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THE HONDA CLASSIC

March 6, 2010

Camilo Villegas

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA

JOHN BUSH: We would like to welcome Camilo Villegas, our leader after 54 holes at The Honda Classic. Excellent start, 4-under 31 on the back, and 3-under 67 for the day. If we can just get you to comment on your round.
CAMILO VILLEGAS: Yeah, it was tough out there. A little warmer than yesterday, but let me tell you, that wind was blowing. The front nine was tough. That birdie on the 6th hole was huge, really got me going. Great birdie on 9.
I mean m4-under on the front was pretty unbelievable the way it was playing, and then a couple hiccups there on the back, which is -- I mean, you always wish that didn't happen, but it's golf and they happen. Kept strong, kept my composure, and made a birdie on the 16th hole, tough hole, and parred 17, 18, which it's not bad.
JOHN BUSH: The birdie you mentioned on 6 and 9, what did you hit in on those holes?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: 6, I hit a nice drive and I had to rip a 5-iron, I mean, as low as I could. I was trying to hit in the middle of the green, which I did and the hole happened to get in the way there for the putt.

Q. Were you at all bothered by the smoke and haze?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: A little tough to see the green there on the 10th hole, but it wasn't too bad.

Q. You seemed to feel the front nine was playing tougher than the back nine --
CAMILO VILLEGAS: No, just the front nine was a little tricky I thought today. The back nine got a little cooler, but the wind always blew from the same direction, which is always good. It just makes your day a lot easier.
And I kind of knew what I had to do. I know 16, 17, 18 -- 15, 16, 17, 18, were going to be playing really tough, and just had to pick good targets, put good swings and that's exactly what I did. To play those four holes 1-under par today, it's not bad.

Q. Did you hit driver at 4 left there intentionally because of where the pin was, even though it was in the rough to make it easier?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: Which hole, on 16?

Q. On 4.
CAMILO VILLEGAS: Yeah, yeah, I did. I knew I had like 319 to get it past that tree on the left, and if I could do that, I was going to have a perfect angle. I mean, my second shot was going to be downwind from the fairway, and it was tough. And you saw Anthony; Anthony hit a good shot, he just missed hit spot by about three or four yards and it just takes a big hop and goes over the green.
I did hit it a little bit further left than I wanted it but I knew I caught it solid and it was going to be past that treatment I had a good angle and made three and kept going.

Q. A lot has been made about the itinerary, from the West Coast to Colombia to here; did that rejuvenate you, inspire you, any residual?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: I'm fine. Going back home and getting a little bit of time with my people in Colombia with a lot of American players that went to go play the first Nationwide Tour being played there was awesome. It was awesome to hear all of those great comments about my country was pretty exciting.
So was it a long trip? Yes. But at the end of the day, it gave me a little -- it gave me a little something, a little positive something that I think it's helped for this week.

Q. The 6th hole was tough on a lot of people today and Anthony took a double today; you birdied. Can you talk about that point in the round where it looked like you really gained on a lot of people with that birdie?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: To be honest when the ball went in, I looked at my caddie and said, "Nice eagle." Kind of the way it was; it was tough.

Q. Can you talk about playing with Anthony, you guys have played together before, just what it was like out there for you?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: Yeah, we played together last week. We played together this week. We're both trying to play good golf. It was a quiet day out there. That's about it.

Q. How excited are you about the junior program in Colombia that's coming along? And also the social columns wanted to know about your cutting of the hair.
CAMILO VILLEGAS: She wouldn't stop cutting it I guess. Yeah, I mean, golf keeps growing in my country and that's awesome. To see those kids -- I had a chance to do a junior clinic on Tuesday morning, and like I said yesterday, what I do with those clinics is I just hit a couple of balls and I open it for questions.
I'm kind of curious to see what the kids are thinking, what goes through their minds. It just takes me back to when I was a kid. It's awesome. You get some pretty interesting comments, questions, and just to see a smile on their face is pretty awesome.

Q. Strategy any different tomorrow with a three-shot lead?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: Just got to keep doing what I'm doing. I said it about ten minutes ago on TV: Golf tournaments are four days. So with that said, you've got to putt four good rounds together and see what happens at the end.

Q. Despite all of the travel, when you got to the first tee on Thursday, did you feel pressure, maybe because you had had the chance to interact with your people and the juniors and all of that?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: Well, I don't know if I'm going to say I feel pressure. I didn't get a chance to play a practice round. I had a long trip from Phoenix. I had a late night, there was a player party I attended until almost 1:00 AM. Got up early, got on a flight and came here.
But like I said, it was cool. It was a great experience to go down there. I mean, we've been knocking on the PGA TOUR headquarters for four years, five years and to finally convince them to go play a Nationwide event there, and to know that everything is going to be great; the players are going to come back having a good perspective of the tournament and of the people, it's pretty refreshing.

Q. How long a flight is it?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: Three (hours) 20 (minutes).

Q. So it's not different from coming from the West Coast?
CAMILO VILLEGAS: It's not too bad, there's no time change which helps.
JOHN BUSH: Thanks for coming by. Play well tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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