A star is born as Villegas wins BMW

BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2008 BMW Championship | Round Four | 08 Sep 2008

Camilo Villegas gave the PGA Tour hope and despair all in the one day when he won his first PGA Tour event at this week’s BMW Championship at the Bellerive Country Club in St Louis.

The hope the Colombian gave to the Tour is that he is destined to become a much needed ‘new look’ superstar on the PGA Tour and despair in that he has put a pin in the FedEx money grab balloon.

Villegas’ two shot victory today has provided Vijay Singh with the FedEx Cup first prize of US$10 million and taken some of the suspense and gloss out of the final event of the series, the Tour Championship, in three weeks time.

Not that Villegas will be too concerned about that aspect of his victory. The brilliant 26-year-old has been warming to his task in recent weeks with a very impressive 4th place finish at the PGA Championship and a 3rd place behind Singh and Garcia at last week’s Deutsche Bank Championship and follows up with this wire-to-wire victory.

Villegas led after all four rounds following his opening round of 65 and in just his third season as a PGA Tour member has already accumulated more than US$7 million. That of course does not include a potential and additional US$3 million in bonus money if he was to finish in his current position of second in the FedEx Cup series.

Villegas is also poised to capitalise on an already substantial fan base, both male and female, and is just what the PGA Tour needs especially at a time when Tiger Woods’ absence is hurting.

After graduating via the Nationwide Tour in 2005, Villegas seems to have found a greater level of consistency in recent weeks than previously in his career at this higher level. Today he put much of that down to natural progression.

“I’m definitely a better person, a better player today than I was when I first got on the PGA TOUR. 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. I mean, 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. I get along with everybody that’s around this great sport, and I’ve learned what’s best for me, or at least I’m learning what’s best for me. Hopefully I continue learning and that keeps me getting – and that makes me even a better player and a better person. But again, 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 appeared to have a real fight on his hands when Jim Furyk took his long lead off him early in the final round. After an early birdie, Villegas dropped consecutive shots at the 5th and 6th which left Furyk ahead, if only briefly.

As Furyk struggled through the turn, Villegas began to settle once again. Birdies at the 8th and again at the 13th and 14th had him three ahead and although Furyk and Anthony Kim had the chance to apply pressure they could not close the gap.

In the end it was 18 year Tour veteran Dudley Hart who crept into second place with birdies at the 17th and 18th while Furyk was forced to hole a 35 foot putt at the last to grab a slice of third place with Kim whose bogey at the final hole proved very costly.

Stephen Ames, D.J. Trahan and K.J. Choi shared 5th place.

An interesting sidenote to the week was that seven of the US Ryder Cup team finished inside the top 20 this week providing a boost for them as they seek to regain the Ryder Cup in two weeks time.

The best of the Australians in the field was Aaron Baddeley who finished 10th and despite his good week he will not advance to the Tour Championship in three weeks time.

Geoff Ogilvy was 28th, Mathew Goggin, Stuart Appleby and Robert Allenby 38th, while Adam Scott and John Senden were 50th.

Amongst the Australians, only Robert Allenby and Stuart Appleby will play the Tour Championship.

The PGA Tour now has a one week break before the Ryder Cup and the Viking Championship the following week.