What a great place. Man, I'm proud of myself. I'm proud of the way I've worked, I'm proud of the way I've battled, and I'm proud of the way I came back today after making double bogey on 6 and bogey on 7.
" ... After winning a couple weeks ago, I told myself I will do anything I need to do to keep putting myself in that position again, and I did just what I wanted. I gave myself a chance. (It was) a little tough to play Sergio there in the playoff since we're such good friends, but I'm sure he was trying to win just like I was trying to win.
"That's the way this game goes. Man, it feels good."
Villegas had been on hand to congratulate Garcia when he won THE PLAYERS Championship earlier this year in a playoff over Paul Goydos. The Spaniard got to return the favor on Sunday, but this time it was bittersweet.
"We all knew he was a good player," Garcia said. "There's no doubt that the win at the BMW (Championship), I think it's made him go one step higher, which is good to see. It's good to see him becoming the player he can become, so that's great. I'm obviously very happy for him. He's a good friend of mine.
"And his man on the bag is a good friend of mine and my caddie, so we're thrilled for them. But at the same time, I'm still disappointed that I didn't win."
Even though he started the final round trailing Garcia by five shots, Villegas never doubted he could win. Even if he did need a little reassurance along the way.
"My main goal was to get to a good start, because if I bogey one or two of the first three, four holes and Serge pars or makes a birdie, all of a sudden I'm, what, eight back? That's just a little tough to take mentally," Villegas said.
"So I told myself, 'Come on. Let's get in this thing. Let's birdie two or three holes out of the gate.' That's what I did. .. I said, I'm right in the middle of this, and that's the way this game goes. I knocked it in the water on 6 and then bogeyed 7.
"At that point, again, mentally you kind of shut down a little bit. But my caddie just looked straight at me, and he said, "Come on, man. We can do it." And came back nice and strong. It was very unbelievable. I was proud of myself, I was very proud of my caddie, and to come back that way and give myself a chance toward the last four or five holes was awesome."
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