Villegas swerves Rio outing

Camilo Villegas has decided not to represent Colombia at the 2016 Olympics due to worries about his PGA Tour card.

Many expected Villegas to represent his country as golf returns to the Olympic Games for the first time since 1904, but a different decision has now been taken.

The 34-year-old – who was not worried about the threat of the Zika virus – has decided to focus on retaining his full PGA Tour card for the next season and this makes competing in Rio untenable.

He is currently sitting at number 146 in the FedEx Cup standings after pulling out of the Barbasol Championship last week and this has left him in a precarious position, with just the top 125 players advancing to the play-offs and getting a full card for the following campaign.

Villegas only has four tournaments left, starting with the RBC Canadian Open, to improve on his position and he admits the possibility of slipping down the standings forced the Olympic withdrawal.

“Right now, I have not secured my PGA Tour card for next season and I have several opportunities to improve my FedEx Cup standing, one of which overlaps with the Olympics,” he said.

“I have waited until the last minute to withdraw as I have been working hard to secure my playing privileges so I can continue to represent Colombia on the PGA Tour.”

Villegas joins the growing list of players to swerve the Rio Games with Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth some of the high-profile names to pull out.

Tagged Camilo Vilegas, PGA Tour, Rio 2016