Overcoming Adversity, Fear and Doubt with Camilo Villegas

Mark Immelman, golf broadcaster, interviews 5-Time winner on the PGA TOUR and the 2008 TOUR Champion — Camilo Villegas
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ABOUT THE EPISODE: Camilo Villegas (Colombia) is a 5-Time winner on the PGA TOUR and the 2008 TOUR Champion.

He has been ranked as high as 7th in the Official World Golf Ranking and is one of the most successful golfers from South America.

Camilo joins #OntheMark to share stories from his career in golf – from his time in Junior golf in Medellin, Columbia to his All-American career as a University of Florida Gator, Camilo talks about competition, wellness and discipline.

He then delves into his career on the PGA TOUR and lessons he learned in his ascent up the world rankings. Camilo then shares the heart-breaking story of losing his baby daughter, Mia, and the life skills he and his wife learned from that life-altering event.

Villegas talks about how he endured and passed through a significant slump in form, thanks to discipline, attitude, overcoming fear and doubt, and a change in golf-swing theory. He caps the story by revisiting his victory in the 2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

Thoughout the conversation Camilo weaves in lessons and insights to help golfers improve their health and their golf. He shares his daily routine in terms of nutrition, hydration and practice. He also talks about managing stress, the psychology of sports and golf, fitness and resistance training for the golf swing, and beating the “demons of bad play” by taking consistent small, incremental steps towards your goal.

STREAMING: On the Mark is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts.

ABOUT ON THE MARK: Mark’s knowledge, insight and experience have made him a sought-after mind on the PGA and European tours. Through his career, he has taught and/or consulted to various Major Champions, PGA Tour winners and global Tour professionals such as: Larry Mize, Loren Roberts, Louis Oosthuizen, Patton Kizzire, Trevor Immelman, Charl Schwartzel, Scott Brown, Andrew Georgiou and Rourke can der Spuy. His golf teaching experience and anecdotal storytelling broadcasting style makes him a popular host for golf outings.

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Folks if you are not watching this on YouTube you are missing out because Camila vas looks like he has stepped off a Vogue photo shoot cilo you’re looking great how are you man nice to oh great great thanks Mark good to be here with you and we’ve been talking about doing

Something together and here we are so looking forward okay folks to put this into context can Vegas um a few months ago I can’t remember the event but he tried his hand at golf announcing and he’s charming and goodlook and I was like no big guy you better you’re a good

Golfer still and you know thankfully it’s worked out for the positive so I’m so happy for you yeah well yeah obviously the end of the year has been phenomenal but let’s go back to that week wi them Championship I had a chance to be in the booth with Steve Sans and

All the other guys um it was it was very interesting I tip my hat to you guys you guys do a great job it’s a whole different world one thing is playing offl and another thing is putting a show together showing ER the audience and the

Fans and what we’re doing in there it’s amazing how much goes behind the scenes to put a Tour event together and I was very fortunate and happy to be part of that group during that week I learned a lot and but yeah to those that were with

Me that week I’m glad we were’re back on the golf course look uh you the you you’re like a brother to me in many ways um I’m so glad you would say what you did because it’s so easy for Twitter to uh or whoever on social media to

Critique TV shows and it is hey what what are you doing reading Twitter what are you doing reading Twitter right uh speaking of this is all about you I’m thankful you would join me you back home in Colombia um I I want the folks to learn a bit from Camilo and

The first thing I want to ask you is you know you were a young you know golf prodigy growing up but my question is for adults listening to this who have kids that want to play football or soccer or whatever you know soccer in Colombia is like a religion yet you get

To golf so how does that happen yeah obviously we live in a country third world country where so it revolves around soccer when it comes to sports and I was very fortunate my dad joined a country Club when he was about 35 years old and after doing a lot of sports

Himself he decided to play a little Golf and that’s what got me into the game and I enjoyed it since the first day I would go walk behind him with his two iron which H I’m not sure there’s many amors hitting two IRS the days and um and yeah

I started playing tournaments as a junior I was successful and trust me once you got come back home with a little trophy you want to get on the next one and the next one and the next one and it becomes a it becomes somewhat of an addiction it’s a purpose and since

I was a kid that that was that was the purpose and then I had a chance to go to the I had a chance to represent Colombia in many tournaments it was it was fun traveling around the world with with the colors of our flag and then H going to

