Camilo Villegas and Steve Sands. The Golf Channel
There was new voice on the Golf Channel broadcast of the Wyndham Championship this past week. No your ears were not deceiving you. That was the voice of four-time PGA Tour winner Camilo Villegas, who was making his broadcasting debut in the analyst chair.
While it’s a job that requires time to learn and be truly good at, you can often tell right away whether or not guys are cut out for it. After just four days on the job, it sure seems as though Villegas could be very good at it if he wants to stick with it. Originally, he was unsure if he wanted to do it at all, balking at a suggestion by Golf Channel’s Steve Sands that he might give television a try.
Villegas has not put his playing career to bed just yet, but the insight and energy he brought to the booth, and the positive reaction he’s received from viewers, might be enough to persuade him to come back for more. Of course, there were plenty of rookie mistakes and learning on the fly, as this A+ clip of Villegas commentating without the microphone next to his mouth shows. Thankfully, his boy Sandsy, a pro’s pro in every sense of the phrase, swooped in to save the day:
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What makes this save extra impressive from Sands is that he wasn’t even looking at Villegas to see that the microphone wasn’t on properly. He could hear something was off in his headset, which is when you’ll notice his eyes darting to the right leading to the eventual glove save and a beauty. That’s a TV professional right there.
As you can see from the fist pump, too, TV is a team game. Another reason Villegas might want to hang around the booth a little more. When you mess up on the golf course, it’s all on you. Nobody is coming to save the day. When you mess up on TV, you’ve got teammates like Sandsy to pick you up. For now, though, it’s back to the real grind.
“What a week,” Villegas said on Instagram afterward. “Honoured and thankful to get a chance to call some shots for the first time next to Steve Sands and the whole crew that make a broadcast possible. The Wyndham Championship is a is a special event for me and nice to add this week to the memories. Golf Channel, thanks again for the opportunity. I hope the viewers enjoyed as much as I did…. Back to playing though.”