Camilo Villegas won the Honda Classic on Sunday in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Villegas, hailing from Columbia, defeated Anthony Kim with a 13-under 267 and won his third PGA victory as well as the $1.008 million dollar prize. By the time he'd made his final shot, a 20-foot shot that gave him a final birdie, and thrust both hands into the air he'd managed to win with the lowest score at the 72-hold Honda Classic since 2007. He won with four shots less than Y. E. Yang needed to win it last year.
Villegas seemed the clear winner halfway through the round after pulling ahead by 6 shots. He'd been ahead by 2 with Vijay Singh trailing close thanks to a birdie from 45-feet away at the par-3 5th hole. Villegas managed a 25-foot birdie on hole 8 and then two more in a row, and dropped to 15-under. It seemed no one would challenge him.
He bogeyed some short par puts and his lead dropped a bit, but he stayed ahead and had it wrapped up by the 16th hole when a 184-yard drive came to a stop just 14 feet away. There was little doubt at that point, despite the earlier missed putt, that it would be his first win since 2008.
Kim ended the tournament in second place with a 67, and Justin Rose in third place managed a 64. Vijay Singh and Paul Casey, 72 and 67 respectively, tied at 4th place with seven shots down. Though Kim came in second, it was his best end to a tournament since he'd tied in second place at the 2009 Mercedes-Benz Championships, a tournament that came at the beginning of that season.
Though many of the golfers in the tournament played practice rounds, the eventual winner wasn't one of them. He competed in the Phoenix Open last weekend, coming in far down the board and tied for 8th place, and then spent the beginning of the week in his native Columbia for events to promote and support the first PGA event to be held in South America, the Pacific Rubiales Bogota Open. He didn't arrive for the Honda Classic until Wednesday, and the tournament started on Thursday. He ended Thursday tied for second with a 66, he repeated that number on Friday and was tied in the lead, and finished on Saturday with a 67 and up three shots from the pack.
Justin Rose, who's still trying to get his first win in the US, had a good final round that started with him down by 10. Four birdies in a row gave him the best played front 9 in the entire Honda Classic this year and made him the 5th player of the tournament to manage a 64.
Villegas is the 4th golfer under the age of 30 who's managed to nab 3 PGA Tour victories, joining the likes of Sean O'Hair, Adam Scott and Dustin Johnson. Sunday's win in Florida elevates him in the rankings to number 12 in the world.
Photo Credits: Roozbeh Rokni
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