Camilo Villegas is a five-time PGA Tour winner. At 43, he understands the grind of professional golf – the highs and lows – better than most. Two years ago in Bermuda, Villegas, a Colombian, broke a nine-year winless drought at the Butterfield Championship and was given a two-year exemption in the process.
But his two-year pass expired this year, and he ended up back at Q-School, needing more than four days to regain his fully exempt status.
“I was able to win in my 40s, and that’s pretty good,” Villegas said after the second round of Q-School. “But here we are. Whatever I’ve done in the past doesn’t matter in the end. It’s where we are now.”
Villegas put himself in position to keep his card, but needed a great Sunday to finish in the top five and stay on the top circuit. He took the first, but made a double bogey on the 9th, leaving the turn tied for the day and falling well short of the pace needed to earn back his card. But Villegas put the pedal to the metal on the back nine, making four consecutive birdies from 14 through 17 to reach the 18th hole at Dye’s Valley needing a birdie to get into the playoffs.
Villegas split the fairway and knocked his approach close, but missed the birdie attempt to finish at 10 under, one shot out of the play-off between Dylan Wu and Ben Silverman for the fifth and final card dealt at Q School.
Instead, he stuck around to watch his friend and compatriot, Macelo Rozo, come home within three under, finishing in a tie for second place and securing a PGA Tour card for the first time in the 36-year-old’s career. After Rozo hit his par putt on the 18th hole, his emotions poured out. Rozo celebrated it not only with his family, but also with Villegas.
Rozo was aware of Villegas’ furious back-nine run and that his friend, with whom he was staying during the busy week, was one shot short.
“I looked, I looked,” Rozo said on Sunday. “I think I accidentally landed on a scoreboard and I saw his name. Yeah, 13. I saw ‘Villegas.’ I thought, I know that guy. He wouldn’t go down without a fight. He’s feisty, he’s really good, and I think a day like today would help his game. He is very good in the wind, as we all know. He took flight. Obviously I’m sad that he didn’t make it all the way to the play-offs to earn another card, but I’m sure he’s proud of the way he fought.”
With both of their jobs on the line, Rozo said he and Villegas kept things “light” Saturday night, and then the five-time PGA Tour winner offered some words of encouragement Sunday morning as Rozo prepared to chase his dream.
“He came down and told me, ‘Hey, you’re going to feel like it’s going to get away from you at some point. It’s definitely going to happen. Just know that you just have to keep fighting until the end, hitting one shot at a time,'” Rozo said. “He told me yesterday, look at myself, I was, I think, four up through nine. He brought it back to even, but he said keep your head down. It’s going to be hard, but you’re up for the challenge.”
Rozo said that after Villegas and his caddy left the house Sunday morning, Rozo called his mental coach and then cried as the magnitude of the 18 holes became clear to him. But he said he embraced the emotions. He held them and prepared to finally realize his dream.
“I said to myself, and I even wrote some things down, like this morning with the steam in the shower,” Rozo said. “Like ‘PGA Tour Member ’26,’ I wrote that. Those little moments that obviously I didn’t share with anyone.”
Eighteen holes later, Rozo’s lifelong quest to join the PGA Tour was complete, and Villegas was there, even if he fell just one short of joining him, to share a moment that meant more than words could say.
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