Villegas Wins First Title; Singh All but Clinches FedEx Cup
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ST. LOUIS — For three years, Camilo Villegas managed to make a name for himself without winning.
He was the young Colombian with model good looks and chic clothing, limber enough to strike a pretzel-shaped pose on the green to read putts, earning him the nickname “Spider-Man.” Trouble was, not many of those putts went in.
That changed yesterday at the BMW Championship.
Clinging to a one-shot lead on the back nine at Bellerive, Villegas saved par with a 12-foot putt, followed that with two birdie putts and finished off a 2-under 68 for a wire-to-wire victory and his first PGA Tour title.
“It was a pretty good little stretch there that just tested my nerves and showed myself that I was good enough to stay out there,” Villegas said.
Villegas pulled away from Jim Furyk, held off Anthony Kim and wound up winning by two shots over Dudley Hart, who birdied his final two holes for a 65. It was Hart’s best finish in four years and it earned him two trips to Georgia — the Tour Championship in two weeks and the Masters next April.
With one playoff event remaining, the FedEx Cup essentially is over.
Vijay Singh, who won the first two events, tied for 44th and earned enough points that all he has to do is complete four rounds at the Tour Championship in two weeks to collect the $10 million payoff.
But the surly Singh didn’t seem terribly grateful.
In a move that took some shine off the tour’s new prize, Singh refused to speak to NBC Sports and walked briskly past a group of other press after finishing his round.
