PGA Tour veteran Camilo Villegas’ difficult season did not improve at the 2025 World Championship of Technology last week. It got worse. The five-time tournament winner quietly withdrew from Friday’s second round, but not before hitting double figures over par.
The main culprit? El Cardonal’s par-4 4th hole, which Villegas played 11 over in the first two rounds.
Camilo Villegas WDs after the one-hole tank scorecard
Early in his career, Villegas was one of the best players in the game. He won three times from 2008-2010, and then again at the 2014 Wyndham Championship.
In his two-win 2008 season, he finished T9 at the US Open in Torrey Pines (earned by Tiger Woods) and T4 at the PGA Championship.
;)
‘I took my little one there’: Camilo Villegas wins emotionally in Bermuda
Jack Hirsch
The next few years saw Villegas slide down the world rankings amid struggles and personal tragedy. But he eventually fought his way back into the winner’s circle, ending a nine-year winning drought at the 2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
Unfortunately, this year has been a struggle for the popular professional. He managed just one top-10 finish, falling to 164th in the FedEx Cup standings. He is ranked 166th on FedEx’s fall list.
Villegas WD’d after a poor opening round in his last start, the Bank of Utah Championship, but he was actually showing promising signs at the Tech World Championship.
Although he opened the first round with a double bogey on the 10th and added another on the 17th, he also made two birdies and bogeyed the par-3 3rd hole to return to even par.
But when Villegas reached the 4th hole on Thursday, disaster struck. The long par-4 runs uphill and is surrounded by local sand. It seems the local areas are where Villegas ran into trouble.
According to the play-by-play on PGATour.comVillegas hit a shot at the 4 in a home zone. He then made his second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth shots from the birth zone before returning to the fairway.
After reaching the green on his seventh shot, Villegas two-putted for a five-par 9. Just like that, his par score dropped to five. Two additional bogeys followed at 6 and 7 to complete a seven-over 79.
With players down and a projected drop to five under par, Villegas needed a heroic round on Friday to play the weekend. Starting on the back 9 on Friday, he quickly birdied 1 and 2 to improve to three for the tournament.
After a par 3, Villegas returned to the scene of his collapse in Round 1. But Villegas’ second attempt at the 4th hole went even worse than the first.
He missed his first drive and was forced to take a penalty and re-tee. According to the play-by-play, shots four through eight were “from the fairway.” It seems his eighth shot finally made it to the green, where he two-putted for a six-bogey 10.
After placing fifth, Villegas withdrew from the tournament. The Tour announced its WD but did not give a reason.
