PGA tour needs more personalities like Camilo Villegas as a contrast to Tiger Woods

The writer Dan Jenkins once did an interview with Golf Digest in which he complains about the lack of charisma and excitement on the PGA Tour – aside from Tiger Woods who he admires tremendously.

PGA tournaments, he says, are about “getting sunburned at the rich man’s country club” and then he goes on to talk about the players. “I think Greg Norman still sells some tickets. (The interview was in 2001.) Maybe Fred Couples and Phil Mickelson. All the others you lump together. Part of the spectacle.”

I pretty much agree with Jenkins and that’s why I’m joining W.K. Wolfrum on the Camilo Villegas bandwagon. I think it’s great for golf that this expressive young Colombian is starting to succeed in his rookie year on the PGA Tour. Not only does the game need more young players to compete with Woods, the game also needs more personality and showmanship, which is something Villegas has got in spades.

Tiger may indeed be the greatest golfer of all time, but to me he is not really a charismatic presence. When I watch him he seems so burdened by the quest for perfection and the drive to win that he often looks downright unhappy playing what is, after all, a game. Villegas is the anti-Tiger. He brings a much-appreciated joie de vivre to golf. If the Colombian continues to enjoy success, watching these tournaments week after week is going to be more fun for all of us.

And it would be a bonus if J.B. Holmes, that long-slamming country boy who showed such promise in winning the FBR Open, turns out to be the real deal. The jury’s still out on both Holmes and Villegas, but I’m rooting like mad for both boys.