Villegas is newest member of the belly putter brigade
By: Emily Kay on 01/19/12 07:50 PMSpiderman has gone over to the dark side.
Camilo Villegas, the first-round co-leader of this week’s Humana Challenge has joined 2010 PGA champ Keegan Bradley, Deutsche Bank Championship winner Webb Simpson, FedEx Cup title holder Bill Haas, and a growing number of golfers -- young and not so young -- who have stuck belly putters into their bags and their guts. Or in the case of the buff Villegas, his “abs of steel,” as LPGA Tour star Christina Kim tweeted Thursday night.
The 29-year-old from Colombia, known for his yoga-style contortions when lining up putts, began practicing in public with the long stick in April during the PGA Tour’s Heritage event at Hilton Head’s Harbour Town Golf Links. “He said it feels simpler,” TV golf announcer David Feherty told the Charlotte Observer last May about why the world’s 97th-ranked golfer would even consider wielding a weapon that the Golf Channel funny man said makes players look “like you've just been tasered by a South Carolina state trooper.”
Despite how it may appear to others, Villegas began using the long stick in October at the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic Malaysia, with the Humana event the sixth in which he has put it into play, according to PGATour.com’s Helen Ross. So far, so good, as the golfer who ranked 141st in strokes gained-putting in 2011 needed only 24 short strokes Thursday on his way to a 9-under 63 on the Nicklaus Course. Villegas was tied with David Toms for the early lead, one shot clear of four golfers.
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. View all her articles here. You may also follow Kay on Twitter @golfexaminer.)
