Camilo Villegas Restrepo (; born 7 January 1982) is a Colombian professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour.
Early years
Villegas was born in Medellín, Colombia, and took up golf as a child. After several different National Junior Championships in Colombia between the ages of 8 and 15, at 16 he became the first player in Colombian golf history to win the Amateur's Grand Slam in the same year: The National Junior Championship (stroke play), the National Junior Championship (match play), the National Amateur Championship, and the Colombian Open in the amateur category. Then, in 2001, he became only the second player to win the Colombian Open as an amateur. His success in Colombian golf throughout the 1990s earned him the distinction of "Player of the Decade" issued by the Colombian Golf Federation.
College career
Villegas accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for head coach Buddy Alexander's Florida Gators men's golf team in National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) competition from 2001 to 2004. As a freshman in 2001, Villegas was a member of the Gators' 2001 NCAA championship team. During his college golf career, he was the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Freshman of the Year in 2001, the SEC Player of the Year in 2002 and 2004, and an All-American four consecutive years (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004). Villegas graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in business administration in 2004.
Villegas is known for his commitment to physical fitness, and says his mentor and inspiration is golf icon Gary Player. Villegas and Player have starred together in a MasterCard "priceless" commercial. In the June 2006 issue of Golf Digest, Villegas was named "the sexiest player on tour, Tiger Woods included." He has also gained notoriety for sporting flashy dress clothing by designer J. Lindeberg. An alumnus of the University of Florida, Villegas frequently visits the university's Mark Bostick Golf Course when he is spending time at his residence in Gainesville, Florida. His younger brother, Manuel, also played on the University of Florida team and now plays on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Professional career
Villegas began playing on the PGA Tour in 2004 and earned his PGA Tour card just prior to the 2006 season. He had a blistering start to his 2006 rookie year on tour, with two second-place finishes and a third place (at The Players Championship) in his first nine events. He barely missed qualifying into the 2006 Masters Tournament in his rookie year, being just a single position on the PGA Tour money list (11th) under the requirement. He made his first Masters appearance in 2007 by finishing in the top 40 of the PGA Tour money list for 2006. He qualified for the 2008 Masters through his play during the inaugural FedEx Cup playoff system, that included an opening round 63 (8 under par) at the Deutsche Bank Championship, and three straight top 10 finishes. He entered the FedEx Cup playoffs in 52nd place and improved to 28th place through his play in the first three events, thus qualifying for the 30-man field at The Tour Championship in Atlanta, Georgia, where he finished in the top 10 for the third straight week and finished 24th on the FedEx Cup points list.
Villegas won his second professional event at the Coca-Cola Tokai Classic on the Japan Golf Tour in September 2007. By doing so, he earned ¥24,000,000 (approximately US$208,272). He shot a score of 282 (−2) and defeated Toyokazu Fujishima in a playoff by draining a 20-foot putt on the winning hole. Villegas won his third professional event at the TELUS Skins Game in June 2008 where he defeated a field that included Greg Norman, Colin Montgomerie, Mike Weir and "Mr. Skins", Fred Couples. Villegas took six skins for $130,000 with a short birdie putt on the 14th hole, and then won an additional four skins for $100,000 in a playoff, which was decided with a closest-to-the-pin shootout from 130 yards out on the 18th hole.
Villegas recorded a record-breaking second round in the 2008 Open Championship. He shot 65, which was the lowest score for any Open Championship second round at Royal Birkdale. He started off with two bogeys but ended with five consecutive birdies which put him at 5 under for his round. Villegas won his first PGA Tour title in September 2008, winning the BMW Championship by two shots over Dudley Hart. For the last 44 holes of the tournament, Villegas did not three putt, one-putting 27 of those last 44 holes. This victory took him to a career high of 18th in the Official World Golf Rankings.