The University of Florida was phenomenal a place where I learned a lot and H that really prepared me to make the jump to Pro Golf I want to because you’re a big brother I’m a big brother um your younger brother Manny he’s a good golfer

As well I was a decent golfer I could never beat my brother in the end um as a big brother you know I I also want you to sort of motivate maybe because you’re so good at it you know siblings you know in sport because sometimes it can get a

Little you know competitive so so what’s your take over there seeing as you’ve walked this road yeah for sure I mean it would be very interesting to ask my brother I mean especially now that he can look back and and kind of analyze his feelings growing up as as the

Younger brother I was a I was very successful as an Amer as a junior player and and and my brother was too he wasn’t quite winning the tournaments I was winning but H we had a great relationship and um and H I think he handled it great he was he loves the

Game of golf he’s he’s involved with it he CED for me for a long time now he’s cting for SE Kim and I think yes there could be a little rivalry but in our case it was always something very positive and I think my brother has handled it

Great well look you would be an easy brother to have I’m not so sure I’ve been the easiest brother for my brother anyhow so so you speak of you you go from Colombia to Gainesville Florida speaking of culture shock I’m sure um but there you know everyone talks knows

Camilo Vias now but the Camilo that arrived there and the Camilo that came out of UF they were two different people I mean you picked up strength power the whole thing so so advise folks on on what you did to elevate your game to the level you

Did Man Four great years at the University of Florida I learned so much and I yes I was very successful as a junior player but the second I got there and I saw kind of the World of Sports University sports I knew I had to take advantage of the opportunities and one

Of the opportunities was better nutrition and and and better a strength conditioning and um I know if I wanted to play on the PGA tour I needed to get stronger and longer off the tea and I started a process that took four years I got there at 138 pounds I left there at

About 160 pounds one of the shortest guys on the golf team to maybe one of the longest guys on the golf team how much yards how much weight I was 138 to 160 about in weight and I was doing double workouts sometimes I was going in the morning and

Going in the afternoon H during tournaments I was was working out and it became kind of Lifestyle I was it started as doing something for my golf game and now people ask me hey how do you do this all you do when it comes to

Fitness and I said hey it’s part of my lifestyle now I don’t do it as much for my golf game but I do it just for my life but in this moment it was critical in my career and um we had a we had a great team at the University of Florida

And it was it was great to take advantage of that those doors that were opening and in terms of in Terms you know when I was in school not everybody had a trackman every once in a while we would measure ourselves in a trackman it wasn’t like the technology

We have today so how much did I gain in in terms of ball speed I’m gonna guess I’m gonna guess I gain about 12 to 13 miles per hour and that’s a big difference kid hey I want to ask you this because a lot of folks listening to

This are like yeah okay Camilo guy looks like a like like a a Roman god um and a lot of folks are fair careful to get into the gym and you know there’s this apprehension about changing you know habits for the good whether it’s nutrition or gym or just the whole thing

Um I want you just to advise there because you’re so well qualified at it yeah I think the main key is you gotta find something that you can do consistent not everybody enjoys the gym not everybody likes pushing weights not everybody likes pushing themselves to the limit in doing cardio and all that

Stuff and a lot of people have some fear of changing their body how can this change my golf game I think the changes need to happen slowly and once again consistency is the key so my advice to those out there is just the if you don’t like lifting weights we

Find something to create resistance training that you can repeat week in we out and I guarantee you once you start seeing results in the way your body looks your body feels and more importantly is how is your mind and I have a cool story and we can probably

Talk about it right now but I’m working with a new guy called oeno from um from Chile’s I’m working with him on the mental side I got to him through Bobby Diaz a Mexican player that plays on the he’s played on the lp he’s played on the

On the PGA tour he’s played last year on the corn fairy tour we were in a long drive a six-hour drive from tournament to tournament he said I want you to listen to this podcast and I started listening to this podcast we finished the podcast and I go what’s his number

Let me call him right now I call him and I said can we start working to together tomorrow he said absolutely what did I like about this guy this guy he kind of a psychologist anti psychology it’s not like okay you gotta be positive oh you gotta be happy oh you

