	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

FBR OPEN

January 31, 2008

Camilo Villegas

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: We'd like to thank Camilo for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center at the FBR Open, nice round, no bogeys, 66. You felt pretty good out there. You've had some success here in the past and hopefully you can stay on track on this course. Just talk about the day, what you did well and being here in Phoenix.
CAMILO VILLEGAS: Yeah, I love this place. Very different than what we're used to, but the Thunderbirds put a great tournament together; the fans are awesome. You've got to come here with a good attitude and just enjoy it.
Today was a good round, no bogeys. I made a couple good par saves, especially that one on 11. I pulled my driver a little bit and the ball went in the hazard but it was outside of the water. I had to take my shoes off, hop in there, and I can tell you that water was cold (laughter). I managed to get it close to the green and a good up-and-down for par.
Then made some good birdies coming in. Overall a good round and we'll be back tomorrow.

Q. Can you just elaborate a little bit on what you said about coming here with a good attitude? Just speak to what you mean exactly.
CAMILO VILLEGAS: Well, there's a lot going on outside the ropes, like everybody knows, and you're going to get good comments, you're going to get bad comments. The fans have been awesome with me the last two times I've played here. But you've got to have hard skin because bad comments are going to sneak over there. They're just trying to have fun. So who cares? I mean, just go with the flow and be focused and enjoy the good comments and enjoy the good cheers and just hopefully play good golf. They'll have fun, you'll have fun, and it's a payoff-payoff situation.

Q. Outside of Spiderman, what else do they call you?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: I don't know (laughter). My name, I guess, a lot of different ways (smiling).

Q. Besides the water, was it cold for you today? Were you bothered by the cold?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: It was chilly in the morning. Man, when I hopped off that cart, I said, ooh, hopefully it warms up quick. But it did. It wasn't too bad. By the time I got on the first tee I had taken my rain pants off. I had two sweaters on when I was warming up. Like I said, when I got to the first tee I only had a sweater on, and I felt comfortable.

Q. You've had a pretty good start to the TOUR and came close to winning here and some other places. Are you surprised that this is your third season you're into and you haven't won yet?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: These are the best players in the world, and believe me, every time I tee it up I'm trying to win the tournament. There's a process to winning a golf tournament. I've been close. I would love to be in contention, but I'm not losing much sleep over not winning. Hopefully it's going to happen and hopefully it can happen soon. But like I said, I'm trying to get better every day, trying to get better every year, and I think I'm headed the right way.

Q. How are you a different player from two years ago when you finished second here? Have there been noticeable changes in your game since then?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: Obviously. The first year on TOUR everything is new. Golf courses are new, people you're around are new. Everything is just -- like reality shock. Players are good, by the way. It's so competitive.
You start feeling comfortable. You start proving yourself that you can be out here with the big boys and just gain experience. Experience is big in this game, and two years ago I had none.

Q. Talk about that process of being patient as far as waiting for a victory. Is that difficult to do? I mean, obviously you know that you're there and you have the ability to win, but do you try and push a little bit too much or do you have to kind of fight that?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: It seems to be harder for others than for me because I get the questions, get the comments. I'm pretty mellow about it. I'm pretty relaxed and I'm having fun out here. Like I said, I'm trying to get better. I love to compete, and if I'm patient, I'm sure it'll come, and like I said, hopefully it comes soon.

Q. How did you like playing with Charles Warren? He was having a good round. Did you feed off that at all?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: Obviously. It's always nice to play with somebody that's playing good, try to feed off them and just step your game up a little bit. We both fed off each other nicely today, and we both had good rounds, not many mistakes. That's what it's all about.

Q. Do you talk much during the round at all?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: Charles is a great guy and I've got a good relationship with him and we really chatted a lot during the round.

Q. Can you talk about how the golf course played? Some guys have talked about it playing a lot longer because of the water.
CAMILO VILLEGAS: Yeah, it's definitely playing longer. The water came down pretty hard on Sunday. It's chilly, too. When the ball -- when it gets chilly the ball doesn't go far, and those par-5s are definitely playing a lot longer.

Q. When you go down on one leg like that and you go into your Spiderman position kind of, is that physically straining on you to do that over and over throughout a round, or are you just so young and so agile that it's just no problem?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: I wouldn't do it if that was the case. I'm just trying to make putts. Like I said, I'm trying to get better. I'm trying to do whatever I can to get the ball in the hole like everybody out here is doing. It seems to work.

Q. It's become kind of a trademark, hasn't it?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: Yeah, the cool thing is that the fans seem to like it, and I've got no problem with that.

Q. There's the commercial.
CAMILO VILLEGAS: Yeah, we've got several out there, and yes, it became kind of a trademark. But like I said, behind everything I'm just trying to make putts.

Q. Got any Super Bowl predictions?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: Well, you've got to go with the guys that haven't lost all year.
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Camilo.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297