Camilo Villegas, a former Wyndham Championship champion who currently ranks 223rd in the FedEx Cup standings, will be making his debut on Golf Channel this week as they cover this week’s PGA Tour tournament in Greensboro. Villegas is a 41-year-old four-time Tour champion who ranks 223 on the FedEx Cup standings. He will be the main analyst in the booth alongside Steve Sands.
Sands was the emcee for Villegas’s charity tournament last year. The event was a fundraiser to benefit Mia’s Miracles. Sands told Villegas that he believed he would have a successful career doing golf commentary on TV. Sands asked, “Would it be possible to try a week of golf commentary and see what happens?”
Villegas stared Sands in the face and said in no uncertain words that he was not interested.
As a golfer or a competitor you want to keep going. “My first reaction was to start looking elsewhere when I turned 41 and realized that I hadn’t been performing.
After a little reflection, Sands apologized to the former University of Florida Golfer from Colombia for his knee-jerk response.
He said, “To think that he thought I could do well on television was an honor.”
Sands, when asked to explain why Villegas was a great broadcaster, said that “he has always been available and a fantastic communicator.”
Villegas was not quite ready to enter the booth, but after speaking with his agent he decided he did not want to miss out on an opportunity to see if he enjoyed the job and if it would be something he could excel at. He agreed to a trial of one week this year. It made sense for him to do it alongside Sands who had pitched the idea to him, at a tournament in which he not only competes regularly, but also has experienced great success.
Sands stated that “this is the perfect opportunity for Camilo’s expertise to be shared with Golf Channel viewers.”
Since winning the 2014 Wyndham championship with bookend rounds 63 in 2014, Villegas has been plagued by injuries. In 2020, he also had to deal with the loss of his daughter Mia at the age of two. He has made nine starts this season on the PGA Tour, and hasn’t had a top-10 since the Honda Classic in 2021. Villegas insists he is not ready to hang up his spikes yet. Villegas began working with Jose Campra on a major overhaul of his swing. Campra also caddies Sebastian Munoz. Villegas said he sees signs that he has made progress.
Villegas, in preparation for his TV debut, shadowed Sands as well as analyst John Cook in the booth at the RBC Canadian Open’s first round in June. He admitted that he has been watching more TV than usual and is a bit nervous about his debut on television.
He said, “I want to just be me.”
Villegas replied, “I suppose we’ll find out soon.” When asked if this would mean he could criticize players he competes regularly against, Villegas replied, “I guess that will be revealed very soon. I will tell it as I see it. I’m an analytical person. I’m a very analytical guy. I want to show the viewer what I would be thinking and feeling while someone hits a shot…I have no problem with disagreeing with players or their decisions or strategies.”
Villegas has no TV plans after the Wyndham Championship, but he is open to doing more work on TV in the future.
I don’t want get ahead of myself. “I need to see if I enjoy it,” he said. “I will continue to play the game of golf.” Could I fill in for a few weeks if I’m really into it and the people think I’m good? We’ll see. I don’t really know. “Too many moving parts for me to predict where this thing is going.”
