Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Camilo Villegas is tied for the lead at the 2020 RSM Classic, after shooting a 6-under (bogey-free) 64 in the first round.
Camilo Villegas is tied for the lead at the 2020 RSM Classic, after shooting a 6-under (bogey-free) 64 in the first round.
Villegas, who wears a ribbon of a rainbow on his hat, shot 64 after seeing a rainbow in the sky before he teed off at the RSM Classic.
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Camilo Villegas arrived at the range before the first round at the RSM Classic and smiled wildly when he noticed a rainbow in the distance. It made him think of his daughter, Mia, who died from cancer at 22-months old in July.
“She loved colors and rainbows and my wife was all about it. And it was cool. It was a nice way to start the day,” said Villegas, who wears a rainbow ribbon on his hat in her honor. “I start thinking about Mia and said hey, ‘Let’s have a good one.’ ”
Did he ever. Villegas shot a bogey-free 6-under 64 at the Seaside Course at Sea Island Resort to share the opening-round lead of the RSM Classic with Matt Wallace.
RSM CLASSIC: Leaderboard
Camilo Villegas' late daughter, Mia, loved rainbows. 🌈
He shot 64 today and shares the lead @TheRSMClassic. pic.twitter.com/wL84nmyrWr
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 19, 2020
In blustery conditions, Villegas, the 38-year-old native of Colombia and University of Florida alum, birdied three of his final four holes on his first nine and his final hole of the day as he seeks his first PGA Tour win in six years.
“It was tough out here, but I love this place, had success. I’ve been coming here since 2000 and it’s one of those stops I don’t like missing,” Villegas said.
He recalled playing in the Southeastern Conference tournament here at Florida and said that his years of experience played in his favor.
“You know where to miss it or not to miss it and you know that the wind here plays stronger than you think,” he said. “Walking down one of the holes, my brother [caddie Manuel Villegas] goes, ‘there’s no way it’s blowing 18,’ and I don’t think it was. I think it was pretty strong out there and we managed to keep the ball low. I have no problem keeping the ball low. And roll some putts. The greens are perfect. They’re getting fast, firm and I managed to read them pretty good today.”
Villegas, who with his wife Maria have renamed their foundation Mia’s Miracles, said he was able to participate in four walks on the beach that his wife organized. Mia used to love to walk on the beach.
“We had a lot of close friends and a lot of support,” he said. “It was a great initiative. We raised some funds for those that need it and they’ll be happy about it.”
Though the sight of a rainbow at the driving range triggered happy thoughts of his daughter, Villegas said that the golf course continues to be his salvation.
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“When I’m out there, I’m so focused, there’s so much going on, especially under these conditions,” he said. “It’s about being in the moment, being in the now and this is my now. It’s not with her, but it’s with her at the same time, so you’ve just got to stick to the process.
“I love playing golf, I love doing what I do. The game of golf has been great to me. I happened to have a shoulder injury there for the last couple years that kind of set me back a bit, but I’m excited. I think things are rolling the right way and obviously if I keep doing what I did today, it should be fine.”
He also credited having sports psychologist Gio Valiante with him this week for his fast start.
“It’s tough to be free under these conditions, but I found a way to do it,” said Villegas, who shot his best opening-round score on Tour since a 7-under 64 at the 2016 Mayakoba Golf Classic
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After Matt Wallace’s caddie tested positive for COVID-19, he hooked up with a Sea Island Resort club fitter and shot 64 to tie the lead.
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – On a windy day better suited for flying a kite than hitting a golf ball more than 150 yards, Matt Wallace could’ve really used an experienced hand on the bag.
Unfortunately, his caddie, veteran Dave McNeilly, tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, forcing Wallace to find other options. Turns out he didn’t have to look far.
“I was like, ‘Oh, no, I’m going to be positive as well because I’ve been hanging around with (Dave) on Sunday at the golf course at the Masters. I don’t know when he would have got it,” Wallace said. “As soon as I found out that Dave tested positive, and luckily he was OK and everything, no symptoms, I messaged JP, Justin Parsons, [Sea Island’s director of instruction and teacher to several PGA Tour pros], who I know. I said, ‘I’ll take a local this week because of the two courses.’ I thought that was a good idea. I didn’t want to step on Dave’s toes as well with another pro caddie.”
