News

Villegas Wins BMW Championship

Published

18 years ago

Sep 7, 2008

After 89 professional tournaments, Camilo Villegas came out atop the leaderboard. Mr. Villegas won the Western Open, oops my error, The BMW Championship with a wire to wire performance at Bellerive. A rain out on Thursday forced the tournament to be played over three days, with 36 holes be played on Saturday. Mr. Villegas shot a final round 68 to win by two strokes over Dudley Hart, whose 65 and second place finish boosted him to 14th in the FedEx standings and a spot in the Tour Championship in three weeks.

Anthony Kim (67) and Jim Furyk (70) played in the final group with Mr. Villegas. The threesome played an entertaining final round, complete with lead changes, marvelous shots, clutch putting and a whole lot of dry spitting. Mr. Furyk had the lead after Mr. Villegas bogeyed two holes in a row on the front nine. However, thanks to seven straight one putt greens Mr. Villegas seized the tournament and would not let go for anyone.

Mr. Kim charged late, after back to back bogeys left him seemingly out of contention. But superb iron play and clutch putting had him within two strokes with two holes to play. On the par 5 17th however, his birdie putt slid by the hole on the left side and he was reduced to needing some help to catch the eventual champion. It was not to be, as Mr. Kim, after telling his caddy he wasn’t there to play for second, pulled his second shot into the bleachers long and left of the green. Mr. Villegas hit his second shot onto the green and two putts later clutched his first trophy. After being in contention several times since The Open Championship, it’s nice to see him earn a victory.

As for the FedEx Cup, Vijay Singh will be the winner unless he doesn’t finish the Tour Championship at East Lake for some reason. It didn’t appear to make him happy as he refused interview requests from NBC after his round was completed and left without speaking to any media folks. Some of those media folks assume it just Mr. Singh being surly, but I think he just wanted to leave the day to the tournament victor. With the new volatility infused into the format, some fine play in this week boosted players into the final tournament. Kevin Sutherland, Ken Duke, Tim Clark, Bubba Watson, and Mr. Hart will all be part of the field at East Lake. Chad Campbell, who withdrew after the first round to be with his wife during the birth of their first child, also made the field despite earning no points. A very cool week indeed for Mr. Campbell, even without the additional honor of being selected for the Ryder Cup team.

It seems strange to think of the playoffs as being over even before the final rounds get played. Another reason to doubt the concept of playoffs and golf, but hey I’ve been wrong about things before this playoff stuff. I can’t help but think that with the $10 million prize off the table the Tour Championship will be anti-climatic, especially after the Ryder Cup is completed in two weeks. It’ll be a good tournament, but the whole playoff sideshow will be moot.

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3 Comments

Mike Hager

Sep 9, 2008 at 8:38 am

The press picks on Monty and Sergio but haven’t noticed them going out of their way to pick on Vijay. Ever.

Airtime is a factor of network programming for maximum ratings, the writers/reporters of the media have no influence on this. If you want airtime, be in contention.

Singh is a great player, a future hall of famer but he is comparable to Phil. He may catch Tom Watson in total victories but there is no chance that he will match Watson’s 8 majors. Vijay isn’t Tom Watson, neither is Phil. In 20 years there will be no debates raging to determine if the 19th best player ever was Vijay or Phil. Nobody will care.

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Roger Perfini

Sep 8, 2008 at 5:18 pm

Like the guys’ reports, however, does he write for the Wall Street Journal in his day job, the Mr. is just getting to me.

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Leon Tipps

Sep 8, 2008 at 4:14 pm

Bravo. Of course Vijay left because he did not want to take attention from young Camilo Villegas, the winner, and did not want to appear to be rooting for him against his other colleagues Furyk, Kim and Choi.

He had just played 72 holes in three days, putted very badly and finished way down in the pack. True, he just won $10 million and should have given a diplomatic and short interview, but give the man a break. To call him “surly” because he did not want to talk to the press when they wanted him to simply exposes the media’s astonishing presumption that it is all about the media.