Gotta smile we know we know how we need to think on the golf course but it’s when you’ve been out there for so many years um you have Demons Inside of you you got great experiences you got bad experiences it’s the the mental side is

Not as easy as as you as as you think but the thing I liked about this guy was he said I want you to do cardio I want you to push yourself in the gym because it’s been proven that when you raise your heart rate and you push yourself

What that does to your mind especially with you with my personality is so positive that it’s gonna help us a lot and the same happened with Bobby Diaz Bobby said hey I started working with this guy and he said there’s one non-negotiable thing and and Bob’s like what do you mean one non-negotiable

Thing he goes I want you to raise your heart rate every day for about 20 minutes and Bob’s like what do you mean he goes well you’re going to make my my job easier and in terms of it’s proven that the doing cardio and being fit helps with depression helps with your

Anxiety and helps with with with your emotional state so once again Fitness is important Fitness was big for me at the University of Florida it was a big change and I think it really helped me to take the next step to Pro Golf no kidding um I love that it makes me want

To ask about nutrition because I’ve I’ve watched you eat folks um he’s one of those guys uh how does it college kid decide then I know they’re nutritionists at a place like that but but the discipline I guess is what I’m asking about Camilo where you know that you’re

Supposed to do it but it’s so easy to take the easy route and get the fast food and the rubbish talk about the mindset there with nutrition please it’s about it’s about a it’s about setting small goals all right and and and and working for them and that’s what we did

And we started doing like body composition at the University of Florida and it became like little game okay how can we get to this number how can we get to that and and that’s kind of what brought the world of nutrition and and and fitness because they both go hand in

Hand so I wanted to I wanted to I wanted to go down in body fat but I wanted to go up in weight and that’s we all know that that’s that’s pretty hard good thing is I was pretty skinny when I got to Florida so anything I was going to do

In terms of resistance training was GNA I was going to go up in weight H but if you want to go up in weight you also have to eat excess calories to to gain and if you at excess calories you’re going to put a little fat so it was a

Game that we played and and and and and you still don’t have an ounce of fat on you what’s your body P fat percentage like five or six% or something I’m probably around seven right now I’m not like I was in Florida but it’s it’s it’s

Still pretty good I love it I’m so jealous hydration I need to ask you um it’s something that everyone can do pointing at myself just for overall well-being and someone like your s with the cycling and the working out and stuff and the playing at a high level

The hydration is just so important right very important and I start my day with a with a big cup of water I put a little bit of Himalaya salt in it I think the salts are important I think people have demonized a salt but when you’re an

Athlete and your your body is constantly being put in under stress you need to replenish those minerals and and and and they and and hydrate yourself and golfers yes they’re not the most intense sport but they’re they’re an endurance sport I mean I challenge anybody to that doesn’t play golf to go

Out there week in week out for a six days a week walk about 10 miles a day and see how their body feels so hydration is key and um along with nutrition in terms of the body being focused rounds of golf are long take five hours you gotta be sharp toward the

End and it and and something that I’ve been working with the new guy with oeno is how do we conserve energy and not so much physical energy but mental energy so we try to be very focused when we get to the ball and have our routine execute

The shot and the second we hit that shot we we almost try to lose focus and just just kind of come out of the bubble and and and and we found out that by the end of the round we have more energy by going in and out than trying to stay in

It the whole the whole five hours that is taking us to play golf that makes so much sense um I want to ask about oncore snacking I mean this is becoming like a lifestyle podcast with Camila vas um I find look it’s so easy for the club

Golfer watching this to get the hot dog at the turn and have the beer or the Coca-Cola tell them what Camila V jagas eats on the golf course and drink this year this year we did something really cool we only I only stayed in two hotels

All week all year so we were doing a bunch of airbnbs and staying with some of the boys and cooking a lot so it makes a lot easier to eat clean and healthy and when it came to the golf course I’ve done everything I’ve had bars I’ve had this I’ve had that I’ve

Had a pbjs I’ve had almond butter and banana sandwiches I’ve gone a little bit away from those and trying to go more kind of less processed stuff I do prepare a shake every morning the shake has between 1,00 to 1200 calories so it’s a a high calorie shake it has some

Protein in it it has some greens it has some mushroom powder it got little creatine in there it’s got almond milk and it’s got this kind of nutty granola so I know that if I take that to the golf course and I have that I’m G to

