Alumni Update-Villegas Captures Honda Classic| NGA Tour News

News >> Alumni Update-Villegas Captures Honda Classic

Former Hooters Tour Winner Captures 3^rd Win, Alumni Fair Well In Florida and Colombia

Palm Beach Gardens, FL (March 7, 2010)…Former Hooters Tour winner Camilo Villegas captured his third PGA TOUR title Sunday by firing a four-under par 68 in the final round at the Honda Classic.

Villegas posted a thirteen-under par 267, which was the lowest seventy-two hole score since the Honda moved to PGA National in 2007, to win by five strokes over Anthony Kim.

For Villegas it was a whirlwind week as he spent the first part of the week in his home country of Colombia for The Nationwide Tour’s Pacific Rubiales Bogota Open before catching a flight back to Florida for the first round of the Honda Thursday morning.

While Villegas captured his third title Sunday and first since the 2008 Tour Championship he wasn’t the only Hooters Tour alumni to have a good week in Florida. Former Hooters Player of the Year Michael Connell (Richardson, TX) had his best career finish on the PGA TOUR Sunday by finishing T-6 at the Honda Classic.

Connell was tied for the lead after the opening round after he carded a five-under par 65 but the former All-American at Mississippi was only able to manage 71-69-71 for the remainder of the tournament to finish at five-under par 275.

While Connell and Villegas had great finishes at the Honda Classic, they weren’t the only Hooters Tour alums to fair well for the week. Joining these two accomplished alumni were Brendon de Jonge (T-9), Chris Tidland (T-9), Will MacKenzie (t-12), Jerry Kelly (T-12), Tom Gillis (T-17), current member Sam Saunders (T-17), Matt Every (T-26), Chris Stroud (T-31), Jason Bohn (T-35), Chris Riley (T-40), Craig Bowden (T-40), Ted Purdy (T-40), Josh Teater (T-50), Brett Quigley (T-50), Bubba Watson (T-56), Scott Piercy (T-56), Chad Collins (T-56), Blake Adams (T-67), Vaughn Taylor (71), Mark Wilson (72), Derek Lamely (73) and Garrett Willis (74).

These players all had great weeks on the PGA Tour but a handful of alumni had solid weeks on the Nationwide Tour. The inaugural Pacific Rubiales Bogota Open in Bogota, Colombia was host to this week’s event and Nationwide Tour rookie William McGirt of Spartanburg, South Carolina headlined the list of former players for the week with his best career finish on the Nationwide Tour, a tie for 3^rd. Joining McGirt in making the cut in Bogota were J.J Killeen (9), Paul Claxton (T-10), Luke List (T-10), Dave Schultz (T-15), current member Manuel Villegas (T-15), Ryan Armour (T-20), Joe Affrunti (T-20), Scott Brown (T-29), Sal Spallone (T-29), B.J Staten (T-29), Mark Anderson (T-35), Kevin Kisner (T-35), Skip Kendall (T-40), Julio Zapata (T-40), Matt Borchert (T-49), D.J. Brigman (T-49), Nathan Smith (T-49), Scott Stallings (t-49), Keegan Bradley (T-56), Bryan DeCorso (T-56), Nick Flanagan (T-58), Tommy Gainey (T-58), Justin Smith (T-63), current member Travis Bertoni (T-66), Chris Kirk (T-68) and Casey Wittenberg (T-68).

The NGA/Hooters Tour is the 3rd largest men’s 72-hole professional golf tour in the country behind the PGA and Nationwide Tours, and boasts alumni like 2009 British Open Champion Stewart Cink, 2007 Masters Champion Zach Johnson, 2003 PGA Champion Shaun Micheel, 2003 British Open winner Ben Curtis, 2003 US Open winner Jim Furyk, two time U.S. Open winner Lee Janzen, British Open and PGA Champion John Daly, as well as British Open winner Tom Lehman, PGA Champion David Toms, 2003 Tour Championship Winner Chad Campbell, 2004 & 2005 Reno Tahoe Open winner Vaughn Taylor and TPC winner Craig Perks to name just a few. All told, the NGA/Hooters Tour’s alumni have an incredible 11 “Majors” to their credit. The NGA/Hooters Tour has helped more than 100 professionals acquire their PGA, Champions, and Nationwide Tour cards.

For more information about the NGA/Hooters Tour, please visit our web site, www.HOOTERSTOUR.com.