RSM Classic: Leaderboard
Parsons recommended one of his staff members, Jeffrey Cammon, a club fitter, who stepped in and provided local knowledge. Wallace, 30, birdied the first two holes en route to making eight birdies and shooting 6-under 64 on the Seaside Course at Sea Island Golf Club to share the lead with Camilo Villegas and one better than eight golfers. Wallace noted that Cammon was “chill,” and his first question when they met was simply: “What do you want me to do or say?”
“I was like, ‘Listen, mate, I don’t need anything. I’ll ask you a question and you answer it just with pure facts of what you think,’ ” Wallace said. “It worked well today. I said to him, ‘Is the wind more out of the left than it is like helping,’ and he’s like, ‘Yep,’ and that was it. It was really simple. Struck the ball really nicely today and rolled the ball well.”
That would be an understatement. Wallace sank 138 feet of putts and ranked third in Strokes Gained: putting on the day. Wallace, who entered the week ranked No. 53 in the world, visited Sea Island Resort’s Performance Center and the putting lab that is the U.S. base of famed putting instructor Phil Kenyon. Wallace spent about 45 minutes in the putting lab, sending data back to his coach in England and experimented with three different Callaway Toulon Design putters before settling on the Atlanta model without a sightline on the back.
What a finish for leader @MattsjWallace.
He saved par from 30 feet after hitting his tee shot in the penalty area.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/KNFr6v9l3h
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 19, 2020
“Because I haven’t been comfortable over the ball, I’ve taken a lot of time over the ball,” said Wallace, who ranks No. 175 in SGP this season. “My putting hasn’t been where it should be and it was the area I needed to work on the most. I chose the no-sightline one and able to roll the ball end over end, which is part of my game that I do really well. I haven’t been doing that, so getting back to that this week has been really nice.”
Wallace said that his fill-in caddie helped with a read on the fourth green. “I said, ‘Don’t read anymore putts because you’re 100 percent,’ ” Wallace said.
The Englishman has won tournaments on the European Tour, but he’s struggled in his transition to the PGA Tour, recording just one top-10 finish last season and failing to qualify for the FedEx Cup.
“The strength and depth is so deep,” Wallace said. “The players are amazing.”
On Friday, Wallace will tackle the Plantation Course, where he walked nine on Tuesday and played nine on Wednesday.
“Having Jeffrey there, that’s another buffer that I feel I’ve got where he’s been around there plenty and knows the misses,” Wallace said. “We spoke about that and we’ll have a good game plan tomorrow.”
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About 40 percent of the 155 players broke par on Thursday despite high winds harshly impacting tee shots, approaches and putts.
Rory Sabbatini didn’t have a good warmup session ahead of Thursday’s first round of the RSM Classic.
The weather wasn’t anything to rave about, either, as a biting chill was in the air and winds were whipping across the Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Georgia. And Sabbatini would play the Seaside Course, historically the harder and more exposed of the two tracks used for the tournament hosted by Davis Love III.
So Sabbatini, playing in the first group off, naturally birdied his first four holes and finished with a bogey-free 5-under-par 65 to grab a spot on the first page of the leaderboard.
“I was kind of going, I don’t know what’s going on here but I’m enjoying it,” said Sabbatini, who has overcome issues with his neck and is looking for his first win since the 2011 Honda Classic. “I didn’t feel like I hit the ball particularly well on the range and I didn’t feel like I was putting very good and all of a sudden it clicked on the golf course.
“This is a golf course, when you get opportunities, you’ve got to try to maximize them. Yet still, even with the conditions out there, if you try and maximize them, you’ve got to be careful you don’t mess up what you’re trying to maximize.”
RSM CLASSIC: Leaderboard
Sabbatini wasn’t the only one to get a handle on the tough – or as Zach Johnson said – brutal conditions. About 40 percent of the 155 players broke par despite high winds harshly impacting tee shots, approaches and putts.
Matt Wallace, who is using a local caddie after his regular caddie tested positive for COVID-19, finished with a par on his final hole despite taking a penalty drop and grabbed a share of the lead with a 6-under 64 on Seaside.
“Windy day,” said Wallace, who plays the majority of his golf on the European Tour. “The wind picked up as the day went on. It was really blustery and gusting up a good amount around the 13th, 14th where we go out to sea a little bit. Hitting a 5-iron from 150 yards is not normal, but I’m kind of used to that from being back home, just normally playing on links courses rather than these types of courses.
