Former Gators finish 1-2 at BMW Championship
Sunday, September 7, 2008 | Men's Golf
Former Gators finish 1-2 at BMW Championship
ST. LOUIS – Former Gator Camilo Villegas won his first title on the PGA TOUR with a wire-to-wire victory at the BMW Championship on Sunday. Fellow alum Dudley Hart shot a final round 65 to finish alone in second place.
Villegas shot a 2-under 68 for a two-shot win over Hart, who birdied the final two holes and earned a trip to the 2009 Masters with his highest finish in two years.
Hart finished the tournament at 13-under 267 and was the leader in the clubhouse when he finished.
Villegas, a native of Colombia, finished at 15-under 265 for the tournament and earned a $1.26 million payoff, almost doubling his earnings from the rest of the 2008 season.
"It's awesome to be here,'' said Villegas, who sank three big putts on the back nine on Sunday to clinch the title. "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.
Anthony Kim rallied late to get within two shots, but he sent his approach into the bleachers on the 18th and made bogey for a 67, leaving him a tie for third with Furyk, who shot 70.
With the victory, Villegas moved up 23 spots into second place in the FedEx Cup standings. Vijay Singh, who won the first two events in the FedEx Cup, tied for 44th and earned enough points that he essentially secured the $10 million bonus. All he has to do is compete in all four rounds at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola in two weeks and he will claim the FedEx Cup trophy.
Hart moved up 53 spots in the FedEx Cup standings to 14th place and earned a spot to compete in the final event in Atlanta in two weeks.
Villegas and Hart were both four-time All-Americans at Florida. Villegas was a member of the 2001 NCAA National Championship team.