Have plenty of energy because again it’s a, to 12200 calories and um and I throw the electrolytes that we talk about and every once in a while when we have a nice little barbecue and I have some little chicken leftover chicken thighs or something I put them in a little

Stasher and I take it to the golf course I open it on the fifth six hole and people laugh I’m eating like this little piece of chicken but I found that a I found that the energy levels are are really good when you when you have the right nutrition I don’t think people

Recognize the value of that because it’s one of those things that the most golfers don’t keep tabs on obviously and then all of a sudden they’re ravenous and they just Jam a candy bar in their mouth but but when out there calling you top flag players you nibbling on

Something almost habitually every few holes absolutely I think I’m a big believer of of constant energy and um very interesting back in the day we had this little device before the whoop came out and the aura ring and all this kind of devices that measure I remember

There was this device called first beat I remember playing a British Open with some like little things attached to my chest and my back and all this stuff and it would measure your stress levels and your calorie consumption during the day and all and I would play a

Pram five hour PR and I would burn about 500 600 calories yeah and then Thursday came along and we play five the same five hour round in competition and it will be 1,200 so think about that ER double the calories same amount of time just because the St stress levels and

The intens go up so you got to you got to put something in your body you got to have that energy that is going to give you keep you mentally sharp you talk about managing stress um look you you turned Pro in 04 after being an all America at Florida won a

National championship there um your first win comes in 2006 and you start that year crazy I mean you had a couple Runners up and third place at the players in the first nine events is it was it that easy um that’s that’s out of the ordinary for a rookie on the

PGA tour what was it about that season that you just came out the gates so ready and so unafraid I almost want to say to tell you the truth I I’ve thought about that and I think the answer to that is not knowing how hard the PGA to

Is and I’m honest about this I mean I got there I had a good I had a great college career and and yeah I got to a good start and that gave me confidence and and I didn’t know how tough the PGA Tour was when I

Got there and I’m thankful for the way I started it took me a couple years to win my first one but when when when 2008 came along it was a little relief won the BMW Championship and then couple weeks later I won the the two championship to finish second on the

FedEx Cup so Camilo Camilo got to a great start when he got on tour I’m very thankful to for for that and and like everything which I’m sure you going to ask me life goes like this and when we’re playing good we think we’re going to play good forever and then when we’re

Playing bad we think we’re going to be playing bad forever and that’s not the case on either side no absolutely I do want to go a little further before I ask you about that though you get off to the fast start you gain the confidence um it feeds itself a little bit the

Confidence I guess but you talked about demons and that sort of thing because you talk about playing well and then all of a sudden you’re not playing well it’s such a Fickle game to me though you’ve always been so consistent in your attitude throughout I I’m interested in

In what goes on behind your eyes because it’s not as easy as what you make it seem yes I have but trust me I’m no different than a lot of the guys and and there’s been tough times er the one thing I’ve done really good is waking up

Early every morning and keep at it keep at it keep keep at it keep at it with a purpose when the thing when you’re not playing good keep at it when you’re playing good keep at it when we were going through our family situation with Mia understand that that was a situation

That happens accept it and keep at it and at the end of the day it’s that consistency that a that that that helps you focus on the process more than the results and if you can enjoy the process and you’re just trying to make yourself better every day and that’s all you can

Control keep at it I love that I want to ask this you got me thinking as you were sharing that when you’re in the booth and I’ve noticed this when I’m in the booth or on the course certainly or you know in my days as a college

Coach you can see so many mistakes that the competitive golfer makes when you’re outside of the ropes and you don’t have your hands on the rubber end of the golf club Under Pressure I see you smiling for the folks you should see the smile on YouTube um can Camilo I’m sure you

Watch the stuff and going went yourself dang did I do that when I was at my best did you have that moment absolutely I did and and to take take it one step further I I started thinking a lot about the caddies okay and it’s unbelievable

What the Cades must see in US during tricky times because the game of golf kind of wires up and just makes us make bad decisions and act one way or the other just why because the game is tough H but doing doing TV that week you

Realize that in order to win a golf tournament you don’t have to be perfect and you can make mistakes and yes when you’re watching TV or golf on TV you see a lot of putts made but you start seeing also the guys in contention how many they miss too at