“Putted great. Got off to a nice start and holed a good putt on the third hole for bogey. Good momentum there. Carried it on till the end there.”
Joining Wallace at the top of the leaderboard was Camilo Villegas, whose 22-month-old daughter, Mia, died in July after battling cancerous tumors on her brain and spine. Villegas matched his career low on Seaside with a bogey-free 64.
“It was tough out here, but I love this place,” Villegas said. “I’ve been coming here since 2000 and it’s one of those stops I don’t like missing. I’ve been feeling good, to be honest.
“It was kind of nice this morning. I got on the range and see a little rainbow out there. I start thinking about Mia and said hey, let’s have a good one. She loved colors and rainbows. It was a nice way to start the day. It was a good ball‑striking round, it was a great putting round. I was pretty free all day. Like you said, it’s tough to be free under these conditions, but I found a way to do it.”
Joining Sabbatini at 5 under were seven players, including Cameron Tringale, Adam Long, Keegan Bradley and Doug Ghim, who all posted 5-under-par 67 on the inland Plantation Course.
Ten players, including local favorites Johnson, Harris English and 2015 RSM Classic winner Kevin Kisner, were at 4 under.
“Today was brutal. I mean, I don’t know what other guys are saying, but I played really, really, really good,” said Johnson, who lives within 10 miles of Sea Island Golf Club and played Seaside.
“I had opportunities that I didn’t even capitalize on, but I made some. I made two bogeys from the middle of the fairway straight into the wind, which you’re going to do. It was just very difficult, difficult to judge distance, trajectory. It was a survival test.”
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Mia Villegas died on Sunday, July 26, after multiple rounds of chemotherapy. She was 22 months old and two hours.
JACKSON, Miss. – Camilo Villegas remembers being a hot mess at the beginning. He cried for three days when he learned that his only child, a not-even-two-year-old daughter, Mia, had cancerous tumors on her brain and spine. It was a Sunday in February when Villegas and wife Maria Ochoa waited for the results of the initial tests.
Typically, they didn’t do such scans on Sundays at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, but when Barbara Nicklaus calls on your behalf, schedules change.
Villegas’ world was flipped upside down the week of the Honda Classic. He remembers that Mia cried more than normal, but he and his wife assumed she was simply teething and took her to the pediatrician. Only a parent can really tell when something isn’t right with their child and Villegas, 38, sensed something was off when they walked into a gym.
“She was always a little monkey around the gym, and I noticed she wasn’t being the little monkey that she always was,” he said in June. “I don’t know why, I just kind of got a bad feeling.”
So, he and Maria slept at the hospital the night before the scan. Hours of waiting felt like days. It reminded him of visiting St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. He made it a habit of going to see the kids there every year during the PGA Tour’s annual stop.
“I remember walking in the lobby and seeing all the parents there. That to me was the really hard part,” he said. “All of a sudden I was one of those parents at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.”
When a knock on the door broke the silence, Villegas was greeted by an army of faces and he instantly knew the verdict was grim.
“You don’t need 10 doctors to tell you the good news,” he said.
So, he cried. Fresh tears.
For three days.
“Every time I looked at my little one I couldn’t hold it in,” he said. “My wife was so strong. She didn’t want us to communicate any negative energy. I really struggled. Most people would’ve thought that the end was the hardest part, but I truly believe that she’s in a beautiful place.”
Mia died on Sunday, July 26, after multiple rounds of chemotherapy. She was 22 months old and two hours. On the previous Tuesday, the latest scan determined that the chemo wasn’t working and the tumors that littered her body were growing.
“That’s when it turned from our miracle to Mia’s miracle,” Villegas said. “I knew what was going to happen. Knowing she was going to be in a better place gave me peace. That Sunday was somewhat peaceful, to be honest.”
How does one move on after losing a child, especially at such a young age? How does one get out of bed in the morning let alone make four birdies in a row and shoot a 66 as he did at the Sanderson Farms Championship on Sunday?
“Life is good,” Villegas said. “I think a lot of people if they hear me say that will be like, ‘What the heck is he saying,’ but it is.”
It’s become a sportswriting cliché to say that returning to the playing field after experiencing any hardship in life for an athlete is a welcome diversion, but Villegas believes his training as a professional golfer has served him well.
