One & Done: WGC-Bridgestone Invitational

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Moving on from a devastating summer of losing his child, Camilo Villegas made a 10-foot birdie putt on his final hole Thursday for a 6-under 64 and a share of the lead with Matt Wallace in The RSM Classic. RELATED: Final leaderboard | The healing has begun for Camilo and Maria Villegas Villegas and Wallace each finished on the Seaside course at Sea Island with big putts. Villegas capped off a bogey-free round on the ninth hole for his lowest score on the PGA TOUR in four years. Wallace hit into a hazard on the 18th and saved par with a 30-foot putt. They were a shot ahead of eight players, a group that included Sea Island resident Patton Kizzire and Robert Streb, who won his only PGA TOUR title at Sea Island five years ago. They each had 5-under 67 on the Plantation course, which played about three-quarters of a shot harder. Villegas was trying to return from a shoulder injury that kept him out all of 2019 when he and wife learned early this year their 2-year-old daughter, Mia, had tumors developing on her brain and spine. She was going through chemotherapy when she died in July. He’s trying to move on and hang on to memories, and he had one immediately while warming up with his brother, Manny, working as his caddie. "Got on the range and see a little rainbow out there. I start thinking about Mia and said, ‘Hey, let's have a good one.’ Nice to have Manny on the bag and yes, it was a good ball-striking round, it was a great putting round. I was pretty free all day." Villegas, a 38-year-old from Colombia, is a four-time winner on the PGA TOUR, including the last two FedExCup Playoff events in 2008. He has missed the cut in three of his five events of the new PGA TOUR season, which began a little more than a month after his daughter died. "I can’t change the past and since I can't change the past, I've got to focus on the present," Villegas said. “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 my now. It's not with her, but it is with her at the same time. "I love playing golf, I love doing what I do. The game of golf has been great to me," he said. "I happened to have a shoulder injury there for the last couple years that kind of set me back a bit, but I'm excited. I think things are rolling the right way and obviously if I keep doing what I did today, it should be fine." Wallace tied for 46th last week at the Masters Tournament, and then learned on his way to Sea Island about three hours away that his caddie, Dave McNealy, tested positive for the coronavirus. Wallace tested negative, but he was in need of a caddie. With two courses in the rotation he didn’t know, he decided on a local caddie named Jeffrey Cammon. "He’s really chill," said Wallace. "He said, ‘What do you want me to say?' That was the first question. I was like, ‘Listen, mate, I don't need anything. I’ll ask you a question and you answer it just with pure facts of what you think.’ It worked well today." Wallace has slipped in and out of the top 50 in the world in recent months, and with the year winding down, returning into the top 50 would set him up for a return to the Masters in April. The weather wasn’t as pleasant as it was at Augusta National, with cooler temperatures, strong wind and heavy clouds. Nearly half the 156-man field was at par or better. Sungjae Im, a runner-up at the Masters, began his round at Plantation with double bogey and brought it back to even-par 72.

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Sure, all eyes will still be on Tiger Woods. Same with Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas. But there are others on — or at the top — of the leaderboard worthy of attention.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Jordan Spieth came to Rickie Fowler’s defense on Tuesday when the discussion turned to majors won. Or in Fowler’s case, not won. Fowler, however, has won THE PLAYERS Championship, the signature victory of his four career wins on the PGA TOUR. Spieth has not won THE PLAYERS – in fact, he’s missed the cut in his last three starts after a T-4 finish in 2014 – but has three majors. From Spieth’s perspective, Fowler’s 2015 win at TPC Sawgrass is every bit as impressive as any major victory. “We look at this tournament up there in about equal value with the major championships,â€� Spieth said. “The only thing that holds it away from being a major is simply people jotting down how many majors people won. “I mean, it is one of the toughest tests in golf, with potentially the best field in golf. I think it is the best golf in all of golf. If you win here, you can win anywhere else. There is no added thing that any other tournament brings that this tournament doesn’t have. “Therefore, guys like Rickie, who kind of catches some slack for having not won a major yet, essentially he’s won what’s harder to win than a major: THE PLAYERS.â€� Informed of Spieth’s comments, Fowler could only smile. “See, so I won one?â€� he said. For the first two rounds this week, Fowler will be playing with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Those two have combined to win 19 majors. But from a PLAYERS standpoint, Fowler was won as many as Mickelson and could join Woods as a two-time winner this week. Mickelson, the 2007 winner, wouldn’t be surprised if THE PLAYERS eventually is recognized on equal terms as the majors. “It certainly is up there for me, given the strength of the field and the quality of the event,â€� he said. “I think it’s one of these events where, over time, it may very well become or be looked at as a major championship.â€� His thoughts have filtered down to younger players, including Jon Rahm, a frequent practice round partner who was coached at Arizona State by Mickelson’s brother Tim. “I’ve heard Phil say many times, he looked back at this win as the same category as the majors,â€� Rahm said, “I mean, that says it all for all of us. I think we would all look at it as a major championship.â€� Fowler, who posted his best major finish last month with a solo second at Augusta National, is proud of his PLAYERS win, when he played the final six holes of regulation in 6 under to join a playoff that included Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner. Fowler won on the fourth hole with a birdie at the 17th. It was his fifth birdie in six trips to 17 that week. “To have won this in ’15, you’d like to consider it almost like winning a major,â€� said Fowler when asked about being the best player without a major. “Obviously, it has that feel and the field that we have here, as well. We’re ready to go do it. It’s time to get myself off that list.â€� Origins of Tiger’s stinger shot Tiger Woods told the story Tuesday about how he developed his infamous stinger, the low, penetrating shot that he often leans on. It starts in his youth when he, ahem, “borrowedâ€� a beryllium copper Ping Eye2 1-iron from his dad Earl. “He couldn’t hit it anyways,â€� Woods said. “He had no speed, so he couldn’t hit it in the air. I said, I’ll take it off your hands. So I used it for a number of years. “I’m brilliant – the longer the ball stays in the air, the longer time it has to go crooked, so get that thing on the ground. So I started chipping and hitting these 1-irons, and it worked out. And then eventually, it started to basically cross over into other parts of my game. … “That 1-iron was probably the start of learning how to hit the ball down, and plus we had balata balls back then, so learning how to take spin off of it was a big thing.â€� Odds and ends Phil Mickelson posted his 43rd career victory earlier this year at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship. Afterward, he received a congratulatory note from George W. Bush – the 43rd President of the United States. “He said 43 has a great ring to it,â€� Mickelson said. “I just thought that was one of the coolest things that came from that and one of the most memorable.â€� Jon Rahm’s victory earlier this year at the CareerBuilder Challenge came on the West Coast version of the Stadium Course, at PGA West. Pete Dye was tasked to design that course after his legendary creation at TPC Sawgrass. But Rahm doesn’t know if the earlier win will help him this week. “It’s night and day,â€� he said. “First off, it’s Bermudagrass here; it’s overseed over there. So that’s the first difference. The ball reacts completely different on the green. But the design, it is somewhat similar.â€� Justin Thomas has a morning tee time on Thursday and plans to return to his hotel in time to watch the Woods-Mickelson-Fowler group that tees off at 1:52 p.m. ET. How star-packed is that group? “It’s hard to believe – and it’s absolutely not even close to any disrespect to Rickie – but Rickie being the third person in a group … I mean, that hasn’t happened in however long,â€� Thomas said. “He’s such a big name everywhere we go, Rick is. But when you’re with Tiger and Phil, it’s a totally different animal.â€�  

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