The same time and you go Hey listen it’s all about managing your your your attitude and your energy I had a chance it’s been great working with ohu it’s been great working with him and I noticed it among the other players too so the last few months with my caddy we

Kind of laugh about it when we see somebody handle things really good or when we see somebody handle things really bad and I’ll give you a good example of somebody that handled something really really good and it was Matt coocher in Mexico okay so the third

Round in Mexico Matt CER was giving us a clinic I mean literally a clinic the guy’s 10 under through 14 ho and I remember looking at my cadd and I said listen man we got to focus on our game there’s nothing we can do against Matt right now and my caddy

Turns around and goes well just be patient because things are never great forever sure enough we go to the next hole and I make an unbelievable birdie with a really tricky pin and Matt makes eight so that’s a five shot swing then we go to the 16 hole and I make a great

Birdie and Matts makes bogey that’s in seven shot swing all of a sudden I’m one back or tied I forgot and and to see the way cooch handled that situation it was pretty remarkable I mean most guys would have lost it and cooch stayed in it came

Back the next day played good gave himself a chance and and it just happened to be Eric Van rugan’s week where he just was playing for a little different purpose playing for his buddy that was battling cancer and went out on the back nine shot 28 on us and it was

It was it was his day you’re a perfect TV guy because You’ given me the perfect segue to get to a difficult subject to be honest playing with purpose and you and Maria lost little Mia during Co year in 2020 um I mean I couldn’t begin to

Fathom what that could have been like but I I commend you for how you handled it and then how you’ve come out on the back side of it because it’s like you took this horrid event and you turned it into something positive which doesn’t surprise me no knowing you but somehow

You did it so I’d love you to talk about that please yeah 2020 was tough I mean to that’s an understatement then U losing your daughter or getting the news that she has brain cancer and spending five months at nichlas Children’s and every time we thought we were going

To go home for a few days something came up we never left and but seeing the energy and support from everybody was unbelievable and and again you got to accept what you’re going through and and and it was tough it was very very hard to accept that we were in that

Situation but to see her battle to see my wife just handle the situation the way she was handling to see the love and energy we were receiving was was special I had a chance to go play a corn fairy event while Mia was still alive and

And it was very very special I mean to see how I was received to tell the world the story which wasn’t easy and that gave me an engine I knew I knew that the golf family is my family and I know that golf has given me so many

Great things and and and that I had to come back to play we we go a couple months later and we lost Mia after a tough battle I truly believe she’s in the right place she wasn’t going to she wasn’t going to win this battle it was it was maybe a little too

Tough for her but um but it gave us purpose and my wife very quickly changed the Camilo Vias Foundation to the m Miracles foundation and we started a new journey in life a new purpose in life now we only it wasn’t only about cam vas going back to playing golf but it was

Helping others in need and and we were very fortunate to live the Mia situation the way we did financially emotionally and energy wise everything but I know that’s not the case for many other kids and families that are struggling to to to go through the situation so me as

Miracles was born to help those guys to bring a either financial aid or emotional support to people that are going through those situations and yeah that that that that gave me purpose to keep fighting and and um the fight wasn’t easy and dealing with this with your wife is not easy because

You both grief different there were times in the relationship where things got interesting and and tough but we kept battling and we kept battling and and here we are with a beautiful foundation and Camilo EAS goes to 2023 playing bad golf decides to kind of change his team around revamp his golf

Swing and um and things starting shaping the right way so Jose CA which obviously not only a great coach a great caddy but a great friend who I played with playing junior golf playing South American tour Grio and CA and now cting for Sebastian Muno but very very smart in the technical side

And bumped into me out of nowhere at the at the Tory Pines this year so I’m playing terrible I missed the cut at Tory Pines usually I just go to the gym and kill myself in the gym this time I said I told my cad I said no Santi we’re

Gonna go to the range my brother will finish with Su a little bit later and we’re gonna we’re gonna hit a few balls my brother starts helping me with something and here comes um Jose CA who was literally coming to say bye because Munoz had signed with Liv and they were

Going to go and we we didn’t know when we were going to see him next and I’m a little frustrated I look at Jose and I said Jose can you help me and he goes well I’ve been studying your swing for many years and there’s not a little

