Villegas' game has thrived despite grueling schedule
By Craig Dolch, PGATOUR.COM Contributor
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- Anyone that says golfers aren't athletes should simply look at Camilo Villegas.
Not his bulging biceps or his Spiderman impersonation of stretching his body inches off the ground as he lines up a putt, but his schedule the last two weeks.
Villegas, who is tied for The Honda Classic lead with Anthony Kim after shooting another 4-under 66 in Friday's second round, has been busier than a tax man the second week in April.
In the last 16 days, he has played 245 holes of golf, logged more than 7,000 airline miles, helped launch a new Nationwide Tour event in his homeland of Colombia, led two PGA TOUR events and almost won another, hosted a junior clinic and shook more hands than a politician in November.
"Yeah, it's been long weeks," Villegas said. "We can even go all the way to the Match Play, which is obviously a long one."
Villegas' marathon schedule started when he made it to the consolation finals of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship -- he would have made it to the finals had he not missed a 3-foot putt on the 23rd hole of his match with Paul Casey -- logging 101 holes during those five days.
Then he headed to the Waste Management Phoenix Open, where he led after an opening 62 before settling for an eighth-place finish. That's when things became more hectic.
The next day, he flew from Phoenix to Miami, before getting back on a jet to fly to Bogota to help kick off this week's Pacific Rubiales Bogota Open Presented by Samsung. He awoke early Tuesday for 7 a.m. interviews, followed by a breakfast with sponsors, a press conference, hosting a junior clinic and then playing in the pro-am.
Then it was dinner with sponsors, he got five hours' sleep and caught another plane back to Miami to play in this week's The Honda Classic at PGA National (he was given a waiver where he didn't have to play in Wednesday's pro-am).
It's exhausting just listing what he's done.
"It's been a long week, but it's been a good one," Villegas said. "Having the first Nationwide Tour event in Colombia is awesome. It's a dream come true for my country. It's a dream come true for myself. It's great for it Latin American golf and hopefully it's the beginning of some other countries hosting big events.
"We keep getting better in terms of quality of players. We keep getting more guys on the European Tour, PGA TOUR, Nationwide Tour. That's what it's all about, growing this game, and making it good for the rest of the guys down there."
Not that the frenetic pace seems to have affected his golf. Villegas is a combined 19 under in his last six rounds -- he didn't even have a practice round at the difficult Champion Course this week -- and he obviously played stellar golf to get within a 3-footer of the Accenure Match Play Championship finals.
Of course, grueling stretches like the last three weeks are why Villegas works so hard in the weight room and is pickier about what he eats than a runway model. Most people have more body fat in their forearms than the 5-foot-9, 160-pounder has on his entire frame.
"It definitely helped," Villegas said of his conditioning. "I had long flights and didn't get a chance to play a practice round, but (the) good thing is I'm sleeping in my own bed this week, which is nice."
Villegas has a home in Tequesta -- about 15 miles from PGA National -- which is why he wanted to go ahead and still play in this week's The Honda Classic. That, plus the fact he almost won here three years ago, losing in a Monday morning four-way playoff to Mark Wilson.
But Villegas' home -- and his heart -- remains in Colombia. He knows his country has a less than stellar reputation throughout the rest of the world, but says hosting a Nationwide Tour shows a truer side of Colombia.
"We just have a bad image," he said. "But once we get people there, they get close to reality. They see that it's a misconception. It's totally different than what you hear. It's full of great people and good stuff."
Villegas realizes that soccer will always be the No. 1 sport in Colombia, but he's doing his part to have his countryman start to play with a smaller ball.
"He's becoming bigger and you see him more and more in magazines," said Alexandra Restrepo, a Colombian who lives in West Palm Beach. "But in Colombia, it's not like the U.S., where the athletes are No. 1 and they all have lots of money. In Colombia, anyone can have money."
Being a pioneer of a sport in your country can be a blessing or a burden. Villegas chooses the former.
"You can look at it in two different ways," he said. "You can look at it like that (more pressure) or you can look at it as a privilege and just try to represent yourself, your country and your people the best you can. To me, it's great. Like last Tuesday, I go there and I did a clinic with the kids, and just to see their faces, their questions, it's awesome."
Villegas' favorite question?
"The kid looks at me he goes, 'Camilo, how does it feel to be the second best player in the world?' " Villegas says, smiling. "And I'm like, 'First of all, I don't know if I'm the second best in the world, and I wonder who is the first?' So I know exactly what the kid was thinking. It was pretty cool. I mean, the kid must have been 8, 9 years old. They are kids, man."
In a sense, so is Villegas, who turned 28 two months ago. He won his two PGA TOUR titles in back-to-bask fashion during the 2008 PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, and has proven to be very consistent (he's missed just three of his last 24 cuts). He's ranked 21st in the world and looks like he'll easily crack the top 20 with a good weekend at PGA National.
But Villegas was thinking about something else when Friday's press conference ended.
"Time to go work out," he said.
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