“We kind of learn how to do it with what we do for a living, to forget the bogeys and the failure. You can’t live in the past. I’ve managed to find a way to bring that a little bit to our family situation,” he said. “It’s not forget. Let’s be very clear. You don’t forget your child. It’s accept. Once you’re able to accept the past, it changes the whole perception.”
And then Villegas says something that may explain his ability to compartmentalize a tragedy that would leave many of us paralyzed in a state of grief.
“I never asked, ‘Why me?’ I think that has helped a lot,” Villegas said. “We always focused on, ‘What for?’ We’re slowly finding out that answer.”
Like so many pro athletes, Villegas created his own charitable foundation, but by his own admission, he wasn’t very active. The Camilo Villegas Foundation supported various charitable initiatives. It has been renamed Mia’s Miracles, and with a renewed purpose: to celebrate Mia’s life and help other families undergoing the same experiences with childhood cancer.
“Mia’s miracle was to be here for a short time, send a message, and help others and that’s where the foundation comes along,” said Villegas, noting that his wife is spearheading the effort beginning with a series of community beach walks.
“It’s not forget. Let’s be very clear. You don’t forget your child. It’s accept.”
On the golf course, Villegas is trying to mount a comeback after missing nearly two years with a shoulder injury. The four-time PGA Tour winner once reached as high as No. 7 in the world, but he began the year ranked No. 2074. He played six times on the Korn Ferry Tour this season and in his second start back on the PGA Tour via a medical extension, he finished T-22 at the Sanderson Farms Championship, his first made cut since the 2018 Honda Classic. Even his injury is looked at in a different light after losing Mia.
“If my shoulder would’ve been good, I would have spent half as much time with my daughter because I would’ve been off playing golf,” Villegas said. “I can care less about not playing golf for that year and a half. I was there for her.”
Support for Villegas has come from various circles. His brother, Manny, a touring pro and caddie for Luke Donald, has been there in his time of need, and began caddying for him since the Korn Ferry Challenge in June. Villegas says he has felt the outpouring of affection from his fans and fellow pros. He didn’t want to get into specifics because he didn’t want to leave anybody out, but noted that in the aftermath of his announcement of Mia’s diagnosis at the Korn Ferry Challenge in June his phone blew up with text, voicemails and social media posts.
“Even though I knew there was a lot of love I couldn’t look at it anymore,” he said.
Maria joined her husband at the Safeway Open in Napa, California.
Villegas called it “part of the process.”
“Every week I come out here, there’s four more guys that I haven’t seen,” Villegas said. “We forget COVID for a moment. They’ll say, ‘Come here, I’ve got to give you a hug.’ ”
Between him and his brother, they’ve found something in his swing and his shoulder has healed to the point where he can begin training properly and he’s gaining speed in his swing to compete against the young pups. However, there’s no timeline for mending a broken heart.
“The hardest thing for me is when I scroll through my pictures. We live in a digital age. I’ve got 4-5 months of images that bring out the love, but they bring out the tears too,” he said. “My wife scrolls through them all the time. Looks at pictures and little videos. I struggle with it to be honest. That’s the toughest.”
Mia is never far from his mind. Symbolic of his love are the two bracelets he’s wearing on his left wrist. The first one is from a children’s hospital in Colombia. Villegas competed in the Korn Ferry Tour’s Country Club de Bogota Championship in February and a good friend of his took him to the hospital to see kids being treated with heart problems.
At the end of the tour, he purchased a red bracelet of thread. The other one his wife made for him, just as she did for several nurses at Nicklaus Children’s hospital during Mia’s treatment. Black and white beads with the letters C-M-M-P – standing for Camilo, Maria, Mia and their dog, Pixie – are separated by hearts.
“That’s the family, man,” he said.
Someday, Villegas still holds out hope that the family will grow. He said they already have begun trying to have another child.
“My wife was nervous at the beginning. We talked to the doctors and they said it was just a bad lottery ticket. There’s nothing that suggests this would happen again,” he said. “We’re looking forward. It took us a while to get pregnant. In the meantime, we’re going to help others, remember the good, and focus on what’s coming.”
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Villegas made six birdies to card a 6-under 66 — his best round on Tour since 2017 — in the final round of the Sanderson Farms Championship.
Camilo Villegas was shaky on the first tee Sunday at Country Club of Jackson.
That shakiness didn’t last long.