Band-Aid I can give you if you want me to help you this is going to take time are you willing to put time into it I said absolutely let’s go we go sit down on a table he starts telling me about ball flights and what he wants to

Accomplish how long he thinks it’s going to take to accomplish he said I’m I’m going to need about 14 months and I don’t want you to play too much so I heard everything didn’t want to hear come out of Jose’s mouth but I stuck to

The process I said you know what I am gonna I’m gonna I’m gonna stick to this and and we started working and it’s been great along the way came eleno along the way came a change of CAD to um to Lis Ruiz Mexican kid young kid with great

Energy and things started to line up and here we are fifth win on the PGA tour and trust me going back to Mia she had front seat she was up there watching it sending me good energy and and it’ll be good to mention somebody and it would be Gary Woodland and I

Watched Gary win the the Phoenix open after they lost one of their little ones before before the before the the the Twins were born and I’m never going to forget when he wins on the 18 and he looks up in the sky oh yeah and and that

Stayed in me and obviously to Gary all the best energy ER Gary’s going through a tough situation with with with with the brain tumor and um yeah all the energy for him and his family and all the best but it stayed in me and I had a

Chance to do it in Bermuda look up in the sky thank Mia and and and trust me I was also thinking about ging his family well yeah um you’re so thoughtful I I want to first off you mentioned the foundation please share for people where they go so they can support the

Foundation if they want is there a website or something yes M kind dasm miracles.org org if you put M as miracles on Google it’s going to pop up and um it’s a great cause I invite everybody to gonna take a peek look at what we’re doing it’s something very organic very personal very

Emotional we’re not we’re not focused on raising funds for research and development because because even because we think that’s a little bit easy in terms of in terms of no we want something more personal we want to be in contact with these families we want to help them we

Want to see them smile we want to interact with the kids we want to um do monthly activities where we can change it just bring a smile to a kid that’s going through tough situations we want to help the parents that are that are struggling to pay the bills ER it’s it’s

Really open our hearts to kind kind uh once again to have another purpose in life well awesome okay folks go and support that right as the golf teacher in me has now popped his head up and I learned of the relationship with Jose he’s been on the show I’ve known him

Since he was a college golf at Jacksonville State University and I’ve got the utmost respect for him now what you guys did was a massive departure from what Camilo was doing okay it’s like you were going from one side of the coin to the other and I remember bumping

Into you on the range on a Sunday afternoon at pibble Beach and I was like how you playing this week and you’re like no man mred the cut but I’m getting ready for next week I’m going to the corn Ferry event and that’s when I’m like this guy’s a genius anyways um a

Couple weeks later it’s Honda where you’ve won one of your four victories I think it is and you in the midst of a swing change and by the way Jose Jose told me I don’t I want you to play Honda I would if I was advising you I would have said

The same thing because that Golf Course is riddled with problems it is like a mental mindfield not to me mention a physical thing but you got up there and you gave PGA to a live AR range interview which I have clipped and recorded it’s so good and you played

Horribly you were hitting not hitting the thing well at all but you stuck to your guns so I would to tell people how in the hell does a golfer actually do that when you’re staring disaster in the face but you got the discipline to go I’m doing this I’m doing this and I’m

Going to keep doing this you know what I’m very thankful to for the Honda Classic and and Jack and Barbara and their foundation and being a past Champion there and even though Jose didn’t want me to play there for for one specific reason he wanted to protect my

Confidence and he was telling me the right thing and um because when he told me we need 14 months he said we’re going to play worse before we play better and trust me I was already playing pretty bad so we we did give a a pretty cool

Morning range interview I went out there I shot 82 I think I was in last place or second to last and and I get a call from Jose he goes how are you I said well I’m not great but he goes I don’t care about the score I care about your confidence

And I just want you to know one thing please stick with the process and and we did and a few months later Jose comes to there’s a good story here was comes to Rally called fairy event and things were getting a little bit better little bit better and he

Started seeing the shot pattern was starting to change a little bit after so many drills and so much stuff we’re staying together we’re having breakfast and he looks at me and he says he says Camilo we’re gonna play austa again and I’m like what do you mean I

Mean I’m trying to freaking keep my corn fairy card here I’m going through this changes and you’re telling me that we’re going to play we’re going to go back to Augusta there’s I got to win on the PJ tour I’m not even getting into the PJ

