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WYNDHAM CHAMPIONSHIPAugust 17, 2014Camilo VillegasGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA MARK STEVENS: I'd like to welcome Camilo Villegas, our 2014 Wyndham Championship champion. It's 75 years of playing this tournament. If you want to kind of talk about what that means and we'll have some questions. CAMILO VILLEGAS: Well, first of all, it feels great to be in here. It's been three and a half years of no wins. Part of the game, I guess. Part of a pro golfer's career. I'm pretty hard on myself. I've always worked hard and again, I'm happy to be here. In terms of Wyndham, they put such a great show. I've been coming here many years. Mark Brazil does a helpful a job. He's a good friend of mine. And the golf course keeps getting better and better every year and I played good here before and once again, man it feels good to be the champion this year. Like I said out there on the putting green, us golfers, we take a lot of things for granted. We show up on Monday, there's a courtesy car waiting for us and come Sunday we pack our bags and off we go to the next tournament, we play another great golf course, another great venue. This case, this week 1800 volunteers, all the guys in the clubhouse, all the crew that takes care of the golf course, the guys that cater our food.  I mean we get spoiled in that way. It's not the easiest job but, again, I'm very thankful to everybody that's involved with this golf course and with every golf tournament on the PGA TOUR. They do a hell of a job to provide us with this unbelievable job. Wyndham, once again, they put on a great show. FedEx, they put a great show the whole year and I'm just happy to be part of it. To all my sponsors, which hang in there tight, they've always been very loyal, TaylorMade, MasterCard, J. Lindeberg, Rolex, Global State Street Advisors and hopefully I didn't miss any. But, it's been a good group to everybody that's behind my team, they keep pushing me, they keep making me believe that we can make good things and this week was a good example that what I have in me and the 4th win on the PGA TOUR. Proud of myself and here we go. But tomorrow morning when I wake up I'll be the same guy I was yesterday so they'll be a million beautiful things being written about me today and I probably won't be reading too many of them because, like I said, tomorrow morning I'll be the same guy with this trophy or if I would have just missed the cut. MARK STEVENS: Thank you. Q. When you finished at 17, did you think you would maybe be in a playoff or lose that or did you think you would win? CAMILO VILLEGAS: I was hoping for a playoff. I had a few looks there coming in and I thought I needed one more. 18 hole is a tough hole. You can also hit it tight where the pin is. I thought somebody was going to get 3. The hole was playing a little longer. I hit a great second shot that was about ten yards short of where I thought I wanted to pitch it and then I saw everybody coming up short. I got away with it a little bit. Even though I played great today, I thought I needed one more and just happened to work my way. Q. Were you surprised, did you go to the range or watch it on TV? CAMILO VILLEGAS: Hit the ball great all week. I didn't want to go to the range. I stay there, there was TV, nice air conditioner there in the scorer's tent. I was hanging there with my caddy and watch a little golf. Tough sometimes when you're watching it, you can't control. When the boys got closer to the last hole, you get a little anxious and, like I said, you don't have a golf club in your hand. You can't control. Sometimes it's better to be on the golf course. Q. Camilo, in the three and a half years since you won, what was your lowest point? Did you get pretty down on yourself there after the drought? CAMILO VILLEGAS: I think we all do at some point in time. I always said, as golfers, we always want to play better. It doesn't matter. The guy that's 100 in the world wants to be 50. The guy at 50 wants to be 20. The guy is 20 wants to be 10 and keeps going forward and forward. Freddie, if you go and ask Freddie right now how he's feeling, I guarantee you he's not feeling great. You know what? He had a great week. He played great. He lost by one. But that's the game. That's life. That's the job we chose and it is what it is. Yeah, I lose confidence. You kind of give yourself kicks in the butt and maybe dig yourself in that hole a little bit harder. You don't enjoy the game as much as do you when you're playing good. Again, that's the same thing in life. When things are going great, it's easy to enjoy. When things are not going good, it's hard to enjoy. You got to stay strong and keep working. I've always done that. I've always been a hard worker and always kind of believed in myself, sometimes more than others and, again, just happy to be right here right next to this trophy. Q. You had a pretty emotional reaction to the putt on 6. Was that the point at which you kind of started to think today might be your day? CAMILO VILLEGAS: Long way to go after that. More than emotional, I was surprised. That was a bomb. It wasn't my best second shot and I eagled No. 5. Then I make the bomb on No. 6. At that point I thought, I said, "Man, you know what? I must be gaining ground quick." What was it? Q. 5-under? CAMILO VILLEGAS: 5-under through 6 holes. That's exactly the start I wanted and just keep it going. Let's don't look back. Q. First of all, congratulations. Just