Why Camilo Villegas Is Not Ready To Win a Major

In 2008, Camilo Villegas certainly had the breakout season he had been looking for since arriving on the PGA Tour back in 2004.

Villegas finished ninth at the US Open, seventh at the PGA Championship, and ended the year with back-to-back wins at the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship.

Villegas finished second in FedEx Cup points and seventh on the tour’s money list with earnings of more than $4.4 million.

Along with fellow young gun Anthony Kim, Villegas is considered to be one of the top rising stars on the PGA Tour and one of several players who will make up the game’s elite over the next two decades.

Although Villegas displayed a marked improvement in his level of consistence in 2008, there are several stats that illustrate that Villegas might not be ready to win a major championship just yet.

Villegas’s dramatic improvement in his level of consistency in 2008 was largely due to the vast improvement in his putting.

Villegas jumped from 86th on the PGA Tour in putting in 2007 to 15th in 2008, where he averaged just 1.8 putts per green.

An improved putting game is one of the quickest ways for a player to drop his scoring average and play at a much more consistent level.

However, winning a major championship demands a lot more than just a stellar putting game.

As we all know, the majors are played on the most treacherous courses imaginable.

The increasingly narrow fairways are lined with knee high rough; the par-threes are getting longer by the year, and the lightening-fast greens seem to be protected by more and more massive bunkers at each subsequent major.

Sure, a player must putt well to win any golf tournament and particularly a major.

But winning a major championship demands that a player be incredibly accurate in all aspects of his game over four consecutive days. Therein lies difficulty Villegas will face as he attempts to win his first major in 2009.

Although Villegas won two events and finished seventh on the tour in scoring average in 2008, there are two stats from his 2008 season that clearly exhibit why Villegas might not be ready to win a major.

Villegas is one of the longer hitters on tour, but he managed to hit just 58 percent of fairways in 2008, which ranked 166th on the PGA Tour. Winning a major championship is a difficult task for the most accurate of ball strikers; winning a major hitting just 58 percent of fairways off the tee is a near-impossible task.

In 2008, Villegas also hit just 64 percent of greens in regulation, which ranked 111th on the PGA Tour.

Now, Villegas has dramatically improved his putting game in 2008, but, he was successful in getting up-and-down just 53 percent of the time, which ranked 171st on the PGA Tour.

Villegas’ trouble with accuracy could be due to any one of a thousand minuscule aspects of his swing.

However, there is one attribute of his swing that stands out more than the others when examining why Villegas might be struggling with his accuracy. 

If you watch Camilo Villegas play a round of golf, you will quickly see that he strikes almost every single shot with as much power as he can possibly muster.

Villegas’ power has made him one of the longest hitters on tour, but it has so far been at the expense of his accuracy. 

On a long par three, Villegas would rather swing as hard as he can with a  five iron rather than take a smooth, controlled swing with a four iron.

Villegas would rather try and crush a driver on a short par four, which might cost him some accuracy, when all we would need is a smooth five wood or two iron to put the ball out in the fairway and give himself a good angle at the pin.

Villegas is only 26 years old and has been a member of the PGA Tour for just four years, so it is quite understandable that he still has some developing to do.

Villegas’ ability to still win despite being as inaccurate as he can be at times is a testament to his pure talent for the game. But, if Villegas wants to take his game to the next level, he will have to learn from those great players who have come before him.

The likes of Nicklaus, Hogan, and even Tiger Woods have all sacrificed some distance for accuracy and in each case it has led them to win at a far more consistent rate.

Early on in his career, Hogan adjusted his grip and slightly slowed his swing in the hopes of getting rid of a terrible hook that seemed to appear more frequently in the most pressure packed situations.  

Hogan’s adjustment was one of the turning points in his ability go on and win nine major championships throughout his career.

When Nicklaus first arrived on the PGA Tour, he displayed and absolutely incredible amount of power.

Nicklaus was hitting the ball longer than anyone had ever seen before, but, he was having a tough time winning.

So, like Hogan, Nicklaus slightly slowed down his swing in the hopes of sacrificing some distance in return for more accuracy, which as we all know, led Nicklaus on to arguably the most successful career in the history of the game.

Tiger Woods followed a similar path to Nicklaus.

When Woods first arrived on tour his power was something that no one had ever seen the likes of before. 

Woods incredible length combined with his unheralded talent allowed him to completely dominate several major championships early on in his career.

Woods won the 1997 Masters by a record of 12 strokes. He also won the 2000 US Open by the astounding margin of 15 strokes at Pebble Beach.

However, despite Woods domination of several major championships, he wasn’t winning as consistently as he would have liked.

So, like Hogan and Nicklaus had done before him, Woods slowed his swing and sacrificed some distance for more accuracy.

The result has been a better than 30 percent winning percentage in the majors throughout his career to date.

History has a tendency to repeat itself in all aspects of life, and the game of golf is no different.

We can learn much from those people and historical events that have come before us and make the necessary decisions to avoid similar disastrous events and repeat those decisions that have been successful in the past.

Villegas has the talent to win; there is no question about that. But if Villegas wants to bring his game to the point of being consistent and sound enough to win a major and possibly even several of them, he will need to learn from those great golfers who have come before him.