Thursday
Aug202009
Vindication in victory for Villegas
Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 11:17PM
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Writing from Town and Country, Mo.
Camilo Villegas shed his runner-up tag with gusto on Sunday.
Cast as a player who dressed better than he finished, the 26-year-old Columbian silenced his critics at Bellerive Country Club, winning the 105th Western Open by outplaying the leaders down the stretch before a gallery that might have reached 40,000.
Villegas' round of 2-under-par 68 wasn't the lowest of the day, and wasn't even the lowest in his threesome. However, it was low enough to annex what's been dubbed the BMW Championship by two strokes over Dudley Hart, who started the day tied for sixth, five strokes back of Villegas.
"I think it was about time to win," Villegas said after finishing at 15-under 265, one stroke off the Western Open record set by Tiger Woods last year at Cog Hill. "It was a long, crazy week with the weather, but you know what? I'll do everything it takes to win a golf tournament."
Villegas led after all four rounds, the first wire-to-wire Western winner since Woods in 2003, and only the third in the last 74 years. He assumed the third round lead with a birdie on his 17th hole, the fourth of five played Sunday morning because of Saturday's fog delay, and then fought back final-round challenges by Jim Furyk and Anthony Kim, who were in his threesome.
While Hart barged into second with a closing 5-under 65, totaling 13-under 267, he wasn't really close enough to scare Villegas. The stylist was playing too well.
"It's golf," Villegas said. "You've got to worry about everybody, but at the same time, worry about nobody but yourself. I did look at the leaderboard all day. I knew exactly where I was and exactly what I had to do."
With vivid memories of last Monday's finish, where Villegas stood second through three rounds and saw Vijay Singh pass everyone with a final round 63, fresh in his mind, Villegas analyzed the situation and formed a strategy with seven holes to play.
"On the 11th tee box, I looked at my caddie and I said, 'Let's make three birdies coming in. We're two ahead. That's going to make the other guys make five birdies, and if they do, well, that's good playing.'
"I managed to make two of those, and fortunately, it was good enough."
Furyk, winner of the Western in 2005 and author of Saturday's record-shattering 62, was already reeling. He had assumed the lead when Villegas bogeyed the fifth and sixth holes, but bogeyed the ninth himself, moving Villegas back into the lead.
Anthony Kim had started the round four strokes back, flirted with contention on the front nine, and rallied with birdies on the 14th and 15th holes. That was fine, but Villegas had already closed the door to the J.K. Wadley Cup's case, thanks to sinking back to back birdie putts: He dropped a 10-footer on the par-3 13th and a roller-coaster 36-footer on the par-4 14th. That one went up a hill, came back down, turned right, and tumbled into the cup. Presto! Villegas was 15-under, and would stay that way.
"That's one you don't expect," Villegas said.
"He deserved it, made some key putts when it counted," said Kim, who tied for third with Furyk, three strokes back. "I just wish I could have finished a little bit stronger."
The putting performance by Villegas – 51 putts in the last 36 holes, and 108 for the week – also wasn't bad for a guy who four-putted his ninth hole in the second round.
"It wasn't the turning points," Villegas said. "It was the birdie-birdie I came back with. It rattled me in a good way. All of a sudden that four-putt was completely out of my head."
For Villegas, victory was vindication of the criticism he had to hear.
"Not a closer," it was said, his three runner-up finishes, at Phoenix, Doral and the Honda Classic, plus thirds in Atlanta and last week in Boston, considered proof of failure rather than success. "All show," critics said, mocking his "Spiderman"-style of reading putting lines. Sportswriters who dress like rummage sales even criticized his stylish duds.
He couldn't buy a break – witness last week – but Sunday ended all that.
"I learned what it takes to win (last week)," Villegas said. "And I learned that I'm good enough to win, even though it didn't happen. I was very patient, very positive. We had one guy (Singh) who came and just killed us that day."
This time, with Singh coasting to a 44th-place finish and an essentially insurmountable lead in the PGA Tour's playoff point standings – he has to show up in Atlanta in three weeks to win, but that's about all he has to do – Villegas was in command, and came through with his first victory in 86 PGA Tour starts.
The first South American to win the Western, Villegas spoke of pride of country, of the party he knows was going on in his hometown of Medellin, Columbia, and how he couldn't wait to be going back there on Monday.
"There's a big team behind me," Villegas gushed. "My family, my friends, all my sponsors here in the States, back in Columbia. They work hard just like I do. They motivate me to keep working, just give it all, because it's a tough game."
