[ad_1]
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Georgia – Going through a devastating summer in which he lost his son, Camilo Villegas made a 10-foot birdie putt on his last hole on Thursday for a 6-under 64 and a share of the lead with Matt Wallace in The RSM Classic.
RELATED: Final ranking | Healing began for Camilo and Maria Villegas
Villegas and Wallace both finished on the Seaside course at Sea Island with big putts. Villegas finished a bogey-free round on the ninth hole for his lowest score on the PGA TOUR in four years. Wallace hit a hurdle on the 18th and saved par with a 30-foot putt.
They were a hit in front of eight players, a group that included Sea Island resident Patton Kizzire, and Robert Streb, who won his only PGA TOUR title on Sea Island five years ago. Each of them had 5 under 67s on the Plantation field, which played about three-quarters of a harder shot.
Villegas was trying to come back from a shoulder injury that kept him out of 2019 when he and his wife learned earlier this year that their 2-year-old daughter, Mia, had developing cancers at the brain and spine. She was having chemotherapy when she died in July.
He’s trying to move on and hold on to memories, and he had one immediately as he warmed up with his brother, Manny, who worked as his caddy.
“I went up to the field and saw a little rainbow out there. I start thinking about Mia and I said, “Hey, let’s make a good one.” It was nice to have Manny on the bag and yes it was a good round of ball shots, it was a great put round. I’ve been pretty free all day. “
Villegas, a 38-year-old Colombian, is a four-time winner of the PGA TOUR, including the last two FedExCup Playoff events in 2008. He missed the cut in three of his five events of the new PGA TOUR season, which began just over a month after the death of daughter.
“I can’t change the past and since I can’t change the past, I have to focus on the present,” said Villegas. “It’s not about forgetting because you never forget your daughter. It’s about being in the moment, being in the now and this is mine now. He’s not with her, but he’s with her at the same time.
“I love to play golf, I love to do what I do. The game of golf has been great for me, “he said.” I have happened to have a shoulder injury there in the last couple of years that has set me back a bit, but I’m excited. I think things are going for the right way and of course if I keep doing what I did today, it should be fine. “
Wallace drew for 46th place last week at the Masters Tournament, and then learned on his way to Sea Island about three hours away that his caddy, Dave McNealy, had tested positive for the coronavirus. Wallace tested negative, but he needed a caddy. With two courses in the unfamiliar rotation, he decided to pick a local caddy called Jeffrey Cammon.
“He’s really relaxed,” Wallace said. “He said, ‘What do you want me to say?’ That was the first question. I was like, ‘Listen, man, I don’t need anything. I ask you a question and you answer only with the pure facts of what you think. ‘Today it worked well. “
Wallace has been in and out of the world’s top 50 in recent months and, with the year at the end, returning to the top 50 would set him up for a return to the Masters in April.
The weather was not as pleasant as Augusta National, with cooler temperatures, strong winds and heavy clouds. Nearly half of the 156-man field was even or better.
Sungjae Im, second in the Masters, started his round at Plantation with a double bugbear and brought it back to a par 72.
Source link
