By Tim Rosaforte
Illustration By Julien Pacaud
December 2008
Breakout FedEx Cup star Camilo Villegas, who won the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship and finished second in the FedEx Cup points race to Vijay Singh, recently took a friend's challenge to ride a bicycle up a mountain to a course where the Colombian played as a youth. "I didn't know if I was going to make it, but when I got to the top, I said, 'I love this!' '' The passion grew from there, and when Villegas returned to his new home in Jupiter, Fla., the first thing he did was buy a road bike; then he joined a cycling club. Sporting the gear and a helmet, his locks flying in the breeze, Villegas rides with friends on runs of up to 60 miles. "It's so peaceful, and pretty sweet," he said. . . . While practicing for the Ryder Cup, Justin Rose and Ian Poulter buzzed around Lake Nona golf club in Orlando on Segways—the self-balancing, electric transporters that you stand on like a chariot. "It's a great way to play golf," said Rose of the two-wheel vehicles. The toys belong to Poulter, whom Rose calls the ultimate gadget freak. "Somehow he's always got it first, the day before it's released," Rose said. . . . Morgan-Leigh Norman, Greg's daughter, was seen following Sergio Garcia at the Tour Championship (the two have dated). Morgan-Leigh runs her dad's wine label and serves as a food-and-beverage consultant for his Jumeirah Estates project in Dubai, host of next year's Race to Dubai, the season-ending European Tour Championship, where Garcia should be among the favorites. . . . When it came to naming a Presidents Cup International team assistant captain for the 2009 matches, Australian Greg Norman chose Frank Nobilo, the New Zealander and Golf Channel analyst who has played on three Cup teams. "It's a great honor," Nobilo said. "Being from my neck of the woods, Greg had such an impact on my career." . . . At 44, Davis Love III believes he's too young to be considered as the next U.S. Ryder Cup captain. Instead, he wants to make Fred Couples' Presidents Cup team. "Competitively, the window is still open," Love said, one year after ankle surgery. "If I keep doing the things I'm doing, I'm gonna come back."
Tim Rosaforte is a Senior Writer for Golf Digest and Golf World. He appears on NBC golf telecasts and on Golf Channel's "Sprint Pre Game" and "Sprint Post Game" shows. Read his Tour Insider at golfdigest.com.
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