AUGUSTA, Ga.: Camilo Villegas not often appeared so composed whereas stuffed with a lot emotion. He tapped in for par in Bermuda final fall, straightened and evenly pumped his fist earlier than seeking to the heavens.
His first victory in 9 years, proper when he was on the verge of being left behind on this new period of massive cash in golf, earned him a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and a ticket again to Augusta National for the Masters.
None of it mattered in that second. He was solely pondering of Mia, his baby. His little angel. He says he may really feel her power.
Villegas nonetheless remembers each element from being at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Florida along with his spouse, Maria, as they waited for the outcomes of a scan on their 18-month-old daughter. The door opened and the room stuffed with a dozen medical doctors and employees members.
“You don’t need 12 people to give you good news,” he mentioned.
He wept for days. The energy got here from his spouse, who admonished him to not cry in entrance of their daughter. She adorned the room in brilliant colours as a result of she needed their time with Mia to be stuffed with happiness. There can be time for tears later.
Mia battled tumors on her mind and her backbone for 4 months. She died on July 26, 2020.
Three years and three months later, there was Villegas — his coronary heart damaged, however not his spirit — taking a shower with champagne on the 18th inexperienced at Port Royal Golf Club till grabbing a bottle and taking a swig.
“This game has given me so many great things, and in the process, it kicks your butt,” Villegas mentioned that Sunday on the Bermuda Championship. “Life has given me so many great things, and in the process it kicks your butt, too.”
Villegas went to Augusta National with Rory McIlroy earlier this week to get reacquainted with a course he had purpose to imagine he would possibly by no means see once more.
The 42-year-old Colombian has at all times been about huge power, solely he was the one bringing it. From what he calls his “magical place” at Club Campestre in Medellin to 4 All-American years at Florida, he was a dynamic younger star on the rise. He was “Spiderman” for the best way he sprawled his physique inches above the bottom to learn putts.
Villegas reached as excessive as No. 7 on the planet in 2008 when he gained the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship in consecutive weeks. But then he turned obsessed along with his rating, with all of the flawed issues, and his sport started to slip.
He gained in 2014 to get again to the Masters. That turned out to be an aberration. Then a shoulder harm in 2018 saved him out for almost two years.
But that was when Mia got here into his life, and his coronary heart was full. And then she was gone.
Life kicked him tougher than he ever imagined.
“I think everything becomes easier when you understand that’s normal,” Villegas mentioned of the hand he and his spouse had been dealt. “I can sit here and ask myself, ‘Why is Mia not here?’ And you can make it so abnormal and unique. But when you’re part of a club of losing a child, you realize the club is huge. And all of a sudden, it’s a lot more normal than you think. The ups and downs are normal.
“And when you accept that ups and downs are normal, you can keep going.”
The first step was beginning Mia’s Miracles, a basis geared towards serving to youngsters and their households going via the identical tragedy, ensuring they’ve all they want.
“An amazing amount of hurt and grief,” mentioned Luke Donald. His spouse and Maria are shut and Donald has roomed with Villegas on the street. “I love how they reframe everything. Even though they only got to spend less than two years with their daughter, they saw it as a gift. And they’re doing a great thing with Mia’s Miracles.
“They’ve turned a (bad) situation into something positive.”
While they sought counseling to deal with the grief, Villegas mentioned his “biggest healer was golf.” The sport is a supply of frustration even in the very best of instances, however he discovered an infinite provide of power from a lot assist on tour.
“What’s easier? Staying at home and being lonely? Or coming out here and feeling like the golf world just became your family?” Villegas mentioned. “They’re transmitting energy. Yes, I was thinking about Mia. But it’s part of the process.”
Energy is a phrase Villegas makes use of on a regular basis, and he has it tattooed on his proper wrist with a “+” in entrance of it — constructive power. What he used to carry is what he now receives. It simply didn’t translate into the form of scores that may permit him to maintain his card.
The turning level got here at Torrey Pines early in 2023 when he missed one other minimize. He headed straight for the vary to attend on his brother, Manny, who caddies for Si Woo Kim. And then Jose Campra came to visit to say goodbye.
Campra is a golf skilled in Argentina who caddies on tour. He was working for Sebastian Munoz of Colombia, who was about to go away for Saudi-funded LIV Golf.
“I said, ‘Before you go, I need your help, bro,’” Villegas mentioned. “He’s always analyzed my swing. If you know Jose, you know how polite the guy is. He’s not one to intrude.”
They went to the caddie lounge and he instructed Villegas what to anticipate. Campra didn’t care if Villegas had a card on the finish of the yr. He instructed Villegas he would worsen earlier than he received higher. And he didn’t need him to play an excessive amount of to maintain outdated habits from creeping in.
“In July I told him, ‘Camilo, I think we’re going to play the Masters again.’ He said, ‘Whoa. We need to win.’ And I said, ‘I think you can win,’” Campra mentioned.
The payoff got here in November when Villegas was runner-up in Mexico, after which held on to win the Bermuda Championship.
Mia isn’t removed from his thoughts, and he sees a number of her spirit in Mateo, their son who was born in December 2021. He appears ahead to telling Mateo all about his sister someday.
Adam Scott, one other of his shut associates, additionally performed in Bermuda. For him, Villegas successful was the very best golf story of the yr.
“He’s been through a lot,” Scott mentioned. “I have massive respect for him and the way he’s handled himself through something that, for me, is unimaginable. This guy has got a lot inside him.”
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
