Camilo Villegas is struggling on the PGA Tour. He’s fallen out of the top 125, his playing status is conditional but his game showed a lot of life on Thursday at the Valero Texas Open.
Villegas fashioned nine birdies on his way to an eye-opening eight-under par 64 that gave him a shot at playing his way into next week’s Masters.
There’s still a long way to go over the next three days but Villegas was the hottest man on the course at the TPC San Antonio. After an eighth place finish at the Honda Classic, Villegas brought some momentum to Texas. He overcame a bogey on his first hole of the day, the par four 10th but caught fire after that and finished his round with a chip-in birdie at nine to finish his round.
There were low scores to be had with 37 players in red numbers. Sung Kang and Cameron Tringale were a shot back after signing for six-under par 66s.
Most of the eyes were on a pair of Texans — Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler, both former University of Texas stars. Neither disappointed their fans.
Spieth had trouble finding the middle of the clubface. He hit just six fairways and only nine greens but 23 putts made up for his off-day with the rest of the clubs and he went on to shoot a five-under par 67 to put himself in contention. “I had really bad contact today,” Spieth said after his round. “Normally, even if I don’t necessarily strike the ball well, normally I’m hitting it close to the middle of the face. I’ve got all afternoon to figure that out on the range.”
Spieth got off to a great start with five birdies on the back nine, his first of the day. “Then I just kinda hung on,” was how Spieth described his final nine holes that saw him finish with a bogey to drop back to five-under.
Scheffler, after his runner-up finish at the WGC-Match Play last week, opened with 68.
It wasn’t a great day for Rickie Fowler. His woes continued as he shot 76. Tony Finau shot 73 and it was a rough day for Phil Mickelson, particularly at his final hole of the day, the par five 18th.
Mickelson dunked two balls in the water and wasted shots trying to get himself out of a greenside stream. By the time he finished the hole, he wound up with a quintuple-bogey 10 and a 79 that will most likely get him an early flight to Augusta to prepare of The Masters next week.
Brooks Koepka, Jena Sims Engaged:
We know Brooks Koepka can keep a secret and the cat’s out of the bag on this one — Brooksie is now engaged to long-time girlfriend Jena Sims.
The two have been a couple since 2017 and evidently Brooks popped the question last month.
He’s still on the mend after knee surgery and is out of next week’s Masters. There’s no timetable as of yet for his return to the PGA Tour.
Novak Shoots Career Low 62 At Emerald Coast Classic:
The Korn Ferry Tour is in the Florida panhandle for the Emerald Coast Classic and third-year player Andrew Novak rode a hot putter on his way to a career-low 62 on Thursday at the Emerald Coast Classic.
Novak had just 24 putts, half of them one-putts on his way to an eight-under par round on the Raven Golf Club at Sandestin Resort.
He was four shots better than Hayden Buckley, Josh Hart and Austin Smotherman, who were tied for second with 66s.
