Final round: Villegas wins; Singh all but clinches
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Camilo Villegas gave golf fans a real reason to pay attention to him -- a trophy.
A marketing dream with his model looks and stylish dress, Villegas won for the first time on the PGA TOUR with three big putts on the back nine at Bellerive on Sunday for a wire-to-wire victory in the BMW Championship.
Villegas closed with a 2-under 68 for a two-shot victory over Dudley Hart, who birdied the final two holes to earn a trip to the Masters with his highest finish in two years.
With one Playoff event remaining, the FedExCup essentially is over.
Vijay Singh, who won the first two events, tied for 44th and earned enough points that all he has to do is complete four rounds at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola in two weeks to collect the $10 million payoff.
Villegas, a 26-year-old Colombian in his third year on TOUR, finished at 15-under 265 and collected $1.26 million.
"It's awesome to be here,'' said Villegas, who wore a solid white outfit accented by a yellow belt and painter's cap. "Hopefully, it's the first of many.''
Villegas had been building toward a moment like this in the last few months. He was near the lead going into the weekend at the British Open, rallied to finish fourth in the PGA Championship, then started the final round last week at the Deutsche Bank Championship one shot behind until faltering.
He had ample opportunity to let this one get away, too.
First came back-to-back bogeys on the front nine, losing the lead to Jim Furyk. But the real test came on the back nine, when Villegas was clinging to a one-shot lead and could not reach the green on the par-4 12th after hitting into a bunker. His third shot came up 12 feet short, but he sank the par putt to keep the lead.
One hole later, he seized control.
Furyk hit his tee shot into a bunker on the par-3 13th and made bogey, while Villegas took yet another aggressive line and holed a 10-foot birdie to build a three-shot lead. Then came a 35-foot birdie putt on the 14th that sent him on his way to victory at Bellerive.
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Camilo Villegas took a giant step toward his first PGA TOUR victory on Sunday when he drained a 36-foot putt for birdie on the par-4 14th hole. 
It's hard to imagine a bigger round than Dudley Hart's 65. Hart started the week 67th in points and is now headed to THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. | QUOTE OF THE DAY | ||
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| 2 | The number of players who played their way into the top 30 in the FedExCup standings, thus earning spots in THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola -- Dudley Hart and D.J. Trahan. |
| 2 | The number of players who played their way out of the FedExCup top 30 and are eliminated from THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola -- Geoff Ogilvy and Brandt Snedeker. |
| 86 | The number of PGA TOUR starts it took Camilo Villegas to earn his first career victory. |
VILLEGAS CLUTCH WHEN IT COUNTS
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
ST. LOUIS -- White on white with a canary yellow belt and cap, the stylish J. Lindeberg attire was decidedly subdued.
Turns out, though, Camilo Villegas didn't need to attract attention with anything but his golf clubs on Sunday at Bellerive Country Club.
The 26-year-old Colombian fired a 68 in the final round of the BMW Championship to beat Dudley Hart by two strokes and win for the first time on the PGA TOUR. The victory came in his 86th start and made Villegas the first player since Tim Herron at the 1996 The Honda Classic to make his first PGA TOUR triumph a wire-to-wire victory.
Villegas also moves to No. 2 in the standings with one event remaining in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. There was another beneficiary to his win at Bellerive, though -- Vijay Singh has now locked up the title and the $10 million bonus as long as he completes 72 holes at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.
Singh may have won the first two Playoff events, but Villegas took a ton of positives from his tie for third at the Deutsche Bank Championship last week. He was as composed as he was competitive at TPC Boston, and Villegas brought that confidence with him to Missouri this week.
"I learned what it takes to win, and I learned that I'm good enough to win, even though it didn't happen," Villegas said. "We had one guy that came and just killed us that day, but that's okay. I just kept the momentum riding from last week and kept hitting good shots and kept thinking positive and kept rolling good putts, and it all happened to fall in place.
"I handled myself, handled my emotions great toward the end, and I got my first one."
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ONE MISSED BIRDIE LOOMING LARGE FOR VILLEGAS
By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM Managing Editor
ST. LOUIS -- The suspense of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup might not have disappeared when Vijay Singh drained that birdie putt on top of Sergio Garcia's putt two weeks ago, keeping Singh alive to win first Playoff event, The Barclays, on the next playoff hole.
