Golf

‘Spider-man’ Villegas back on top after falling on hard times

It wasn’t long ago Camilo Villegas was “The Next Big Thing” on the PGA Tour. With a flair for the dramatic and his patented and flexible “Spider-man” technique for reading greens, the Colombian was supposed to take the golf world by storm.

He had a hard fall from grace, going from seventh in the world rankings to 254th entering last week’s Wyndham Championship in North Carolina. Yet that is where he picked up his first win in nearly 4 ¹/₂ years, riding the momentum into The Barclays, which starts Thursday at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J.

“This is a crazy game, the one we chose as a job, as our profession,” Villegas said Wednesday, before breaking into the third person. “Guess what, Camilo Villegas is the same guy. He just happened to win last week, and he’s pretty excited about what’s coming up.”

Villegas had won three times on the PGA Tour before his 29th birthday, and yet had to return to Qualifying School in 2012 to retain his playing privileges. He has all but abandoned the old green-reading style for a more conventional method, and one that has him less focused on perfection.

“I think you learn to know yourself and kind of what works for you, and what you enjoy, too,” Villegas said. “I love competition, and that’s why we keep showing up every week, every day, and competing on the PGA Tour — to try to win tournaments and trying to get better. It’s a great challenge.”


The last time The Barclays was at Ridgewood, in 2010, Jim Furyk was ranked third in the FedEx Cup standings, but was disqualified after oversleeping on Wednesday and missing his Pro-Am tee time. Coming in this week ranked No. 5, he didn’t want to same thing to happen, so he showed up bright and early for the 7:30 a.m. shotgun start.

Four years ago, after getting disqualified in the first of four playoff events, Furyk still won the $10 million prize at the Tour Championship.

“Effectively I missed this cut because I didn’t tee it up,” he said, “and played pretty mediocre through Boston and the BMW, and still had an opportunity to win.”

Furyk also was named the fourth player for the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, a 36-hole showdown between this year’s major winners to be held Oct. 14-15 in Bermuda. He joins Bubba Watson (Masters), Martin Kaymer (U.S. Open) and Rory McIlroy (British Open, PGA). Because McIlroy won two majors, a fourth player was chosen based on rankings. Adam Scott had first shot, but opted out, so Furyk got the spot.


This season saw Rickie Fowler become one of three players in history to finish in the top five in all four major championships, joining Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, who both did it twice. And yet Fowler didn’t win one. He still has no career majors and just one PGA Tour win.

“I would definitely like to get a win,” Fowler said of the FedEx Cup playoffs. “A win or possibly having a chance on Sunday at East Lake with a chance for everything there, it would be kind of icing on top of the cake for a pretty solid year for me.”

— With Post wire services