Golf:Colombian Camilo Villegas landed the €4million Honda Classic title at Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, after holding off a European challenge led by Justin Rose while Graeme McDowell slid down the field with a disappointing final round.
Rose shot a sparkling six-under-par 64 in his final round to jump to third place on seven under for the tournament, and fellow Englishman Paul Casey finished a shot behind in a share of fourth place with Fiji’s Vijay Singh.
However Villegas was not prepared to let his hard-earned lead slip away and he won by five shots from second-placed American Anthony Kim, landing his third PGA Tour title.
Villegas did drop three strokes in five holes on the back nine. However he finished in style with a long putt for birdie at the 18th to card a round of 68 and a total of 13 under for his week.
That score put him five shots in front of Kim, who followed up yesterday’s disappointing 73 with a much-improved 67.
Villegas, who began the week promoting a Nationwide Tour event in his homeland, said: “It’s been a long week but it’s been a good one and I’ve loved every second of it.”
Though Graeme McDowell had left himself too much to do to catch the leader, it didn’t stop the Portrush professional make a fast start with a couple of early birdies.
The 30-year-old started the day on four under but quickly moved to six under with birdies at his opening two holes. However, five bogeys and a double bogey on the 17th saw him finish well off the pace with a two-under 76, leaving him two over.
Rory McIlroy closed out the week with a one under 69 but it still left the 20-year-old well down the field on four over. Pádraig Harrington, who shot 70, finished on the same mark as McIlroy.
The pair, along with McDowell, will move on to the Doral Golf Resort in Florida for next week’s WGC-CA Championship.
Rose’s round equalled the course record and contained seven birdies, of which five came in his first six holes.
However due to his slow start to the tournament - he was two over par after his opening two rounds - he had left it too late to get close to Villegas.
Rose’s performance still wasn’t enough to qualify him for this week’s WGC event in Miami. The former European number one remains outside the world’s top 50.
Casey, who followed his opening 73 with a second-round 64, again went under par with a 67 which included four birdies in five holes from the 12th to 16th.
Singh’s challenge faltered as he made bogeys at 15, 16 and 17 in a two-over round of 72.
Sweden’s Fredrik Jacobson shared sixth place with American Michael Connell after carding 69 for the fourth successive round.
England’s Lee Westwood also tied down a top-10 finish, sharing ninth with Zimbabwe’s Brendon de Jonge and American Chris Tidland after his best round of the week, a 68.
Australian Nathan Green had spent most of the tournament near the top of the leaderboard but his challenge crumbled as a closing 77 left him joint 12th on one under par.
Collated final round scores and totals in the PGA Tour The Honda Classic, PGA National, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA
(USA unless stated, par 70):
267Camilo Villegas (Col) 66 66 67 68
272Anthony Kim 68 64 73 67
273Justin Rose (Eng) 70 72 67 64
274Vijay Singh (Fij) 67 66 69 72, Paul Casey (Eng) 73 64 70 67
276Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 69 69 69 69, Michael Connell 65 71 69 71
277Charlie Wi (Kor) 72 67 68 70
278Brendon De Jonge 70 73 67 68, Chris Tidland 73 67 67 71, Lee Westwood (Eng) 69 71 70 68
279Jerry Kelly 69 65 74 71, Will MacKenzie 69 72 69 69, Nathan Green (Aus) 65 70 67 77, George McNeill 68 70 66 75, J.B. Holmes 71 69 66 73
280Oliver Wilson (Eng) 66 73 70 71, Sam Saunders 69 69 69 73, Steve Wheatcroft 71 68 70 71, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 68 70 70 72, Justin Leonard 72 70 66 72, Marc Leishman (Aus) 74 66 71 69, Tom Gillis 68 70 70 72, D.J. Trahan 67 73 69 71, Stephen Ames (Can) 73 64 71 72
281Matthew Every 69 66 69 77, Mike Weir (Can) 71 64 73 73, Joe Ogilvie 72 68 71 70, Charles Howell III 69 70 71 71, Alex Cejka (Ger) 68 68 75 70
282Chris Stroud 71 68 76 67, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 68 67 71 76, Bo Van Pelt 71 69 72 70, Rich Barcelo 73 70 68 71
283Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 71 69 71 72, Briny Baird 72 70 70 71, Chez Reavie 70 65 74 74, Alex Prugh 68 73 69 73, Jason Bohn 71 67 74 71
284Chris Riley 71 71 75 67, Jason Dufner 72 71 69 72, Ted Purdy 68 70 70 76, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 69 74 68 73, Matthew Jones (Aus) 69 73 72 70, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 71 69 75 69, Craig Bowden 73 69 72 70, Jimmy Walker 75 66 72 71, Johnson Wagner 73 69 69 73, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 71 71 72 70
285Brett Quigley 70 68 71 76, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 74 69 69 73, John Senden (Aus) 74 68 73 70, Brandt Snedeker 70 73 68 74, Rocco Mediate 73 65 74 73, Josh Teater 75 68 69 73
286Chad Collins 72 70 66 78, Scott Piercy 68 75 69 74, Bubba Watson 67 73 73 73
287Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 66 76 71 74, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 69 72 69 77, Mark Calcavecchia 73 69 72 73, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 73 68 73 73, Michael Bradley 69 70 71 77, Jeff Quinney 73 69 76 69, Steve Lowery 69 73 72 73, Jerod Turner 74 69 72 72
288David Lutterus (Rsa) 73 69 71 75, Ernie Els (Rsa) 73 70 70 75, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 74 69 71 74, Blake Adams 75 68 71 74
290Vaughn Taylor 69 73 76 72
291Mark Wilson 73 69 77 72
301Derek Lamely 71 72 78 80
302Garrett Willis 70 73 80 79