Following a third-round 74, Villegas made six birdies to card a 6-under 66 — his best round on Tour since 2017 — in the final round of the Sanderson Farms Championship. The four-time PGA Tour champion finished the event at 10 under, good for a top-25 finish after morning tee times.
Although proud of his 66, which rocketed him more than 20 spots up the leaderboard, Villegas said he thought he played better Thursday and Friday when he shot back-to-back 69s. To build off this week, he said he’ll focus on putting.
“The week was very weak with the putting, but the rest was great,” Villegas said. “A little work on the putting, keep the rest the same, and we’ll be there in Vegas next week.”
Sanderson Farms: Leaderboard | Photos
The only other Tour event in which the 38-year-old competed this season was the Safeway Open where he missed the cut.
In his final round in Jackson, Mississippi, Villegas made the turn at 2 under and accelerated on the back nine. He recorded a string of four birdies on Nos. 12-15 to finish the day bogey-free. Of the back nine, Villegas said he managed to play better the holes noticeably better Sunday than he did Saturday. On Saturday, he carded three bogeys on the back nine.
“The golf course is gettable if you drive it good because you can control the spin,” Villegas said. “Once you start getting a little bit crooked, you’re going to get — I love the rough here, don’t get me wrong, and the reason why I love it is because you can always advance it forward, but you’ve got to be very, very smart and a little bit lucky in terms of judging the lie, how the ball is going to react. I got a couple fliers yesterday that cost me.”
More than his bogey-free round on Sunday, Villegas was thankful to be free from shoulder irritation and back competing on Tour. Last season, Villegas competed in one PGA Tour event, the Honda Classic, where he missed the cut, and six Korn Ferry Tour events in which he made five cuts and his best finish was a T-4 in February at the Country Club de Bogota Championship.
Villegas hasn’t won on Tour since the 2014 Wyndham Championship.
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“I’m just excited to swing a golf club, man,” Villegas said Sunday. “The last two years have been crazy to say the least, injury and then with our family situation, but like I told my wife, we can’t change the past, so we’re focusing on what’s going on right now, having a good attitude, and once again, I’m very, very happy to be swinging a golf club again.”
Villegas’ daughter, Mia, died in July at 22 months old after a six-month battle with tumors on her brain and spine.
The former University of Florida golfer is planning to compete at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open (Oct. 8-11), Bermuda Championship (Oct. 29-Nov. 1) and the Houston Open (Nov. 5-8). Villegas also said he might compete at the RSM Classic (Nov. 19-22).
The Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at TPC Summerlin begins Thursday in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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After battling tumors on her brain and spine, Mia Villegas, the 22-month-old daughter of PGA Tour player Camilo Villegas, passed away.
After battling tumors on her brain and spine for the past six months, Mia Villegas, the 22-month-old daughter of PGA Tour player Camilo Villegas, passed away on Sunday, according to the PGA Tour.
Villegas, 38, revealed his daughter’s health battle in June before the start of the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass. Villegas and his wife, Maria, had noticed their daughter was not acting like herself in February while Camilo was playing the Honda Classic. Mia had stopped climbing and playing during her frequent trips to the gym with her dad and was crying more at night.
Initially, Camilo and Maria thought the change in behavior had to do with Mia teething. Scans at the Nicklaus Children’s Hopsital in Miami on March 14 revealed the tumors. Mía underwent surgery, but Camilo and Maria were told that persisting issues would require more treatment.
“After the surgery, when it was time to remove the stitches, they learned the growth had become pretty aggressive,” he told the PGA Tour. “We were told we needed to start treatment right away, so they kept us there. Physically, though, she wasn’t ready to get the kind of chemo doctors were hoping for.”
Mia was Camilo and Maria’s only child.
Villegas finished T-33 at the Korn Ferry Challenge and has not teed it up in competition since. Villegas is playing on a medical extension and has 13 PGA Tour starts left. He made his lone start on the Tour at the Honda Classic and missed the cut.
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Camilo Villegas went into the first round of the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass with no expectations and posted a lights-out score.
Camilo Villegas went into Thursday’s first round of the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass with no expectations.
After all, he had not hit a golf shot in competition since Feb. 9 in his native country of Colombia, when he tied for fourth in the Bogota Championship. Since the coronavirus pandemic forced a shutdown in professional golf after the first round of the Players Championship on March 12, his best guess is that he played several practice rounds in Jupiter, Florida.
