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Villegas Cruises Home in Honda Classic

Thanks to four birdies on his first 10 holes, Camilo Villegas was able to muster a huge lead and cruise home for his third PGA Tour title. The 28-year-old Colombian closed with a 2-under 68 to finish at 13-under 267 to win the Honda Classic.

Starting the final round three shots ahead of the field, Villegas forged a six-stroke lead at one point on Sunday. That big gap allowed him to overcome three bogeys over five holes - Nos. 11-15 - on the Champions Course at PGA National Resort & Span in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

After pars on the 16th and 17th holes, Villegas birdied the par-5 18th for the final margin over Anthony Kim, who shot a 67. The victory was worth $1.008 million.

Earlier in the week, Villegas flew to his home country to promote a Nationwide Tour event in Bogota. But his fitness level - and strong mental attitude - overcame any fatigue.

"It's been a long week," he said, "but it's been a good one. I just loved every second of it. I played three pretty good rounds and I was lucky in one - today. But I stayed patient and I was on top of my game all week."

Kim had his chances when Villegas ran into trouble. But the former University of Oklahoma star dropped a shot with a bogey on the 17th hole and missed out on his slim opportunity.

Still, Kim was pleased with how he played. "My attitude's a lot better," Kim said of his outlook Sunday, when the day before he wanted to do some serious damage to his equipment. "Yesterday I wanted to break every club in the bag, but then I wouldn't have had a set to play with today, so I'm glad that I didn't. Just try to keep a positive attitude, and once that happens, I'm going to play good golf."

Justin Rose tied the course record with a 64 and ended up alone in third six shots behind Villegas. Paul Casey (67) and Vijay Singh (72) ended up at 274 and tied for fourth.

Rose attributed his fine score - which included seven birdies and a lone bogey on the par-3 fifth hole - to improved work on the greens. "The difference for me, I had 49 putts on the weekend," the 29-year-old Englishman said. "I feel like recently I've been putting nicely the first two days and they have been drying up a little on the weekends and I think sometimes it's because you want it too much and I've been a little too result-orientated and I felt like I hit a nice, calm mindset the last couple of days which is obviously the goal. It was very free and stroking the ball well and seeing the putts going in, which was nice."

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