Monday Backspin: Camilo's mental game, mailbag

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A month ago, Camilo Villegas and his mental coach, Gio Valiante, who Villegas has worked with since his first year on the PGA TOUR, played a game. For every putt Villegas made, Valiante told him he'd get a rare silver coin worth $500 and eventually he'd get a $1,000 gold coin. Villegas made a dozen straight putts of varying lengths.

Then Valiante took Villegas' wallet and told him that for every putt he missed, Valiante was going to take $100 from his wallet, then $200, $400 and so on. "He missed on his third putt," Valiante said.

The lesson? Villegas putted a lot better when he was playing with nothing to lose.

Fast forward to The Honda Classic. Villegas was second in the field in greens in regulation and second in putting. The result? His first win since the end of the 2008 season and the type of golf we've been waiting for from Villegas.

"[Camilo] has a history of over-thinking his putting," Valiante said. "He was at full recoil when he first came on TOUR."

Everything started to change for Villegas when he went to the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, after that game with the coins. He played with nothing to lose..

Champion's Replay

Want to hear what Camilo Villegas said about his win at The Honda Classic? Click here Shot Tracker Replay Villegas' final round MORE PLAYERS • Final-round highlights • Shot of the Day • Final wrap-up • Complete tourney coverage

Villegas had four top-10s in all of 2009. This season, he already has three, including a whitewashing of Sergio Garcia in the consolation match of the Accenture Match Play Championship.

"He spent too much time looking at where he was in the world rankings," Valiante said. "It was the mental equivalent of playing prevent defense. If you're playing to not hit bad shots, you're done."

In the past, Villegas would put in about 20 minutes a week working on the mental side of his game -- compared to 30-40 hours on his swing and another 20 on his body.

"It was a real attitude shift," Valiante said.

Last year was about getting through the season, simply managing things on and off the course. This year, it's about performance.

There was also a shift in Villegas' schedule. He'll play slightly fewer events in 2010 and limit what he does away from golf course (though he did spend a whirlwind couple of days in Colombia between his stops in Phoenix and Palm Beach Gardens).

"What you're seeing is a different type of golf," Valiante said. "It's golf with swag."

Stock up

Anthony Kim: He still hasn't put together four good rounds, but for the second week in a row Kim showed a lot of maturity in his game with a bounce-back final round. Kim needs success to validate the changes he's making and so far he's getting it. FedExCup rank: 19 (109 last week) Paul Casey: There were five players to shoot a course-record tying 64 last week. Casey was one of them. In three starts on TOUR this season, he's now finished T10, second and T4. FedExCup rank: 13 (16 last week) Fredrik Jacobson: Camilo Villegas was one of two players to shoot all four rounds in the 60s at PGA National. The other? Jacobson, whose four straight 69s led to his best finish of the season, a T6. FedExCup rank: 59 (102 last week)

Stock down

Angel Cabrera: The Masters champ is a combined 6 over in his last two stroke-play events and had a first-round exit in Arizona before a T40 at The Honda Classic. FedExCup rank: 70 (75 last week) Bill Haas: Since his first career win earlier this season, Haas has broken 70 just once in eight rounds. He's also missed his last two cuts. FedExCup rank: 10 (8 last week) Padraig Harrington: The first top-10 of 2009 for Harrington didn't come until August. Is he headed toward that again? Well, he had four straight rounds in the 70s last week and a first-round exit at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. FedExCup rank: 106 (114 last week)

THE BACK NINE: 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. How good has Villegas been this season? Try 65 birdies in his last 14 rounds. That's nearly five birdies a round. And it's not just the number of birdies, it's the variety in which he's making them.

2. This may be the best idea I've heard all year and not surprisingly it came from Tom Watson, who remains as relevant as ever. "We ought to have a tournament, the top 30 Champions Tour players vs. the top 30 kids," Watson said. "Have a tournament on about a 7,000-yard golf course. Same tees. Let's tee it up." Hopefully, someone is listening.

3. Speaking of Watson, he can still flat-out play. What he and Fred Couples are doing this year may provide the Champions Tour with its best season ever. Couples won for the second time this year at the Toshiba Classic, while Watson shot a 9-under 62 to finish in a tie for fifth.