Then there was the main reason he wasn’t going to stress over bad shots or missed putts: his 20-month-old daughter Mia is undergoing treatment for tumors on her brain and spine, which he revealed on Wednesday during an emotional news conference.
Scores | Villegas and his daughter | Monday qualifier
“Like I said [Wednesday] … play good, good,” he said. “Play bad, good. I’m in a different place right now.”
Then, after being told by his brother and caddie Manuel Villegas to “go out and have fun,” Villegas birdied six of his first 12 holes and survived a sloppy finish to shoot 3-under 67 at Dye’s Valley to finish in a tie for 10th, three shots behind leader Paul Barjon (64), a native of France who played college golf at TCU.
A group of veterans with PGA Tour experience were bunched together in a tie for second at 4 under, including Tim Wilkinson of Jacksonville Beach, Erik Compton, Luke List, Scott Langley and Ryan Brehm.
Joining Villegas at 3 under were Ben Martin, who nearly won the Players Championship five years ago at the neighboring Stadium Course, Curtis Luck, who had a hole-in-one at No. 11, his second hole, and PGA Tour veterans Mark Anderson, Tag Ridings and Roberto Diaz.
There are 22 players within three shots of Barjon as the field of 155 players took advantage of light wind and soft greens to average just a shade over the par of 70 on the Valley Course.
Villegas was the fifth alternate into the tournament and after those dominoes fell, he made his first start in four months. Beginning at No. 10, he birdied three of his first four, countered a bogey at No. 15 with birdies at Nos. 16 and 18, then turned and birdied the par-5 first hole to take the tournament lead at 5-under.
Villegas bogeyed two of his last four holes but he wasn’t about to complain – especially about his work on the speedy Valley greens, where he needed only 26 putts.
“There were a couple of mistakes but I rolled it beautiful on the back nine, my front nine,” he said. “All in all, I’m happy to be here. More than the scoring, more than anything, it just feels good to have the energy. There was some good energy coming my way and I felt it. It was awesome.”
Part of that energy was the outpouring of texts, emails, phone calls and prayers after the former University of Florida All-American and four-time PGA Tour winner talked about the challenges his daughter faces.
“My phone was blowing up,” he said. “The support and the energy, the prayers and all the good stuff coming from everybody because they feel it and they feel for you and I felt it out there.”
Villegas also thanked fans who posted their feelings on social media.
“It’s pretty touching to see how many people think about you,” he said. “Especially in tough situations. I think my message was pretty clear. Don’t feel bad for us. Just send us good energy, a little prayer for Mia would be great. She’ll keep fighting and we’ll keep fighting. One day we’ll celebrate when she’s clean. I felt that energy and those prayers. I’m sure they’ll continue to send us the good vibes.”
Barjon, a former TCU player, took the lead after a pedestrian front nine (the Valley’s back) in which he made one birdie.
He then rattled off five birdies among his first seven holes on the front.
“I hit the ball pretty good all day but during the first nine holes, I had some issues with the speed of the greens,” said Barjon, who lost to David Kocher in sudden death in the Korn Ferry’s last tournament at the El Bosque Mexico Championship. “I don’t remember the last time I’ve played greens this fast and they’re soft at the same time, so they’re hard to figure out. On the back nine, I hit it a little closer and made a few putts. My speed was a little better so, I definitely turned it on.”
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“We’ve got no other option than to be strong and to support her and to send her good energy,” Camilo Villegas said on Wednesday.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – On a steamy afternoon that reminded him of his college days not far down the road at the University of Florida, Camilo Villegas wiped away tears not perspiration.
“I knew it was going to happen,” Villegas said as he paused to collect his emotions.
Then he revealed that his 20-month-old daughter, Mia, had been diagnosed with brain tumors and tumors on her spine in March.
“To see a little one fight for their life like this, it’s cool, man. It’s our reality, that’s what I tell my wife,” he said. “We’ve got no other option than to be strong and to support her and to send her good energy.”
Villegas, 38 and with a thin gray stubble beard these days, wasn’t sure that he wanted to talk publicly about his daughter’s illness, just as he wasn’t sure whether he could leave her side to play in this week’s Korn Ferry Challenge until his wife, Maria, all but kicked him out of the house, saying it would be good for him.
