Villegas gets first win; Singh all but clinches FedEx Cup

Golf Betting Lines

09/07/2008 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Camilo Villegas finally collected his first PGA Tour victory on Sunday, when he held on down the back nine to win the BMW Championship.

"I don't know what to say," acknowledged Villegas, who shot a final-round 68 to finish the championship at 15-under 265. "It's just a lot of hard work and a lot of people behind me."

Villegas moved into second place on the FedEx Cup Playoff Points race with the win. With only the Tour Championship remaining in the pursuit of the FedEx Cup, Villegas unfortunately can not make up the difference.

So the title, and $10 million first prize, will go to Vijay Singh.

Singh took home the first two playoff events -- The Barclays and Deutsche Bank Championship. He tied for 44th place Sunday and picked up 2,151 FedEx Cup points.

The Fijian just has to finish four rounds and pick up at least the last-place points in the Tour Championship in three weeks to secure the FedEx Cup title.

Singh left Bellerive Country Club without speaking to the media.

Dudley Hart fired a five-under 65 on Sunday to take a solo second at minus-13. Hart began the season on a medical extension and played his way into the Tour Championship with his big finish.

Jim Furyk (70) and Anthony Kim (67) tied for third place at 12-under 268.

The Tour Championship field will feature the top 30 players on the FedEx Cup playoffs points list. Chad Campbell hung on to the 30th spot despite withdrawing this week due to the birth of his first child.

That knocked Stephen Ames out of the event at East Lake, despite a 66 on Sunday that gave Ames a share of fifth. D.J. Trahan and K.J. Choi both shot 67s to join Ames at minus-11.

But the day belonged to Villegas.

The Colombian played in the final pairing in the final round last week at the Deutsche Bank Championship, but shot a 73 on Monday and fell into a tie for third.

Villegas got the win on Sunday, but let the lead slip at times.

He started the final round with a one-shot cushion over Furyk and extended it with a three-foot birdie putt at the first. Furyk got back within one with a birdie at No. 2, then Villegas fell apart a bit.

At the fifth, Villegas missed the green and pitched his third to four feet. His par putt stayed above ground and he fell into a tie with Furyk, but lost a share of first after a missed eight-footer for par at the sixth.

Villegas drew even with Furyk, who made six straight pars, thanks to a nine- foot birdie putt at the eighth. Furyk missed a par putt at nine and hit a terrible drive at the 10th, which led to another bogey and a two-stroke deficit.

Villegas was back in front, although there were some ominous signs.

At the 10th, Villegas knocked his approach to the back collar and duffed his third. The ball stopped close to 10 feet short of the stick, but he ran the par-saving putt in to keep the two-shot cushion.

Furyk birdied 11 to get within one and Villegas looked shaky at the 12th. His drive landed in a bunker and he could not even reach the green with his second after a poor shot. Villegas' third came to rest 17 feet from the hole and he drained the clutch par save to stay in front.

That par putt might have spurred Villegas on to victory.

Furyk bogeyed the hole and at the par-three 13th, Villegas hit his tee ball to 12 feet. He converted the birdie putt and was three clear with five holes to play.

Villegas rolled in a long birdie putt at the 14th, but so did Kim, who birdied 15 to narrow the gap to two.

At the par-five 17th, Villegas burned the left edge of the cup with his 15- foot birdie effort. Kim had close to 10 feet to get within one, but his putt stayed up and Villegas needed to play one solid hole to clinch his first win.

He did just that.

Villegas hit the fairway off the tee and played a safe approach to 35 feet. He two-putted and headed to the winner's circle for the first time.

"It's awesome to be here," said Villegas, who pocketed $1.26 million for the victory. "Hopefully it's the first of many. I will work even harder to keep doing what I'm doing."

Tim Clark (69) and new American Ryder Cupper Hunter Mahan (66) shared eighth at 10-under 270.

Another captain's pick for the U.S. side, Steve Stricker, shot a 66 on Sunday to tie for 10th with Fredrik Jacobson (65) and Aaron Baddeley (69). The trio finished at nine-under 271.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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