4. Couples can obviously still play, too. In three Champions Tour starts, Couples has two wins and a runner-up. One reason why he's played so well: Boom-Boom has dominated the par-5s with nearly half his birdies this season coming on them.

5. It's still just guesswork as to when Tiger Woods will return to competitive golf, but Woods spent last week putting in significant time practicing at Isleworth. That would seem to indicate a return is imminent, possibly at the Tavistock Cup and/or Arnold Palmer Invitational. We'll know in a couple of weeks.

6. Brad Faxon makes his debut in the booth for NBC this week. He should be a welcome addition and won't be afraid of being critical when he has to be, even though he's still a current player on TOUR. "Nobody out here likes me anyway," Faxon joked. Obviously that's not true, but it's that sort of personality that won't hold him back.

7. At 40 years old, Ernie Els still thinks he can win majors. Whether he does remains to be seen, but he's hoping cutting back on his international schedule will help. "I feel a lot more fresh going into the Masters," said Els. "I can't think about the bigger things when I'm standing on the first tee. I've got to think about and do the little things." The results have shown it, too. Els has four finishes in the top 17, including a tie for fifth in San Diego. And remember, Els finished second at the U.S. and British Opens the last time they were at Pebble Beach and St. Andrews. He was also second at the Masters that year.

8. Drew Brees, Dan Marino, Jack Nicklaus and Kenny G. That was the marquee foursome at last week's The Honda Classic (click here to read more). It was the first time I'd ever met Brees, and he seems every bit the nice guy he's known to be. It also looks like he's still soaking in the Super Bowl victory. It would have been interesting to say the least to be a fly buzzing around that group all day.

9. If you haven't seen The Hurt Locker, you should. There's a reason it took home six Oscars Sunday night. Political and powerful movie.

FROM THE MAILBAG (Click here to submit your question)

"With the top players in the world being comprised largely of Europeans or European Tour players, who play all over the globe, do you see more PGA TOUR events struggling to compete in terms of world ranking points? If so, do you foresee more U.S. players playing big events overseas to chase these points, or will they be happy just earning more money and not care too much about the rankings?" -- James Harvey

I don't think you'll see the TOUR struggle in terms of losing large numbers of players to international events because of Official World Golf Rankings points ... for two reasons. First, not to sound like I'm spouting the company line, the best players in the world play the majority of their golf on the TOUR because that's where the best competition is.

Second, events like the World Golf Championships offer a lot of points. Not to mention the majors and so on. The Race to Dubai, however, has been an interesting carrot and it will be interesting to see how that plays out over time, but I don't think you're going to see players jumping ship to play elsewhere.

"In the next few weeks, if David Duval has earned more money than the 125th player on the 2009 final money list, does that give him status for the rest of the year on the PGA TOUR?" -- Thomas Ray

Based on the 2010 exemptions categories, Duval is currently exempt under rule 27: Next 25 members after the top 125 members from the previous year's Official Money List. While Duval's success so far in 2010 has earned him more than the 150th player on the 2009 Official Money List, that exemption, No. 31, is further down on the priority rankings than where he currently stands.

Last week's Kodak Challenge hole

HOLE: The par-4, 434-yard 16th at PGA National THE LEADERS: John Senden and Mark Wilson moved into a share of the 2010 Kodak Challenge lead at 4 under. The pair joins a group of pros, including rising star Rickie Fowler and 2009 Kodak Challenge champ Kevin Streelman. Click here for results

The Forward Spin

It was about this time last year when Phil Mickelson went on a run that included two wins and three other top-10s. One of those wins came at the World Golf Championships-CA Championship, where he held off Nick Watney by a shot. So far in 2010, though, Mickelson has just one finish in the top 10 in four starts on TOUR. Mostly, Mickelson's driver has been the culprit. If he has any hopes of repeating at TPC at Doral, he'll need to straighten it out some. Meanwhile, for those who didn't qualify for the World Golf Championships event, there is the Puerto Rico Open presented by Banco Popular, which is in its third year of existence. Michael Bradley won in Puerto Rico a year ago, but Jerry Kelly has been very good in the brief history of this event, too, having finished in tie for ninth in 2009 and in a tie for second the year before.