Players Championship: Camilo ‘Spider-Man’ Villegas rolls back the years to swing into surprise early co-lead
CNN
With great putting comes great responsibility – “Spider-Man” is back to his best at The Players Championship.
With great putting comes great responsibility – “Spider-Man” is back to his best at The Players Championship. Colombia’s Camilo Villegas, nicknamed after the web-slinging superhero for his unorthodox style of reading greens, swung into a surprise share of the early lead at the 51st edition of the PGA Tour’s flagship event in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida on Thursday. The 43-year-old rolled back the years to surge around the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course with an opening six-under 66, defying his world No. 254 ranking to join American duo Lucas Glover and J.J. Spaun atop a star-studded first round leaderboard. Little under 19 years ago, a tied-third finish at the tournament – the joint-best performance in Players history by a PGA Tour rookie at the time – had solidified Villegas’ reputation as a prodigious talent. “The golf course has changed, I’ve changed, and I guess I do have a lot more experience,” Villegas told reporters on his return to the clubhouse. “I’ve gone through some good battles in life and good moments, bad moments. Back in 2006 I was just a young kid coming out of college, and had nothing to lose.”
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