Camilo

Villegas

Playing on past champions status, Villegas is just 3-for-8 to find himself 217th in the FedExCup race. The best finish of his season is just a T48 at the Puerto Rico Open. Gamers can keep him far off their radar for the foreseeable future.

Villegas opened his week with a 5-over 77, putting him well behind the pace of even making the 36-hole cut. He landed just 11 GIR and lost more than two strokes putting. Playing this season on conditional status, he entered at just 186th in the FedExCup race and now moves to 12-for-25 on the season. As a four-time past champ he’ll always have some playing opportunities but he has cracked the FedExCup Playoffs just once since the 2015-16 campaign.

The 40-year-old is having a rough go about it this season, checking in at 187th in the FedExCup standings with 10 made cuts and 11 missed. His best finish is a T33 at The AmEx 15 starts ago, and his most recent top 10 was a T8 at last season’s Honda 16 months ago as a former winner of the event. This week, the Venezuelan started swimmingly, outflanking one square (failed scramble) with eight circles on 12 (of 14) fairways and 15 greens in regulation. At last check, he lost 0.419 strokes with the flat stick but gained 5.114 tee-to-green, including 1.944 off-the-tee, which is No. 1-ranked from the early starters. This is the Florida alum’s third Barbasol with a best of T53 last year (71-69-72-68).

Also joining Immelman as assistants at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., over Sept. 20-25 are Canada’s Mike Weir, Korea’s K.J. Choi and Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy. It will mark the first time as a captain’s assistant for the 40-year-old Villegas, who has made one Presidents Cup appearance (2009, TPC Harding Park). “Although it has been over 10 years since I played the event, I still have fond memories that are unforgettable, so joining on the other side as a captain’s assistant will be a highlight of my career,” the four-time Tour winner said in a statement. Villegas is making his seventh starts in the Zurich Classic, where his best finish is a T-14 in 2017 with Morgan Hoffmann. On the season, Villegas has made seven cuts in 14 starts with a best result of T-33 at the American Express. He recently finished T-59 at the RBC Heritage.

The 40-year-old from Colombia, a four-time Tour winner, has made 14 starts at PGA National and made the cut eight times with a win at the 2010 Honda Classic, two other top 10s – runner-up in 2007 and T-8 last year – and three top 25s. Overall at the Honda, Villegas is making his 16th appearance in the event with nine cuts made. In 2010, he recorded four rounds in the 60s to finish five strokes ahead of Anthony Kim and matched the tournament record for largest margin of victory. In 2007, he finished T-2 after losing in a four-way playoff to Mark Wilson. Last season, Villegas finished 130th on the FedExCup standings with 15 cuts made in 26 starts.

Villegas had his irons dialed in today and it started early when he landed his 196-yard approach just 6'1" from the cup and rolled it in for eagle at the par-5 second hole. Before his day was done, he would give himself a total of 10 birdie-or-better looks from inside of 12 feet. As you can imagine, that grades out very well in the approach department (+3.565 strokes gained approach, 1st in the field).

These go-low rounds are nothing new for Villegas as he was the first-round co-leader at The RSM Classic in the fall and also led by himself after day one of the Valero Texas Open in early April. Overall, this would be his 14th first-round lead or co-lead on the PGA TOUR and second at the John Deere Classic (2013; 71st-place finish).

Villegas has rattled off top 30s in four of his last five starts but he backed out early last week at the Wells Fargo Championship and he’s doing the same this week. Gamers should remove him from weekly lineups but be willing to hop back on the train when he returns to action. He gained 1.6 strokes off-the-tee at the Valero Texas Open, gained 7.2 strokes putting at the RBC Heritage, and 4.9 strokes on approach at the Valspar Championship. He’s showcasing bits of pieces of an all-around game.

The USC standout is playing his eighth event of the season and utilizing his final sponsor exemption of the year. He got a late spot into the field this week after Camilo Villegas withdrew from the event on Tuesday morning. Suh will need 82 FedExCup Points to achieve Special Temporary Membership to unlock more sponsor invites, otherwise, he will be relying on Monday Qualifiers. The most Non-Member Points he’s earned in a single event is 75 (T8 at the Shriners last fall) so it will take a career-best week to fulfill those terms. Regardless of where his status falls, gamers should continue to invest in weekly leagues, now that he is healthy. The youngster has collected top 40s in seven of his last eight starts on the PGA TOUR.

Villegas is no longer playing on a Major Medical, which ended at the Honda where he fell 60 FedExCup Points shy of fulfilling the full terms. As a result, he will play on conditional status for the remainder of the year, but not this week. He’s currently 94th in the FedExCup race so full status could be coming his way at year’s end if he maintains this pace. Gamers should remove him from all weekly lineups but he’ll remain a risky, high-upside option any time he pegs it.

Villegas put on a short-game clinic in round one (+3.2 strokes gained around-the-green and +4.8 strokes gained putting) but he came back to Earth on day two. The Colombian piped 10-of-14 fairways but landed just nine greens in regulation. The putts stopped falling as he missed nine putts from inside of 14 feet today (-3.022 SG Putting). He entered the week ranked 118th in the FedExCup race but he relied on a sponsor’s invite to crack the field as he plays on conditional status after failing to fully meet the terms of his Major Medical.