The media has made a whipping boy out of Singh for a long time. Unless Vijay is in the outright lead, he is usually never given air time unless he has hit a bad shot or missed a birdie from short range. But the man is a great golfer, with 34 Tour wins and another 22 or so internationally. He is sure to win 40 tournaments to exceed the number won by Tom Watson and needs only a win in one of the Opens to close the last flaw in his astonishing career/

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News

GolfWRX’s Father’s Day Gift Guide (2026)

Published

1 day ago

Jun 9, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

A reminder from your friends at GolfWRX: Father’s Day is June 21. And as we do every year, we’re rounding up the best gifts for dad.

As we say every year, there’s no better golf-related Father’s Day gift than a round of golf with pops. Be it a country club or your favorite muni, take the time to get together to play 18 if you can.

Let’s get to the gifts.

Ghost Golf Qualifier Diamond Polo

We like the new polos that Ghost is offering, as the fabric and fit are so good. These new Qualifier Collection polos breathe well, are lightweight, stretch with your swing, and of course look great. You can wear them on the course, in the office, or just out at a casual event and they will fit right in.

Buy here.

STR8-Strip Grip Tape Remover

If your dad is an equipment aficionado and tinkers with his clubs, this tool works wonders. Removing grip tape has never been easier, just put a little head on the tape and the STR8-Strip peals it right off the shaft without any damage.

Buy here.

Why Golf: Putting Thing

When it comes to practice, it is good to have a purpose. This “Putting Thing” sure does it. We know from personal experience how challenging it can be and how rewarding it is on the practice green. This also provides some competition for your kiddo to see who will unload the dishwasher or do the next chore around the house.

Buy here.

OluKai Lae‘ahi Men’s Breathable Slip-On Shoes

Riding to and from the course in style and comfort is always a good thing. If you’re in a hurry, it’s a nice feature to slide into your shoes and get to the tee time. For the post-game shoe, at your locker or while putting your clubs away in the car. Nice to slide into a shoe that looks good anywhere. Pair that with meeting the family for dinner, no need to change!

Buy here.

Therabody Theragun Relief

A little wellness goes a long way. Keeping loose is a good way to go when it comes to the weekend game or treatment during the week. If there is a little ache or pain, the Theragun is there to help out. Help loosen up the back for a pre-game warm-up or cool-down.

Buy here.

World Cup golf apparel

Something for the soccer dads. Embrace the World Cup fever this summer on the course with custom gear to support the nation of your choice.

Buy here.

FootJoy Pro SL spikeless golf shoes

Give the old man a break and save his feet with the Footjoy Pro SL Men’s Spikeless Golf Shoes for some added comfort on the course.

Buy here.

Bushnell Wingman 2 GPS speaker

Combine all the hits as well as some game improvement with the Wingman 2 Golf GPS Speaker by getting audible distance readings from 38,000+ courses worldwide through the Wingman 2 remote or speaker.

Buy here.

Personalized Titleist Pro V1 golf balls

The No. 1 ball in golf is a safe bet, and the Pro V1 fits the largest chunk of the bell curve if you don’t know what ball pops plays. Add personalization for a, well, personal touch!

Buy here.

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Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 OccuNet Classic

Published

1 day ago

Jun 9, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

With the PGA Tour across the border in Canada this week, GolfWRX Tour Photographer Greg Moore stayed stateside and headed to the OccuNet Classic presented by Amarillo National Bank in Amarillo, Texas.

It’s always interesting to see what the guys are playing on the KFT, and this week certainly hasn’t disappointed so far, with some incredible wedge stamping on display.

Check out links to all our albums below.

General Albums

2026 OccuNet Classic (KFT) – Monday #1

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

Luke Potter’s custom Cameron putter – 2026 OccuNet Classic (KFT)

News

From the GolfWRX Classifieds: Scotty Cameron GOLO 6 with BGT Stability Tour2 2022 M Edition

Published

1 day ago

Jun 9, 2026

Will Schube

At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals who all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, @HuskerFlyer is sharing a Scotty Cameron GOLO with a BGT Stability Tour2 2022 M Edition shaft. While the putter is certainly enviable, the Augusta-inspired shaft is equally noteworthy.

From the listing:

Scotty Cameron Golo 6 with BGT Stability Tour2 2022 M Edition Scotty Headcover 34″ $375

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link. If you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum, you can learn more here: GolfWRX BST Rules.