Colombia's Camilo Villegas secured his third PGA Tour title at PGA National in Florida, winning The Honda Classic by five shots from Anthony Kim of the USA.
Villegas didn't play a practice round at the PGA National resort, arriving back from Colombia on Wednesday night after a series of fundraising events. But the lack of preparation clearly didn't affect him as he opened with back-to-back 66s.
The Colombian took a three-shot lead into the final round but that advantage was cut to just two when veteran Fijian Vijay Singh birdied the fifth. Villegas responded by making three straight birdies from the eighth and that run gave him a lead he would never relinquish.
Although his putter went a little cold on the back nine, he holed a 20-foot birdie effort on the final green to take the title and climb to 12th on the Official World Golf Ranking.
"It's very special," Villegas said. "I'm just very privileged to do what I do. But trust me, it's tough. These guys are good. That is so true. These guys are good."
England's Justin Rose made the biggest move on the final day, he fired a closing 64 to climb into third place, one shot behind Anthony Kim in second. The result increases the possibility that Rose might scrape into the world's top-50 and make it to the Masters.
"I think I'm where I am because I've been thinking about it too much," he said. "I've been trying to take my mindset back to when I first came out on the PGA Tour."
Another Englishman, Paul Casey ended the week in a tie for fourth with Vijay Singh. Lee Westwood was tied ninth.
The Honda Classic PGA National Resort & Spa, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida Mar 4-7, purse $5,600,000, par 70
1 Camilo Villegas (Col) 66 66 67 68 267 $1,008,000 2 Anthony Kim (USA) 68 64 73 67 272 $604,800 3 Justin Rose (Eng) 70 72 67 64 273 $380,800 T4 Paul Casey (Eng) 73 64 70 67 274 $246,400 T4 Vijay Singh (Fij) 67 66 69 72 274 $246,400 T6 Michael Connell (USA) 65 71 69 71 276 $194,600 T6 Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 69 69 69 69 276 $194,600 8 Charlie Wi (Kor) 72 67 68 70 277 $173,600 T9 Brendon de Jonge (RSA) 70 73 67 68 278 $151,200 T9 Chris Tidland (USA) 73 67 67 71 278 $151,200 T9 Lee Westwood (Eng) 69 71 70 68 278 $151,200
Note: Player scores in bold signifies Titleist ball usage only