It might not have disappeared when Singh throttled the field in the final round of last week's Deutsche Bank Championship, shooting a brilliant 63 that basically eliminated all but a handful of players.
And it might not have disappeared Sunday when those handful of guys with a mathematical chance failed to take command of the BMW Championship, thus allowing Singh to essentially clinch the FedExCup trophy and the $10 million bonus when he shows up later this month and signs his scorecard -- correctly -- after every round of THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.
As it turned out, the suspense of these Playoffs might have vanished on Friday, Aug. 22, when Camilo Villegas failed to birdie the final hole of his second round at The Barclays, thereby missing the cut by a stroke. That prevented Villegas from accumulating enough FedExCup points to stay within striking distance of Singh when the Playoffs resume at East Lake.
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REASON FOR WILLIAMSON TO BE PROUD
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
He didn't finish the way he wanted. But after Jay Williamson has time to put that 73 -- which included a 39 on his final nine holes -- behind him and reflect on the BMW Championship, he'll have to be pleased.
First of all, the 41-year-old veteran played his way into the third Playoff event. Not to mention, Williamson was playing at his home club with a legion of friends and family following his every move.
He thrilled his ample gallery in the first two rounds, shooting rounds of 68 and 69. But Williamson wasn't able to maintain that pace and Sunday's round of 3 over dropped him from a tie for 39th into a tie for 52nd.
"I thought it played relatively easy today," Williamson said. "If you can get the ball in the fairway you can certainly get it on the green. They're not firm. They're not fast. I guess it's harder than I give it credit for.
"After a little bit of time here, I'll look back and reflect and realize it was a great week. Certainly a week I won't ever forget. Just wish it could be better."
Among Williamson's favorite memories was the 37-footer he rolled in for birdie on his final hole of the first round. He was also extremely pleased with the way fans in his hometown rallied around the event.
"It was a long week but a short week so there was a lot packed in together," Williamson said. "It was great to come back to St. Louis. What I'll take from this is the fans in St. Louis should be proud."
| What the leaders said... | ||||||||||||||||
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ON-THE-JOB TRAINING
By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM Managing Editor
In Sunday's final round, one of Anthony Kim's playing partners in the final group is Jim Furyk, his soon-to-be U.S. Ryder Cup teammate.
For Kim, who will be making his Ryder Cup debut at Valhalla later this month, it was a good week to gain some knowledge and talk about the Ryder Cup. In the first round, he played with Phil Mickelson and Kenny Perry; in Saturday's second and third rounds, his playing partners were Mickelson and J.B. Holmes. That means for the first three rounds, he played strictly with his future teammates. (Kim and Furyk are playing with Camilo Villegas in Sunday's final group.)
In looking back at Kim's playing partners this year, he had multiple occasions in which he played with Ryder Cup teammates. Of course, of those pairings earlier in the season, the Ryder Cup teams had not been set, but that probably didn't prevent Kim and his then-partners of at least discussing the Ryder Cup during their 18 holes together.
In addition, Kim also played with two-time U.S. Ryder Cupper Chris DiMarco on three occasions. He also played a few rounds with his soon-to-be Ryder Cup opponents, including Sergio Garcia in the first two rounds of the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills.
Here's a look at Kim's playing partners in 2008 who were to become his Ryder Cup teammates
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INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK XM
Radio announcer Brian Katrek offers these observations from Saturday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.
This is a strange week on the driving range from a travel perspective. The entire TOUR has the week off next week. So, instead of talking about the golf course, or accommodations, players are talking about what they will do with their week off. Most of this field has more time than that to relax with the Ryder Cup and THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola after the off week...
Vijay Singh might need the time off in the next two weeks to heal. He has been battling tendinitis in his left arm for the past few weeks. The wraps on his left forearm have gotten bigger every tournament he plays. Hey, if Tiger Woods can win the U.S .Open with one good leg, Vijay might be able to win the FedExCup with one good arm.
Interesting fashion choice from Camilo Villegas in the final round. He went all white with a yellow hat and yellow belt. This week at the BMW Championship, all of the bleachers and towers were wrapped in white rather than the traditional green. Camilo fit right in. Maybe Camilo is part Chameleon.
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