Tour events he goes well now you know what you need to do we’re gonna play Augusta again and it was very interesting because it kind of stayed in me and I and I thought about it during the process but but I wasn’t sure if if if I was believing it you

Know I mean and when things started lining up toward the end of the season I have to go to second of Q school and my wife my wife tells me I feel you pretty calm why are you so calm she’s not the an expert in golf but she

Knows what what how much how important is to have a place to play and then why are you so calm and I said you know what I I truly truly believe that I’m working on the right things and and that’s what giv me this this inner inner peace and I

Was concerned about having a place to play I knew I needed I knew second stage of Q school was going to be huge I needed I wanted to I wanted to have a platform for the following year and if I knew if I made it through second stage

Of Q school I was going to start in South America if I wasn’t in the corn fairy events I was going to I was going to have conditional I was going to get some invites and I just made a cut and I had a place to play the rest of the year

But man did things Chang when I went to Mexico and my and I was I was very comfortable in contention I played great golf I finished second I moved to 147 on the FedEx Cup now I’m not thinking about I don’t have to go to second state of Q

School I’m exempt to final of Q school now I’m now I’m not thinking about I’m not thinking about corn fairy tour I’m thinking more about the PGA Tour and I’m like okay we gotta keep going and then I win and I’m Hey listen the Adventure Continues and and and we keep going okay

Um you talked about demons that was real man that stuff is real but then you just spoke about the self-belief and your this this almost concrete belief and what you were doing was correct is that how golfers beat demons or is there more to it wow that’s a great question

A because the demons gonna be there all the time I mean you know they are yeah they are I’m trying to I’m trying to put it into Words wow you got um you got to have belief obviously but it’s very easy to lose your belief and I think it’s putting a good team around around and sticking to the process I think it’s a it’s it’s enjoying the process more than the than the end

Result I think it’s it’s it’s trying to get better every day and and and accept where you are and what’s to come I think that’s what gives you lets you play with more freedom I think we live in a world that is extremely attached to Performance and results and we base our

Happiness and our emotional state too much in in in in the results and if you can if you can focus on the process enjoy the process I think it’s it’s it’s a good way to not care so much yeah or care a lot in the small steps which H

Which definitely give you some some mental freedom and H demons are always going to be there and when I talked in Bermuda about him it’s fear I mean literally demons are simply fear and and when people hear fear they they they think about this big word which is

Big but it’s kind of little things too it’s fear of missing this put it’s fear of missing the cut it’s fear of missing your card it’s fear of the the outut of bounds on the right on the six hole that I hit it two years ago it’s those little

Things it’s not it’s not it’s not the end of the world it’s not life or death but those things start adding up where your mind is just tweaked and it’s not in the right place and right frame of mind all right I’ve kept you for a long

Long time um I have one more question about the small steps uh and then just a couple just little ones and I’ll let you go um you talked about staying true to the process throughout the journey um I’m pretty much certain listening to you now that the the Investments you made in

Your body when you were a Collegian and realizing okay that little bit is going to change my body mass composition so you got used to Tiny Steps M like so many of us are wanting that big giant leap where improvements little stuff every day isn’t it they don’t exist

Giant leaps are are might be luck but it’s not the you might get lucky here and something might work but the the in order to find consistency it’s h it’s just sticking to the process and um I’m a True Believer in that um and and by

The way there’s at least for me there’s no no better feeling than having a purpose for the next day it just it’s just that way your your day goes days go a little too quick for me I unfortunately just because I’m I’m always busy I’m always doing something

That I that I love and I enjoy and investing in yourself your body your nutrition your mental health I is more important than than than a lot of things and and it’s going to put you in the in the in the good frame of mind to accomplish what you really want

Fantastic all right gardening just a little housekeeping here you are one of the best lowball hitters in the world it didn’t surprise me whatsoever in fact I’m going to toot my own horn here and tip my cap the week prior to Bermuda I was asked to pick a dark horse someone

To watch and I was like Camila V jagas really there you go hilly and it’s windy as hell and so the way you were playing I’m like this is a dead sirt hitting the ball you do it naturally anyway Help The Listener to Flat one down I think it’s such a