“I don’t really know where my mind is. I know where my heart is. But you also have to listen to the people that love you, and that’s what my wife said, ‘Just go out there and enjoy,’ ” he said. “Golf is what you’ve done the years, golf has given you so many great things, and little Mia is inspiring the last few months to keep doing what we’re doing.”
Officially a Dad😍. Mom @mariaochoamora and Mia doing great and I simply can’t stop smiling…
Welcome to this world and this Family Mia😍. https://t.co/b9uWkmoOm0— Camilo Villegas (@CamiloVillegasR) October 3, 2018
Villegas’s world was flipped upside down the week of the Honda Classic in late February. Villegas remembers that she cried more than normal, but he and his wife assumed their child was simply teething and took her to the pediatrician. But only a parent can really tell when something isn’t right with their child and Villegas sensed something was off when they walked into a gym.
“She was always a little monkey around the gym, and I noticed she wasn’t being the little monkey the she always was,” he said. “I don’t know why, I just kind of got a bad feeling.”
Villegas took it upon himself to call Barbara Nicklaus, who set up an initial appointment at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, where Mia is undergoing her treatments.
“They weren’t really doing scans on Sunday, but they got everybody in there for us,” Villegas said.
Mia currently is on her second round of chemotherapy and Villegas said they won’t know the prognosis until a month or two following the third round of treatment.
“I remember the first thing the doctor said, he said, ‘Listen man, if we gave you the chemo we’re going to give her, you wouldn’t make it.’ So, they can take a lot,” he said. “I remember the beginning, she kept crying and playing. I didn’t really get that. How can you cry and play? But she wanted to play. So, they’re strong. They’re strong. It’s inspiring to watch. Tough, but inspiring.”
Villegas is trying to mount his own comeback on the golf course. The four-time PGA Tour winner once reached as high as No. 7 in the world, but he began the year ranked No. 2074.
A shoulder injury has limited his play for the last couple of seasons and he hasn’t made a PGA Tour cut since the 2018 Honda Classic. His last top-10 finish was at the 2016 Valero Texas Open and he hasn’t tasted victory since the 2014 Wyndham Championship.
Villegas is playing on a medical extension and has 13 PGA Tour starts left. (He made his lone start on the Tour at the Honda Classic and missed the cut.) He’s made three starts on the Korn Ferry Tour this season, including a T-4 at the Bogota Championship, where he shot four rounds in the 60s. Spurred by the support of the hometown crowd, he held a share of the 18- and 36-hole leads.
“I felt what it feels like when you’re fighting for the championships,” he said at the time.
But golf takes a backseat for now as his daughter fights for her life.
“Whenever I feel emotionally ready, I’ll come back and play,” Villegas said.
This week he hopes to draw inspiration from his daughter and enjoy time with his brother Manuel, who caddies regularly for Luke Donald, and is on the bag this week at a place where Villegas has good memories of playing at the Players Championship.
“This is not about feeling sorry for the Villegas family, this is about sending the Villegas family good energy, support and inspiration,” he said. “Hopefully, just like I’ve had a chance to celebrate some golf tournaments, we’ll celebrate the day that she’s clean.”
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There are now 16 PGA Tour winners who have combined for 36 titles who will tee it up in this week’s Korn Ferry Tour re-start event.
There have been five withdrawals from the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass, which resulted in three more past PGA Tour winners added to the field, including one Gator and one Bulldog.
Camilo Villegas, who has won four PGA Tour titles, Hudson Swafford, who has one, and D.A. Points, who has three, will be among the 156 players who will start at Dye’s Valley on Thursday.
That brings the list to 16 past Tour winners who have combined for 36 titles in the field. The group is led by 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir (eight victories) and Robert Allenby and Sean O’Hair (four each).
Villegas, who played on the University of Florida’s 2001 national championship team, won the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship in 2008. His last victory was in 2014 at the Wyndham Championship.
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Swafford, a St. Simons Island, Georgia, resident, left Georgia after the 2011 season and won the PGA Tour’s event in Palm Springs, California, in 2017.
The highlight for Points in his career was winning in 2011 at Pebble Beach.
A total of five players have withdrawn since the field was finalized late last week: Joshua Creel, Bo Hoag, James Hahn, Derek Lamely and John Oda. The players are not required to make a reason for their withdrawal public.
For medical privacy reasons, the PGA Tour has said it will not release the names of any player on any of its tours who are forced to withdraw because of a positive coronavirus test.
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