Morning Man Encore: Camilo Villegas!

Originally posted on Oct 12, 2010

Colombian golfer Camilo Villegas was not on my radar even though I’m a casual fan of professional golf.

But he sure is now after shedding his clothes to appear on the cover of ESPN magazine’s 2010 Body Issue.

The sexy golfer is included in the yearly issue of the magazine that features the naked bodies of the world’s top sports people.

In an interview with the New York Times, Villegas admitted it was “very uncomfortable” for him to take off his clothes: “Taking off your clothes before a camera is not what I do for a living. Especially at moments like that when I felt weird I just thought of having working very hard to obtain these results. This helped me to relax.”

Villegas poses on one of the six covers of the magazine in his traditional “spiderman” position, which golfing fans will recognize from the course.

Just 28, Camilo has accomplished a lot: After several different National Junior Championships in Colombia in the ages between 8 – 15, at 16 he became the first player in Colombian golf history to win the Amateur’s Grand Slam in the same year.

Then, in 2001 he became only the second player to win the Colombian Open as an amateur. His success in Colombian golf throughout the 1990s earned him the distinction of “Player of the Decade” issued by the Colombian Golf Federation.

And all that was before college! He attended the University of Florida where he was a four-time All-American.

He started playing on the PGA Tour in 2004 and has won three tournaments. In 2006, Golf Digest named him “Sexiest Player on Tour.”

He might be better known to casual fans like me if he were to break through at one of the major tournaments.

So far, he has a top 10 finishes only at the the US Open and the PGA Championship both in 2008.