following up on John's question, during that time when you were losing confidence, during those three and a half years, was there one day or one time when you were particularly low and thought, you know, maybe some doubt crept in? CAMILO VILLEGAS: Yeah, for sure. I mean there's times where -- when you're, I don't know, not happy, lose a little confidence, too hard on yourself, love and hate the game. I'm not going to say hate but love and hate. And yeah, to a point -- but, you know what, it's funny because your mind tells you things and then the next day you do it all over again. What I mean by that yes, there's times you go like, "Man, I hate this game. How much longer do I want to play the game? How much longer do I want to travel?" That's just you being silly because once again, you take two days off, you show up to the range, good attitude, keep practicing, keep grinding, show up to the tournament, hope you have a good week, work for a hard week, look at the trophy, want one of those in your house and, again, there's low spots but is that really you talking to you? I don't know. Q. Is there any plan in future years just to go to Columbia and ride your bike for a week and come and win a golf tournament? Is that going to be part of your plan? CAMILO VILLEGAS: I would love that. If you tell me that's going to work -- doesn't even have to work this good. You tell me it's going to work pretty good, I'm going to go home and be with mom and dad and all the great people I love there and ride my bike like I love to do it and maybe practice less and play great. There's nothing wrong with that equation. Unfortunately, that's not exactly how it works. Q. Two wins in FedExCup Playoff events back in '08. Getting a win here before The Playoffs, does this give you any momentum going into those events? Do you approach The Playoffs any differently? CAMILO VILLEGAS: You know what, yes and no. I mean beginning of the year I look at my caddy and I said, "Big guy, I want to win on the PGA TOUR again." It happened to be the last tournament of the regular season and so, yes, I've accomplished my primary goal this year. It feels great and I go to The Playoffs hopefully with a great eye with the same way I did this week and hopefully play some good golf. Q. Talking about cycling, what do you consider a long ride? CAMILO VILLEGAS: Hundred miles. Q. What was some of the rides you did last week? CAMILO VILLEGAS: Last week -- not last week but two weeks ago I was home, I probably put little over 400 miles. It was a nice week, recharged. Sent my clubs home to Jupiter. Went home, recharged, ride my bike, spent some time with the family and, again, it worked out pretty good. Q. If you're a professional cyclist, what handicap would you be? CAMILO VILLEGAS: I love watching cycling and reading about it. It's tough. You try to get a decent amateur out here and do it week in, week out, it's not going to work. Try to put me out there with the big boys, and trust me, it's not going to work. MARK STEVENS: 400 miles to Barclays. Q. Did you make any bogies in those 400 miles on that bicycle? CAMILO VILLEGAS: You know what, the cycling, it gets me away from everything. Especially I love riding with a lot of guys I ride really good so there's a lot of suffering and no time to think. Somehow I love that. I don't know why. Q. What's the biggest difference from where you were a year, maybe two years ago to where you are now with the trophy? CAMILO VILLEGAS: Nothing. That's the reality of the game, nothing. There's such a small margin between playing good, playing average, playing bad. Did I trust myself a little bit more this week? Yes. Did I hit it a little bit better this week? Yes. Did I putt a little bit better this week? Yes. It's hard to explain. We chose a pretty interesting game to make it our job and you got to be patient. You got to be patient and you got to learn what works for you. I've been learning that maybe taking a little bit easier on myself is a good equation. Q.Is that frustrating for you when it's not going well, knowing that you're doing the same things that have worked well in the past and not getting good results? CAMILO VILLEGAS: It is for everybody that plays this game. We all want to play better. We all push ourself. We all get frustrated. I just give the perfect example of how Freddie Jacobson is feeling right now. If I was in his position, trust me, there's so many good things he did this week but just the way our minds work and that particular situation, you're just not thinking about them. You try but somehow those little missed putts, missed opportunities come in your head. It is what it is, man. Q. How often do you get back to Colombia and would you be willing to play for the Colombian team in the Olympics? CAMILO VILLEGAS: To answer your second question, "Hell, yeah" (laughter). How often do I go? I always say not enough but I get my share of weeks there. Try to spend about eight weeks at home. Again, I have mom and dad there, family there and that's where I grew up, man. I love it there. I love it here, too. The United States has been a great place for me and gave me an education, gave me a degree, an opportunity to fulfill my dreams playing on the PGA TOUR, be a PGA TOUR winner and nothing wrong with getting a little bit of both worlds. MARK STEVENS: Everybody good? Thanks for your time. CAMILO VILLEGAS: Thanks guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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