Valuable shot yeah it it it has been in my career and um it’s I’ve always struggled to hit a high so that tells you why I feel so comfortable with the low shot I think my first instructor here in in in Colombia Rio Gonzalez he was always he always kept pointing at

The left wrist and he said you control the ball with that left wrist okay so and you create the Angles and the this and the that and it was funny how it I I always enjoyed moving the ball and and I also remember I mean Tiger Woods hitting that little stinger

And it was I always enjoyed it and it was pure and it became like a a thing I wanted to do and I wanted to hey let’s get this ball in play it gets a little windy let’s keep it out of the wind let’s and and and yeah obviously you move the ball

A little bit back in the stance and but my my my leg movement my knee movement also allowed your wife hello she’s stepped in the background there oh she it’s fine she’s gone hello hello all right but like why what is he doing but but yeah my leg action just

Allowed my face to stay a little bit delayed and and to trap it a little bit and I always hit that little low draw it was efficient but let me tell you something that low draw is also what took me to playing B exactly yeah cuz you’re trying shot that’s

Pretty cool and that helped me in many situations when we were playing T baladas and the and the professional ball and the different group clubs and the heads that were little Spiner that was great I could control it great and Technology started to change and I started overdoing it a little bit and

All of a sudden I’m I’m hitting this low draws and you can’t play on the PGA tour only hitting low draws that’s when Jose comes along and we decide to start changing the trajectory obviously we go to Mexico and I still got to have that

Low shot I go to Bermuda when it gets windy and I still got to have that low shot but you got to have more in the bag in order to compete against the best guys yes I will say this two more questions I want to talk to you about

Shot shaping not just high and low because you are not handcuffed by trying to make the stylish looking swing all the time I I love people to learn from you because you can almost see by your follow through that the shot you’ve just hit is that something natural or is that

Something you work on because you make different looking follow-throughs for everything you’re hitting and I think it’s so crafty and delightful really yeah I mean I think it’s it makes the game a little fun being able to move the ball around being creative it gives you access to different pin locations and

Once again my shot shape was starting to get too low and and too much draw and we’ve been working on on on moving and and after a long time of only seeing the shot it’s been it’s been a challenge to start all of a sudden I see the trees on

The left side of the of the tea box and I’m like whoa I never saw that that that tree and now I’m seeing it because I’m going to hit a a little high fade or this and that so again I think Tiger Wood did an unbelievable when he was H

Playing his best golf he was able to move the ball in all kinds of directions I know there’s a lot of guys that have been very successful taking one side of the golf course out I mean you you remember listening to Jack saying I want

I want to eliminate the left side of the golf course and I think that also works but being able to move it around is pretty cool I enjoy it lovely one more question you’ve made plenty uh you were a dynamite assistant coach there at the President’s Cup in Charlotte and you were so

Motivational and I noticed when one of your charges because you had pods really that you were following your players when there was a big putt to be made I saw you walking down Fairways and you were in someone’s ear all the time because I can only imagine like I’d want to make a

Putt for you that pressure putt helped the viewer Help The Listener with a good mindset to go ahead and convert you you’ve done it yes it’s all about a it’s all about feeling comfortable with feeling uncomfortable or a better way to put it is accept being uncomfortable because

Trust me I mean I mean you guys heard Max H in in Ryder Cup talking about the putt to keep Ryder Cup going and how his legs were shaking President’s Cup in Charlotte was man what a great week I mean being right next to your brother and the whole international team and and

Those young guys and Adam Scott and and and the fans man it was honestly it was one of the most special weeks in my golfing career and I had a chance to walk a lot with Tom Kim who was phenomenal that week I had a chance to

Be in his year I had a chance to push him and um and wow did he perform Under Pressure yes we did lose we didn’t get to a great start but ER yeah pressure is about just understanding that you’re going to feel uncomfortable being okay with it

Breathing it out and just the best players in the world perform really good under pressure and trust me they feel uncomfortable when they’re doing it you’ve just helped me to take a deep breath thank you for your time you’re a star what’s the website social media where can folks find you please yeah

Camilo via official on Instagram I’m not the most social media guy but every once in a while you’ll see a little something here and there and H hey I just try to do things the right way and I’m I’m very thankful for the good energy that we

That me and my family receives you’re welcome see you at austa there you go looking forward how’s