Villegas rallies, wins Tour Championship

If Camilo Villegas had found a way to trim one stroke off his score five weeks ago in the first PGA Tour playoff event, it might have been him rather than Vijay Singh leaving town with the FedEx Cup.

Villegas missed the cut at The Barclays, the first playoff event, by one shot. That means with one fewer three-putt or one better wedge shot that week, the 26-year-old Colombian might today be cradling the FedEx Cup. One stinking shot, which at the time seemed insignificant, could have meant a $10 million bonus.

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Rich Addicks /raddicks@ajc.com

Winner’s circle: Camilo Villegas, the winner of the Tour Championship, and Vijay Singh, the winner of FedEx Cup share a laugh after Sunday’s final round at East Lake.

Tour Championship

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• Scores

“That was an expensive cut,” Villegas said.

Instead the player they call “Spiderman” will have to be content with simply winning The Tour Championship, which he did Sunday at East Lake Golf Club. He closed with a round of 66 – the best of the day – and defeating third-round leader Sergio Garcia in a one-hole playoff after each finished the tournament 7-under par.

“Winning. Winning is awesome,” Villegas said.

The victory is the second straight for Villegas, who won the BMW Championship three weeks ago. The win was worth $4.26 million for the University of Florida alum — $1.26 for winning the tournament and a $3 million bonus for finishing second in the FedEx Cup playoffs. Think how many pairs of tight white pants and big belt buckles that will buy.

“I’m proud of myself, proud of the way I battled and proud of the way I came back,” Villegas said.

Villegas and Garcia, who shot 71, finished 72 holes tied at 7-under 273. Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim tied for third at 274, both after shooting 69 on Sunday. Ben Curtis finished 2-under and the major-championship winning trio of Ernie Els, Jim Furyk and Mike Weir tied for sixth.

Kim and Mickelson both had opportunities on the last hole to join the playoff, although each needed to make a challenging birdie putt. Kim had a 26-footer, which he left short. Mickelson had a 21-footer, but let it drift too far to the left.

On the first playoff hole, Villegas put his 3-iron on the left side of the green, about 43 feet from the hole. Garcia left his 4-iron to the right, where it fell into the rough on a hill behind the bunker. Garcia’s approach caught the thick grass, flew high and short, and landed in the thick collar by the green. After Villegas nestled his putt up close for a tap-in, Garcia’s desperation chip came up short, which gave Villegas the victory and set in a motion a televised thank-my-sponsor rant that would have made any NASCAR driver proud.

“I just didn’t play well enough today,” said Garcia, who also lost The Tour Championship in a playoff in 2001. “I doubted myself too much early on and it cost me.”

Villegas began the day five shots behind Garcia. He got into the mix with birdies at No. 3 and No. 4, but seemed to disappear with a double-bogey at No. 6 and a bogey at No. 7.

“After I made that bogey, my caddie (Gary Matthews) looked me straight in the eyes and he goes, ‘You ain’t going to give up on me. We can still do it.’ He was probably the only one believing at that point.”

Instead of being disheartened, he began making birdies: at No. 8 from 12 feet, at No. 9 with a two-putt from 40 feet, at No. 10 from 28 feet, at No. 12 from 11 feet, and No. 13 from 42 feet.

After a bogey at the 16th, Villegas posted only the third birdie of the day at the toughened-up 17th. His approach from 177 yards stopped just 11 feet away and he calmly rolled it in to take the lead.

“Probably the shot of the tournament there,” Villegas said. “I pretty much had to birdie that hole to give myself a great chance, and that’s exactly what I did.”