For four rounds, he made it look easy.
– Tim Cronin
Writing from Town and Country, Mo.
Camilo Villegas shed his runner-up tag with gusto on Sunday.
Cast as a player who dressed better than he finished, the 26-year-old Columbian silenced his critics at Bellerive Country Club, winning the 105th Western Open by outplaying the leaders down the stretch before a gallery that might have reached 40,000.
Villegas' round of 2-under-par 68 wasn't the lowest of the day, and wasn't even the lowest in his threesome. However, it was low enough to annex what's been dubbed the BMW Championship by two strokes over Dudley Hart, who started the day tied for sixth, five strokes back of Villegas.
"I think it was about time to win," Villegas said after finishing at 15-under 265, one stroke off the Western Open record set by Tiger Woods last year at Cog Hill. "It was a long, crazy week with the weather, but you know what? I'll do everything it takes to win a golf tournament."
Villegas led after all four rounds, the first wire-to-wire Western winner since Woods in 2003, and only the third in the last 74 years. He assumed the third round lead with a birdie on his 17th hole, the fourth of five played Sunday morning because of Saturday's fog delay, and then fought back final-round challenges by Jim Furyk and Anthony Kim, who were in his threesome.
While Hart barged into second with a closing 5-under 65, totaling 13-under 267, he wasn't really close enough to scare Villegas. The stylist was playing too well.
"It's golf," Villegas said. "You've got to worry about everybody, but at the same time, worry about nobody but yourself. I did look at the leaderboard all day. I knew exactly where I was and exactly what I had to do."
With vivid memories of last Monday's finish, where Villegas stood second through three rounds and saw Vijay Singh pass everyone with a final round 63, fresh in his mind, Villegas analyzed the situation and formed a strategy with seven holes to play.
"On the 11th tee box, I looked at my caddie and I said, 'Let's make three birdies coming in. We're two ahead. That's going to make the other guys make five birdies, and if they do, well, that's good playing.'
"I managed to make two of those, and fortunately, it was good enough."
Furyk, winner of the Western in 2005 and author of Saturday's record-shattering 62, was already reeling. He had assumed the lead when Villegas bogeyed the fifth and sixth holes, but bogeyed the ninth himself, moving Villegas back into the lead.
Anthony Kim had started the round four strokes back, flirted with contention on the front nine, and rallied with birdies on the 14th and 15th holes. That was fine, but Villegas had already closed the door to the J.K. Wadley Cup's case, thanks to sinking back to back birdie putts: He dropped a 10-footer on the par-3 13th and a roller-coaster 36-footer on the par-4 14th. That one went up a hill, came back down, turned right, and tumbled into the cup. Presto! Villegas was 15-under, and would stay that way.
"That's one you don't expect," Villegas said.
"He deserved it, made some key putts when it counted," said Kim, who tied for third with Furyk, three strokes back. "I just wish I could have finished a little bit stronger."
The putting performance by Villegas – 51 putts in the last 36 holes, and 108 for the week – also wasn't bad for a guy who four-putted his ninth hole in the second round.
"It wasn't the turning points," Villegas said. "It was the birdie-birdie I came back with. It rattled me in a good way. All of a sudden that four-putt was completely out of my head."
For Villegas, victory was vindication of the criticism he had to hear.
"Not a closer," it was said, his three runner-up finishes, at Phoenix, Doral and the Honda Classic, plus thirds in Atlanta and last week in Boston, considered proof of failure rather than success. "All show," critics said, mocking his "Spiderman"-style of reading putting lines. Sportswriters who dress like rummage sales even criticized his stylish duds.
He couldn't buy a break – witness last week – but Sunday ended all that.
"I learned what it takes to win (last week)," Villegas said. "And I learned that I'm good enough to win, even though it didn't happen. I was very patient, very positive. We had one guy (Singh) who came and just killed us that day."
This time, with Singh coasting to a 44th-place finish and an essentially insurmountable lead in the PGA Tour's playoff point standings – he has to show up in Atlanta in three weeks to win, but that's about all he has to do – Villegas was in command, and came through with his first victory in 86 PGA Tour starts.
The first South American to win the Western, Villegas spoke of pride of country, of the party he knows was going on in his hometown of Medellin, Columbia, and how he couldn't wait to be going back there on Monday.
"There's a big team behind me," Villegas gushed. "My family, my friends, all my sponsors here in the States, back in Columbia. They work hard just like I do. They motivate me to keep working, just give it all, because it's a tough game."
For four rounds, he made it look easy.
– Tim Cronin
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